Antonyms

1
Antonyms

• GRE Verbal Section
• Four or Five non-optional test sections
• Two analytical writing
• One verbal
• One quantitative
• Optional one pre-test
• Approximately 30 minutes
• Approximately 30 Questions
• Analogies (7)
• Antonyms (9)
• Sentence Completions (6)
• Reading Comprehension (8)
• 2 short passages with 2-3 questions each
• 1 long passage with 3-4 questions each

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Antonyms - Directions

• Each questions below consists of a word printed
  in capital letters, followed by five lettered
  words or phrases. Choose the lettered word or
  phrase that is most nearly opposite in meaning to
  the word in capital letters.
• Since some of the questions require you to
  distinguish fine shades of meaning, be sure to
  consider all the choices before deciding which
  one is best.

3
Antonyms CAT Impact

• Begins with medium difficulty
• Difficulty level is determined by question stem,
  not answer choices
• Seed question correctly, move up the ladder
• Seed question incorrectly, move down the ladder

4
Antonyms CAT Impact

• Start At the TOP
• It is important for students to start the test
  off on the right foot
• Establish a spot near the top of the ladder of
  difficulty
• At a certain point the adaptive test will level
  off
• Early Questions are VERY Important

5
Antonyms CAT Impact

• Build an Advantageous Position
• Answer the first several questions right!
• Then, if you accidentally fall off the ladder of
  difficulty, youll fall from an advantageous
  position.

6
Antonyms CAT Impact

• Example 1
• Test scaled 1-100
• Student answers first 10 of 30 correctly
• Probably established fairly high score
• Even if half of the remaining questions are
  answered incorrectly

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Antonyms CAT Impact

• Why?
• Established a high proficiency early in the test
• Answering difficult questions incorrectly is not
  as damaging as answering easy questions
  incorrectly
• More difficulty questions are worth more when
  answered correctly
• Demonstrated consistent ability in answering the
  questions of moderate difficulty

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Antonyms CAT Impact

• Take the extra time to answer the first several
  questions right
• 30 minutes to answer 30 questions
• Additional 10 20 seconds for each of the first
  five to 10 questions should help you to answer
  correctly
• Establishing a high position on the ladder of
  difficulty

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Antonyms CAT Impact

• Dont Obsess about the difficulty level
• Once on a rung, forget about the ladder of
  difficulty
• After establishing your position on the ladder of
  difficulty, forget about it. If you do fall off,
  the computer will adapt, and you can work your
  way back up the ladder for another try.

10
Antonyms CAT Impact

• Dont be scared of heights
• Faced with a difficult questions that cant be
  answered , you must guess
• Miss a a question because it is too hard, you
  wont be penalized as much as you would if it
  were an easier questions
• Guess correctly, youll earn more points than you
  would for an easier question

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Antonyms CAT Impact

• Dont be scared of heights
• seed questions answered correctly, establish a
  buffer zone, so that questions answered
  incorrectly are less damaging
• Some difficulty questions you can answer correctly

12
Antonyms CAT Impact

• Value of Difficulty Questions
• vs.
• Easy Questions
• When answered correctly, you earn more points for
  a harder question than for an easier question.
  Alternatively, when answered incorrectly, your
  score is penalized less for a hard question than
  for an easier questions.

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Antonyms What is Tested

• Antonyms test knowledge of vocabulary
• Not designed to test the strength of ones
  vocabulary
• Test Ability to
• reason
• determine a words opposite meaning
• Novice is opposite of EXPERT
• To FORBID means to prohibit and a good opposite
  is allow.

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Antonyms What is tested

• You ability to do well has a great deal to do
  with whether or not you know the meaning of the
  capitalized word.
• Capitalized word is part of your vocabulary, GOOD
  chance of answering correctly
• You may be forced to guess

15
Antonyms - Difficulty

• Difficulty is determined mostly by vocabulary.
• Easy questions constructed using vocabulary
  that is familiar
• Moderate questions some words you dont know
  and others that are vaguely familiar or not
  familiar
• Difficult questions vocabulary gets very
  difficult words you probably dont know

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Antonyms Difficulty (Examples)

• The word NEBULOUS means misty or hazy, so a
  good opposite is very clear.
• INCIPIENCE is a difficulty word referring to the
  beginning stages of something. The answer
  choices, too, are difficult words. Culmination
  means the conclusion. A good choice for
  opposite of INCIPIENCE.

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Antonyms Shades of Meaning

• Opposites may depend upon shades of meaning
• You must choose the shade of meaning that is most
  nearly the opposite of the given word.
• Different shades of meaning are tested
• Relationships of opposites may depend upon shades
  of meaning select the phrase most nearly
  opposite.

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Antonyms Shades of Meaning (Examples)

• ORNAMENTAL
• Something that adorns or embellishes it is a
  decoration and is extra or optional
• So something that is ORNAMENTAL is not essential.
• PRECIPITOUS
• Abrupt or hasty
• Well-planned may not be the exact opposite of
  PRECIPITOUS, but it is the best answer choice

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Antonyms Shades of Meaning (Examples)

• ENIGMATIC
• Adjective form of enigma
• Common meaning is puzzle or riddle
• Also used to describe something that is not clear
• ENIGMATIC means mysterious or obscure
• Best opposite is easily understood.

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Antonyms Parts of Speech

• Antonyms are written as
• Nouns
• Verbs
• Adjectives
• Sometimes the capitalized word is ambiguous with
  respect to part of speech.

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Antonyms Parts of Speech

• Look at the answer choices
• The answer choices will be the same part of
  speech intended for the capitalized word

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Antonyms Parts of Speech

• ANSWER CHOICES SAME PART OF SPEECH AS STEM WORD
• Since the exam may test different parts of speech
  of the same word, look at the answer choices to
  determine what part of speech is intended.

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Antonyms Secondary Meanings

• Secondary Meanings
• Be alert for tested secondary meanings if an
  easy stem word appears in a problem that should
  be difficult, ask yourself Does this word have
  a secondary meaning?

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Antonyms Roots, Prefixes, Suffixes

• Study the GRE Word Parts List and Vocabulary List
  in the Cambridge GRE Textbook
• Appendix A, pp. A-49 and A-57

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Antonyms Common Word Roots
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Antonyms Prefixes No or Not
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Antonyms Prefixes that stand for numbers
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Antonyms Prefixes - Relationships
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Antonyms - Endings
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Antonyms - Strategies

• ANTICIPATE and MATCH
• Read the capitalized stem word.
• Anticipate one or two words that might be used as
  opposites.
• Match your anticipated opposite to an actual
  choice.

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Antonyms - Strategies

• Change Parts of Speech to Determine Meaning
• Sometimes, using a word in a different part of
  speech will aid in determining the original
  meaning.

32
Antonyms - Strategies

• Dissect the Word
• You can try to dissect the word. Take it apart
  isolate the root word and suffixes and prefixes.

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Antonyms - Strategies

• Place the word in Context
• If you have seen a word before, but are not
  entirely sure of its meaning, try to place the
  word into context.