Hi Jumuller,

While this is an interesting resource, I don't believe that this is a practical way to go about studying for ANY Standardized Test, much less the GMAT. The idea that someone would go through a document, making sure that he/she understood the meaning of EVERY word in a 4800 word list is excessive and not a good use of one's time.

While there are certainly math vocabulary words, grammar rules and certain words/phrases that are necessary to dealing with CR/RC prompts, your study time would be better spent familiarizing yourself with GMAT material/concepts, learning the various approaches to dealing with each of the major questions types and working on your "mechanics" (pacing, endurance, organization, etc.).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi Jumuller,

I strongly agree with Rich here for a few reasons. I usually would pass over messages like this, but I feel quite strongly about not using a vocabulary list especially for the GMAT, and I feel compelled to dissuade students from using such a list.

First, the GMAT does not test vocabulary. Spending time learning vocabulary is not a wise use of your time when preparing for the GMAT, as Rich pointed out. Students should be learning about different question types in critical reasoning questions, common wrong answer traps in Reading Comprehension questions, or building the logical reasoning abilities in math. Students should also be reading extensively, which in turn will expose them to new vocabulary, but the point here is to become an active reader-not a dictionary of words and definitions.

Two, learning vocabulary from a list is a guaranteed way of not learning new words. To truly expand your vocabulary, and be successful in a tested environment, like on the GRE, you need to learn words in the context of reading. Just a list of words and definitions is not going to be useful when it comes to understand how a word is used in different situations, or in identifying clues in a passage that point to one word over another.

Three, you say that you were able to expand your "passive vocabulary" using these lists. What is "passive vocabulary"? Are these words you don't use but know the definition to? Again, any person trying to expand their lexicon needs to encounter words in the wild and use them in their writing and speech. There is only one type of vocabulary that people have and it is the one they use on a daily basis.

Jumuller, I think that you did create something quite interesting. And the way that you have packaged it and made it available for use to anyone is also awesome. I am a big advocate of making things public and open-source. The more information we share, the better off we all will be. So thank you in that regard. But, I don't think that your resource will be useful in this sphere.

Cheers and best of luck!

Kevin