A strong vocabulary will help your Analytical Writing, Verbal, Integrated Reasoning, and even Quantitative accuracy! Here’s how to build yours from the ground up, and use it to break down the toughest GMAT questions.

You can ignore most of the challenging vocabulary on sentence corrections as long as you identify what part of speech each word is, and how it functions within the sentence.

To do this, you’ll need to spend some time with a solid English grammar review book. I recommend pairing a heavy-duty review book, like the Oxford Guide or those published by McGraw-Hill or Longman, with a “fun” book like Writer’s Express or English Grammar for Dummies. If you don’t have time to go through an entire book, this “English Grammar for Dummies Cheat Sheet” is a great overview!

It is much, MUCH easier to memorize synonyms for words than their full definitions. Start grouping words together mentally (and on paper) according to their meaning. For example, words like “pusillanimous,” “poltroonish,” and “timorous” might go on the “shy” list.

According to this “Word Group” blog from Kaplan, an easy way to learn these word groups is the “reverse flash card” method:

1. Read the word group
2. Write the heading on one side of the card
3. Write only the words you recognize from the list on the back.

Learn more ways to beef Up your GMAT vocabulary on this Learnboard!