All too frequently, I hear a GRE student say that the Verbal section of the exam is too subjective. This is truly not the case, but it is accurate to say that a greater level of ambiguity exists for most test takers when evaluating Reading Comprehension or Vocabulary problems in the Verbal section than there is in solving a math question in the Quantitative section. With arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, even if you don't know how to solve the problem you are aware that specific answers exist. Meanwhile, in the Verbal section there is more room to convince yourself of a bad answer based on a lack of understanding.

So, how can you guard against these realities? First, always write down your answer choices for every Verbal question that provides some. Then, use a more robust process of elimination system combined with proactive predictions of what the correct answers should do in the Verbal section to protect against turning a bad answer into an incorrect selection!

Proper Predictions
Vocabulary Questions: For both Sentence Equivalences and Text Completions, whether single or multiple blank, it is imperative to produce your own word(s) as a prediction for what would properly fill in the blank of the sentence(s) in context. If you cannot predict your own word(s) for any blank, it is best to guess for tone and move on immediately to avoid wasting time. However, once you have a proper prediction you can use it to employ our process of elimination.

Reading Comprehension Questions: Process of elimination will only work for single answer format questions, so this is another reason it is frequently best to leave multiple choice multiple answer questions until after you see every other question of the 20 question section. Predicting for reading comprehension requires identifying the subject and task of the question before broadly predicting in your own words an answer to the task based on the direct information from the passage. Once you have a broad prediction based on the passage, move to the choices.

Verbal Elimination Markings
Because of the possibility for ambiguity in evaluating Verbal section choices, use a four marking system on your scratch pad as you evaluate your choices:

• ✓ | Correct - Broadly Matches Your Prediction
• X | Incorrect - Can Articulate a Discrete Reason it Doesn't Match Your Prediction
• ~ | Maybe - Cannot Definitively State if Choice Does or Doesn't Match Prediction
• ? | Cannot Define - Vocabulary in Choice or Relationship to Information in Passage

Now, let's consider the priority of selection of these markings:

• Always Select : ✓ | It's correct, pretty self-explanatory
• Never Select : X | You've said it's incorrect and can say why that is so

But, what should you do if you are down to a ? vs a ~ --> Default to selecting the ? over the ~ !
Here's why. The ? could be 100% correct if you knew the definition or how it related to the information in the passage. However, the ~ cannot be 100% correct, if it were, then it should have been categorized as a ✓ already. So, considering our for markings in order of preference with greater than symbols:

X < ~ < ? < ✓

Allow Two-Pass Elimination
Be honest in your comparison of the choices to your predictions. If something matches pretty closely to your expectations, don't hedge by using the ~ when it really is a ✓. However, if you do have doubts as to whether a choice does or doesn't match your prediction, deploy the ? or ~ on the first pass. This serves a couple of purposes. First, you will avoid wasting time over-evaluating a complex or confusing answer choice if a better option lies a couple of letters down the list. Second, you won't eliminate a choice that could be correct just because it wasn't perfect and then convince yourself that a later choice is better.

Lastly, remember to add any words you label as ? in the choices to your vocabulary review, since you'll never be more interested in what a word means than when you just saw it in a practice problem!