An Alternative GRE Vocab Memorization System for Busier People
GregMat Team•October 28, 2024 at 9:45 PMMastering GRE vocabulary can be a time-consuming challenge, especially for those balancing work, school, and personal commitments. This article introduces a streamlined approach to vocab retention, ideal for busy students who want to maximize results without getting overwhelmed. Instead of tackling extensive vocab lists all at once, this method breaks it down to 10 groups per day, incorporating spaced repetition to reinforce long-term memory effectively.
The Vocab Mountain, while being a thorough system to ensure good vocab memorization, can get more time-consuming as you move beyond day 10. This can be hard to maintain for students who have less time to devote to vocab learning because they are working, overwhelmed, or busy. This alternative system limits the number of groups per day to 10. It creates a spaced repetition system to make sure groups are reviewed regularly.
Each day, you will have to review up to 10 groups, which consist of:
- Learning 1 new group
- Reviewing a rotating set of 5 groups (spaced repetition to revisit previous words)
- Reviewing up to 4 recent groups (recent groups are not so ingrained yet, so require reviewing daily)
Here’s how it would look day by day:
|
Day |
Learning Groups |
Reviewing Groups (Rotating set of 5) |
Reviewing Groups (Recent groups) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
2 |
2 |
|
1 |
|
3 |
3 |
|
1, 2 |
|
4 |
4 |
|
1, 2, 3 |
|
5 |
5 |
|
1, 2, 3, 4 |
|
6 |
6 |
1 to 5 |
|
|
7 |
7 |
1 to 5 |
6 |
|
8 |
8 |
1 to 5 |
6, 7 |
|
9 |
9 |
1 to 5 |
6, 7, 8 |
|
10 |
10 |
1 to 5 |
6, 7, 8, 9 |
|
11 |
11 |
6 to 10 |
|
|
12 |
12 |
1 to 5 |
11 |
|
13 |
13 |
6 to 10 |
11, 12 |
|
14 |
14 |
1 to 5 |
11, 12, 13 |
|
15 |
15 |
6 to 10 |
11, 12, 13, 14 |
|
16 |
16 |
1 to 5 |
|
|
17 |
17 |
6 to 10 |
16 |
|
18 |
18 |
11 to 15 |
16, 17 |
|
19 |
19 |
1 to 5 |
16, 17, 18 |
|
20 |
20 |
6 to 10 |
16, 17, 18, 19 |
|
21 |
21 |
11 to 15 |
|
|
22 |
22 |
16 to 20 |
21 |
|
23 |
23 |
1 to 5 |
21, 22 |
|
24 |
24 |
6 to 10 |
21, 22, 23 |
|
25 |
25 |
11 to 15 |
21, 22, 23, 24 |
|
26 |
26 |
16 to 20 |
|
|
27 |
27 |
1 to 5 |
26 |
|
28 |
28 |
6 to 10 |
26, 27 |
|
29 |
29 |
11 to 15 |
26, 27, 28 |
|
30 |
30 |
16 to 20 |
26, 27, 28, 29 |
|
31 |
31 |
21 to 25 |
|
|
32 |
32 |
1 to 5 |
31 |
|
33 |
33 |
11 to 15 |
31, 32 |
|
34 |
34 |
16 to 20 |
31, 32, 33 |
|
35 |
|
21 to 25 |
31, 32, 33, 34 |
|
36 |
|
26 to 30, 31 to 34 |
|
|
37 |
|
1 to 5, 6 to 10 |
|
|
38 |
|
11 to 15, 16 to 20 |
|
|
39 |
|
21 to 25, 26 to 30 |
|
|
40 |
|
31 to 34 |
|
This can take up to 1 hour a day (considering around 5 minutes per group, but it will get faster as you become more familiar with some vocab sets), depending on the number of groups for a particular day. Remember, you want to recall a simple definition for each word, so don’t go too deep into synonyms. A higher coverage of words will be more fruitful than a deep understanding of each word.
Another alternate way to get started with the vocab mountain would be the Overwhelmed Study Plan. It takes you through the first 22 groups of vocab (660 words), which is a great start. You can complete that and then consider exploring more vocab groups.
If you have more time, we still recommend using the traditional vocab mountain technique for best retention. You can find out how to do that here:
