How to enrich your vocabulary

Hello again,

Now that you know

– the mindset which is the one of a winner (https://bienpreparerlegmat.wordpress.com/2014/09/28/succeeding-is-also-a-matter-of-mindset/),

– general tips to start your GMAT preparation (https://bienpreparerlegmat.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/tips-to-start-your-gmat-preparation/)

that you are familiar with

– reading skills and that you know there are techniques to prevent you from panicking when not understanding a word (https://bienpreparerlegmat.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/how-to-enrich-your-vocabulary/),

you should feel safer and more relaxed concerning your GMAT preparation. You are now ready to start enriching your vocabulary.

First it is capital to understand there are two categories or vocabulary:

1) the one you understand (but that you don’t use)

2) the one you understand AND use.

Of course, the first step will be

1) to understand words you didn’t know in the past.

Once they become easier and faster to understand, you’ll be able to WORK ON THEM again in order

2) to USE THEM.

Secondly, you should know an average of 8 repetitions is needed to memorize a new word.

For the two steps, it could then take you about 16 repetitions (8 first repetitions to easily understand a new word and 8 second repetitions to be able to use it).

What’s more, it is important to vary the networks you use to memorize words as if ever you’re in a situation of stress, this variety of network will help you to finally find the word you’re looking for.

These memorization channels can be:

• Word translations into French
• Sentence translations into French
• English synonyms
• English sentences
• English contextual examples (the context in which you discovered the word for instance)
• Exercises to practice finding or using this word
• Sound associations or rhymes
• Spelling tricks (FORTy est plus FORT que FOURteen)…

Then, I’m sure you already know that regularity is key. Indeed it is better to learn everyday for 5 minutes than 25minutes a week for instance.

Obviously, selection is another important factor. You want to learn words which you are both going to see in your reading comprehensions and use in your analytical writing assessments. It is thus extremely important that you pick easily transferable words, words you could easily use in any kind of essay or that writers usually tend to use in their texts.

Of course specificity, complexity and accuracy also matter. You may then need to tearn two types of words:

• Easy transferable words to build up the basis of your vocabulary
• Specific, targeted, complex and technical words to develop your vocabulary accuracy.

A practice I usually give to my students is to build a 5 column box in order to put their new words in. These words/sentences/synonyms/translations/rhymes/spelling tricks are usually written one index cards or “fiches” to be easily reviewed everywhere you go (in public transports and waiting rooms for instance). Of course, the format of these index cards should also be easy to carry around so that you can have them in your handbag, rucksack or pockets for example.

The first column is used when they learn the word and they need to do this for 5 consecutive days (Monday to Friday).

Once they know these words, they put them in the second column, the one they’ll check every week.

If ever after one week of no practice in the second column, they still remember these words, they can put them in the third column. But if they don’t, they put these words back in the first column, the one they’ll review everyday.

After two weeks of no practice, you check your third column words and use the same process. If ever you remember the words, they can be put in the fourth column. If you don’t, put them back in the first column to review them everyday.

After three weeks of no practice, check the fourth column words. The ones you remember will go into the fifth column and the ones you don’t will go back to the first column.

After four weeks of no practice, you can check the fifth column. If you remember these words, they should be now memorized and learnt for good. You may still keep these words in this fifth column in order to check them every month but also to realize the amount of words you now know or to have them as a back-up, just in case. Of course, if you don’t remember these words, they’ll go back to the first column again in order to be reviewed everyday, then hopefully every week, every 2 weeks, every 3 weeks and finally every month.

To finish, you should know students are able to learn five new words a day. You may decide to learner fewer if you don’t need to enrich your vocabulary that much.

If ever you decide to learn more than five words, you should know it will certainly be harder and that you may not be able to remember those words for long or for good but you may still try as some people have bigger memorization abilities than others which may be the case for you.

I hope you found something interesting in this article and that it’ll help you to enrich your vocabulary.

Sophie Gallix