I am appearing for the GRE on 28 June and am currently struggling with the Verbal section. Even for Big Book tests, I am not able to score more than 7–8 correct answers in the Text Completion exercises. I am also finding it difficult to retain words from the vocabulary lists. So far, I have completed 9 groups, but my retention has been minimal. At this point, I want to focus more on accuracy and retention rather than rushing through all 32 groups, as I feel that trying to complete every group may not be productive and could weaken my recall of the words I have already learned. Could you please suggest how many vocabulary groups I should realistically focus on before the exam, which specific groups or types of words deserve the highest priority, what strategies can help improve retention and recall, and what would be the most effective study plan for the remaining time to improve my Verbal score?
When it comes to vocabulary, it is unfortunately the part of the test where we as test takers have the least control. It seems like you’re on the right track as far as ensuring your vocab studying is focused on quality.
As for which words are more important, however, I hesitate to give a definitive answer since there is so much chance involved in which words you will see on your test–it’s possible to learn every word on the Vocab Mountain and still be presented with a totally new word on test day.
That being said, I do have a soft recommendation for the words on this list, which contains the words that are on both the Vocab Mountain and appear in official ETS material (both Big Book and OG).