It was a really long time ago that I wrote it, but I found the best preparation for the general exam was going through old practice exams. Unless it has changed a lot in recent years (I wrote it around 1994 I believe), the questions generally test thinking ability more than knowledge, and getting a feel for the type of questions on the exam is helpful. I didn't do anything specific to learn new words for the vocabulary test, but I was a pretty heavy reader and had a pretty good vocabulary to start with. I'm not sure how much value there is in memorizing definitions for a list of words unless they keep re-using the same words; I think reading a lot (particularly by authors who are masters of the language) to increase your exposure to vocabulary in general might be a better way, albeit one that takes time. Even if you don't know the exact definitions of words, if you have some familiarity with the context they're used in you can usually figure out the right answer from the choices given.
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