Why is GRE verbal so hard?

GRE verbal is very challenging because it tests not only college-level vocabulary, but absolutely wild words that have either never been used in mainstream English or haven't been since the 1820s. It also tests reading passages so dense that anyone who isn't an expert in the topic will struggle to understand them. And in what some people consider a nearly mean-spirited approach, the test writers can precisely vary the wording of answer choices such that the best answer is only slightly better than the second best — and the differences are only apparent if you catch subtle details.

All of these things, however, are learnable skills you can improve on significantly with practice. The test feels unfair at first, but it rewards preparation in a way that most standardized tests do.