This is really a good question. The problem is not simple and I shall explain why in steps.
1) Consider your brain like a warehouse. A huge hangar. You can store there a vast amount of words but at the end of the day even though it is huge is still limited. It is finite. Compound this with the fact that you have to learn words in a short amount of time and this could be problematic.
2) I, for example, have a vast vocabulary because I built it over time, regardless of the GRE: reading book after book, article after article, and so forth. Frankly, I never read a word list more than one page. It is not for me. The same , for me, is true for the GMAT exam when sentence correction was still in place: I never read or memorized tons and tons of idioms or crazy rules. The standard English language has kind of like 13k idioms. It is impossible even though those for the GMAT at the time were finite numbers, to know.
Therefore , how to deal with the short amount of time we have to prepare for the GRE and the fact to improve our score?
In my opinion you have three ways
1) First of all read my guide for TC/SE
https://gre.myprepclub.com/forum/shorte ... 33604.htmlAnd stress to the only thing that always will save you: understand the real meaning of the sentence. REALLy what the sentence is telling you
2) because the exam repeats itself over and over again the words per se are repeated alike even though they are used in different sentences. Here is where the word lists from Manhattan or
Magoosh fall shot: they do an outstanding job. Hands down. but, still in MY opinion, they insist in words and phrases that you will never see in the real exam. With words that will never you have in the GRE such as
effluvium or
tyro. Never seen such words in the GRE mentor course with over 600 official questions
So my advice is to study my words weekly that contains words from the powerprep exams
https://gre.myprepclub.com/forum/gre-vo ... 22358.html3) Use the prefixes and roots of a word to extrapolate the meaning of other words that you do not know
https://gre.myprepclub.com/forum/gre-ge ... 27742.htmlor also to use
Most Frequently Used GRE Vocabulary WordsThe first spreadsheet consists of words with the highest probability of appearing on GRE and their possible meanings and Youtube Videos.
or also to use this new project we have
Study GRE Vocab in KAR3L, Support Learning Research, and Earn Rewards!
https://gre.myprepclub.com/forum/study- ... 34043.htmlFrom the University of Texas if I remember well.
So, in conclusion, and to recap
- meaning of the sentence
- weekly vocabulary words
- prefixes and roots of words
- maybe, the spreadsheet we have and the flashcards by the Karl Project
I hope this helps