My study plan for vocab. Right or wrong?

[fish8me]

Hi

I am going to take my GRE in about 4 weeks time. I am still really really bad at the verbal. I have always been bad at memorising words, and this is a killer for me!

Ok this is how I have been studying.
Everyday, I read through a whole word list in Barrons, and check those that I already know, and highlight those that I don't. I do about 3-4 lists like this everyday. And after 3 days, I go from the first word list till the one I am currently on, and try to see if I can remember the words from the first few lists. i haven't completely finished all the 50 lists in Barrons yet. but I am just wondering if my strategy is right? Or am I studying wrongly?

So far, it has been quite ok, since I still remember words from the first few lists. But I don't know if this is good enough, or should I try a better approach? It feels good when I first skim through a word list and tick off all the words that I already know....it gives a feeling like...wow I know these words but when I have to go back to the older lists and try to guess the meaning of the words which I had highlighted and supposed to have memorised, i have a really hard time remembering! Just to give an idea on how I have been doing on each list...the first time I read it, I can cancel about half of the words in the list as I know it. So I am left with another half to memorise, which is around 35-40words on the average.

Is anything wrong with the way I am approaching the word lists? Should I try something else? What I am worried about is that I have very little time left. I want to try flashcards, but don't know if i should do that with my time constraint!

People with experience and people who are also struggling like me....what do u all think? I have read posts where people spent like only a month preparing....so give your opinions please?

thanks!

[thockenb]

Wow, you sound exactly like me. I have run into the same problem the last few weeks trying to get through the Barrons lists. I decided to change my strategy. Instead of learning 3500 words on the 50 lists, I have decided to learn the 350 words most seen on the GRE. In doing so, I bought flash cards and started with them. The front side has the word, part of speech, prefixes, suffixes, roots and stems.
It looks like this:
aggregate
<v>
ag = to do
greg = flock,herd
ate = to make

The back of the flash card has a short definition, relatable phrase, synonyms, and antonyms. Heres an example of ambiguous:

unclear;doubtful
"I am not ambiguous as to whether the GRE is a pain;it is!"

syn: cryptic, dubious, enigmatic, equivocal,
inconclusive, inexplicit, obscure, opaque, tenebrous, vague.
ant: Lucid, unequivocal

Not all of my cards are like this, some have less info. I get the synonyms and antonyms from www.dictionary.com. You should try and just write down Barrons list words for the ants and syns so you are learning as many Barrons list words at a time. I believe this method brings together the Barron method and Kaplan method of learning groups of words. I write up about 10 per night in an hour and study throughout the next day.
I hope this helps. If you find flaws in my method let me know. Its worked out well this last week and the words are now sticking.

[abirc]

Vocab-
2MAKE MY STRONGEST POINT

1st NormanLewis:WordPowerMadeEasy
(I made a note on part2&3 of the
book with consultation with Collins
cobuild dic. made a word network)

2nd AllAboutWords:Rosenblum&Nurnbrg
(studied each word , A2Z including
preface and appendix. I found
a word acephalous in GRE test from
this appendix. Consulted with Oxford
Dictionary, if word not found here
went library consulted Webstar,
Longman. Made thermocol board on wall.
Listed unknowns, and try to recollect)

3rd 30MoreDays2Vocab
(after AllAboutWords it becomes simple.
took one day to finish 2 chapters.
completed tests. My opinion is read
6WeeksToWordOfPower: WillFunk instead
of this book)

4th IMSWordList
(took BRM word tests. Noted the mistakes.
Studied appendix words, roots, etymology,
misspelt words rather thorough WordList.
Took wordList tests. Consulted incoorects
with Given WordLists)

5th ARCO
(read all word lists. and took tests)

6th KaplanWordList
(read all word lists. and took tests)

7th Barron
(took all WordList tests only. read suffix,
prefix etc, FrequentlyUsedWords only.)

8th Princeton
(read all word lists. and took tests)

9th Dictionary Eng2Beng ATDEV
(read appendix words and seen pictures)

10th Macmillan Visual Dictionary
(seen a few chapters pictures and try
to remember by visualization)

11th Vocabulary@100words/Hour by Biwaroop
RoyChowdhury & MahavirJain [Publisher: Fusion
books] - purchased from book fair
(sort out unknowns and their memory-collection
procedure listed here.)

12th 35Days2aMorePowerfulVOcabulary:
FrankD'Souza [Pub: WilcoPublishingHouse,
33RopewalkLane, RampartRow, FortBombay1]
-Purchased from book fair.
(scaned thru tests, noted its
examples, groupVerbs, Cliches etc)

13th 10MinuteGuide2BuildingYourVocab:
EllenLichtenstein [Pub: ARCO]
-Purchased from Oxford Book Store
(Scaned the book, noted unknowns)

14th EnglishIsEasy:Chetananand Singh
[Pub: BSC]
(WordList conatins Excellent examples)

15th RogetThesaurousPocketsize
(Marathonly gone thru it a few
chapters, if necessary consulted
Oxford Reverse Dic)

16th OxfordMiniDictionary [Pocket size
kept always in pocket and try to find
a unknown word if seen in road or else]
(marathonly gone thru it a few chaps
before GRE, only trying to understand
the meaning, no mug up. Because a few
word comes in Test asking for 2nd OR
3rd Meaning)

*Consulted WordHistory, etymology. If
NOT OK then consulted once more. If NOT
OK then consulted eng2eng dic. If NOT
OK then consulted second end2eng dic
with different way of expression. If
NOT OK then consulted Eng2Beng Dic.
If still NOT OK consulted beng2ENg dic.
If NOT OK try to make Homophonic
recollection with native language.
Otherwise try to recollect by relating
the previous , post words of that
particular word in the dic or list.

*First I Revised, lastly took only
tests and made necessary correction.

Grammar:

1st Thomson&Martinet : A Pratical
English Grammar (Studied A2Z)

2nd ElementsOfStyle: WillfredStrunk
[Macmillan Pub] (Studied A2Z)

3rd TheCompletePlainWords: Sir
Ernest Gowers [Pub: Penguin]
(Studied A2Z)

4th EnglishIsEasy : Chetananand
Singh[Pub: BSC]

5th GMAT : Kaplan, Princeton,
Barron (done all english ques)

*It is better to follow Peterson
, ETS Published books rather
than Princeton.

reading comprehension:
MY WEAKEST ZONE

1st How2ReadBetterAndFaster
[Goyl Saab Publisher] (Studied A2Z)

2nd DynamicReadingSkills
: Venkata Iyer[SterlingPaperback Pub]
-Purchased hrom Oxford Book Store
(Studied A2Z, done test as instructed)

3rd TripleYourReadingSpeed
-Purchased hrom Oxford Book Store
: WadeE Cutler (scanned, done test)

4th GMAT: Kaplan, Princeton,
Barron RCs

5th IMS BRM reading comprehension packet, 2nd reading comprehension packt,
Years suggested RCs in CATBulletin.
(Done with time one day, checked
next day thoroughly recalling the
testtime mindset)

6th For Reading Skill regularly
read variety of subject encyclopaedia
from Ramakrishna Mission Institute
ofCulture Library, Golpark, Kolkata.

* I emphasized the advices of the
books and tried to follow them as
much as possible.

AWA:

1st Studied ARCO GRE-Real Essay type ques,
and GMAT-Real Essay type ques books
(read a topic, try to self emphasize,
then go thru the essay. Everyday 1topic
of Issue and 1topic of Argument.)

2nd How to Write Themes and Essay[ARCO]
Macmillan, USA (Gone thoroughly)

# Still I got 370 in GRE Vocab on Aug23, 2003#

[on_dope]

Hey hi ...

Do u want to do mastery in Vocab or what ... ? GRE is like 50 % knwin the meanings of words & other half is knwin its applicability ( like antonyms, SC , reading comprehension's, Analogies ) ... and I think peresonally tat Barron's is sufficient or u can do one more book if U've time ... But I'm sure tat u won b able to retain & recall all the words from these numbered books .. so its better to go wid 1-2 books n revise n kill them hard
anywz its ya personal decision

take care fellas