Lets take the following question.

Around the office he had developed a reputation as a(n) ____________, those who did not follow his exact demands quickly learned what a strict disciplinarian he could be.

a) Visionary
b) Motivator
c) Surveyer
d) Overseer
e) Martinet

Clues

First off, we're gonna revisit the idea of looking for the clues in the sentence, trying to find out what that blank is about, and so, that's really important.

Look for those clues. In this sentence, again we can read it, "Around the office, he had developed a reputation as a blank."

Notice here the hyphen, as well. We're going to define what's the reputation. Well, it's defined as this man was a or made exacting demands. People in the office quickly learn what a strict disciplinarian he could be.
So now, we have the clues. There's two of them. They more or less mean the same thing. Someone is always asking you to do this, and they're very disciplined. You must always do it the right way, and they're very strict.

Matching the key word

Now what we can do is we can come up with our own word, or we also have the option of simply matching. That is, matching these key words or these clues with the answer choices.

We're going to match them. Why? Well, because you could come up with your own word, but simply, you know that the answer choice has to be a synonym for exacting or a strict disciplinarian.

Let's just use a disciplinarian. Okay.
a) Visionary:
Is a visionary a person who is a strict disciplinarian? The answer is no. It's a person who simply has a vision, so we can get rid of that.
b) Motivator
Well, a motivator, someone who really pushes you and motivates you, and therefore, they have to be strict. Otherwise, you're not going to be motivated. So, there's the answer, but wait a second.This is the GRE. By definition is what we're going for, not 'could be'. For instance, a motivator could be a strict disciplinarian. They could make exacting demands, but by definition, is a motivator one who's a strict disciplinarian?
c)Surveyer
A surveyor, by definition, what do they do? They survey. They look around. They take note. Are they, by definition, a strict disciplinarian?NO.
d)Overseer
Overseer. They're looking over, and therefore, they're watching, and they're making exacting demands, and I guess they're also a strict disciplinarian. But is that by definition? When someone says, "Oh, the overseer." Do you say, "Oh god, the overseer is coming. He's going to be so, or she's going to be so strict in making exacting demands because that's what all overseers do." The answer is no. Maybe a majority of overseers are like that, but we're looking for definition only, but wait a second. I can't just eliminate it because look at E.
e)Martinet
Martinet? What does that mean?

So, it must be overseer, but as we remember or as you should remember, it must be by definition, and we've already eliminated overseer because, by definition, it does not mean a strict disciplinarian.

So when you eliminate, do not be afraid to pick the word you don't know. Martinet is the correct answer. We know what it means. A martinet is a strict disciplinarian. Now, it's actually named after someone who, believe it or not, was named Martinet, and the reason I am pronouncing it, not Martinet, but Martinet as the person, is because he was a French general in the nineteenth century and guess what?

He was a strict disciplinarian, but the key here is to make sure that you don't eliminate a word just because you don't know it, and that you don't choose a word because it kind of works.