V02 · Lesson 1: Pre-Answer Prediction & Signal Words

1. The Core Idea

Text Completion is not a vocabulary quiz. The words matter, but the reasoning comes first. Every TC question gives you a partial sentence and asks you to complete it — not with the word that sounds smart, but with the word the sentence logically requires. That distinction is the whole lesson.

Here's the thing: the GRE is designed to exploit exactly one bad habit. That habit is reading the sentence, glancing at the answer choices, and picking the word that feels most comfortable. It feels natural. It feels efficient. And it costs you points — consistently — because the trap answers are built to feel comfortable. They belong to the right topic, sound like the right register, and fit grammatically. They just go in the wrong direction.

The fix is pre-answer prediction. Before you look at the choices, fill your own word. Even a rough placeholder — "something negative," "a word meaning careful," "the opposite of what the politician claimed" — is enough to immunize you against the trap. This is not a prep company invention. It is the method the test itself describes as the correct approach. The principle: prediction before selection, every single time.

2. How It Shows Up

Every TC question on the GRE — 1-blank, 2-blank, or 3-blank — requires this skill. At Easy difficulty, the signal word is right next to the blank, and a rough directional prediction takes five seconds. At Medium, the clue requires reading past