CAT Vocabulary

Good Vocabulary is important tool to fight the CAT exams and is a necessity to score well on any other exam as well. The two sections that require one to be equipped with a good knowledge of words are the sentence completion and reading comprehension. In these two section, though the synonyms of words will not be tested, there might appear complicated words which one may not be aware of. To be familiar with these words means the candidate will understand the questions better and provide correct answers and thereby get a good score.

Even while presenting an essay after the getting selected in the written test, the array of words that were learnt while preparing for the CAT will be most useful. The next round, after passing in the written test is the GD, i.e. the group discussion and it can be dealt with great ease if one is capable of remembering and using the words learnt during the preparation period. It is a common misconception that memorizing new words help one remember them for a really long time. The actual fact is, memorizing and using the new words with sentences and writing those down and referring to them now and then will help remember those effectively. Given below is a table which has words on the left side and their meanings on the right. One has to match the words to the meaning. This exercise is similar to the ones in the book, Word power made easy by Norman Lewis.

Words	Meanings
1. Adulatory	a. Aggressive; fighting
2. Proscriptive	b. Of no great consequence
3. Militant	c. Bearing ill-will, wishing harm
4. Malign	d. Of the nature of causes
5. Trivial	e. Clumsy, awkward
6. Maledictory	f. Worship, adoring
7. Malevolent	g. Bad, harmful, hurtful
8. Maladroit	h. Relating or pertaining to prohibitions.

Answers: 1-f, 2-h, 3-a, 4-g, 5-b, 6-d, 7-c, 8-e.

Etymology:

Etymology deals with the origin or derivation of words. When you know the meaning of the root of a word, you will understand the word better and easily remember all words based on this root. Learning one root word can help one understand the meaning of at least twenty words in which the root appears. For example, take the word Anthropos (Greek- mankind), you can understand the meaning of these words, anthropoid, misanthropy, anthrop phobia, anthropocentric, etc. Learning words with their etymology helps one deal with the words better and make it fun learning these words. Here are some root words with meanings that will help you remember words having these roots in them:

Specto – to look

Pro- Forward, ahead

Circum – around

Chronos – time

Pathos – disease

Tele – distance

Par – equal

Ambi – both

Vocabulary preparation must begin at the earliest stage in the preparation. Around 7-8 weeks must be set aside exclusively for learning words and they must be revised again and again until the day of the exam.