From my experience, the majority of students spend between two and three months preparing for the GRE. Given we all struggle to sustain our attention and concentration for more than this long, such a duration makes perfect sense. After all, spending six months studying for the GRE can often be interrupted by so many bumps and starts that you would have been better off studying intensely for 3 months. So, this plan is for those who can commit both the time and the cognitive resources necessary for a period of two to three months.
Unlike the other two study guides – the one week and one month – this study guide has a range of one month. This wiggle-room allows those who have unpredictable schedules – or who simply cannot allocate enough hours each week – to choose the three-month plan. For those who have the time and/or simply want to be more aggressive, the study plan below can be shortened to two months. For the layout below, however, I will use 8 weeks. You can slow down or speed up accordingly.
This study guide gives general goals by week– if you’d prefer a more specific version, with daily instructions, I’d recommend one of these other 3 month schedules instead:
- 90 Day Daily Schedule Version A for Beginners
- 90 Day Daily Schedule Version B: Math Focused
- 90 Day Daily Schedule Version C: Verbal Focused
- 90 Day Daily Schedule Version D for Advanced Students
Finally, if English is not your first language, and you are struggling to learn vocabulary, while wrapping your head around academic prose, you may want to consider the six month plan (which I will release tomorrow). The bottom-line is, you will need a competitive score. Those students – at least those who posted their scores on the blog – will want to reconsider the 2-3 month plan if their verbal score is still in the 300-range or below. You should do your best to at least get into the mid-400s in verbal. Of course, achieving this feat will require the six month plan.
Essential Materials
- Magoosh GRE Prep– Lessons and Practice Problems
- Official Guide to the GRE
- ETS’s PowerPrep Software
(If you are a Mac user that can’t use ETS’s Poweprep, or would prefer to take the practice test on paper, you can print out ETS’s practice test PDF (with video explanations here). Take note that the Poweprep software and the paper-based test have overlapping material, so it won’t be of much help to do both, unless you space them out far enough so that you won’t recognize the questions and answers! I recommend using the Powerprep software if you can, since taking the test on a computer is a better simulation of exam day conditions.) - WordSmart (or Wordnik.com)
- Index Cards (Quizlet.com)
- Stopwatch or Timer
Supplemental/Optional Materials:
- McGraw Hill Conquering the GRE Math
- Manhattan GRE (including on-line practice tests)
- GMAT Official Guide
- LSAT 10 Actual Tests
- SAT College Board Book
- Barron’s 1100 Words You have to Know
First Two Weeks
Primary Goals:
- Work your way through Magoosh’s Math and Video Lessons (All of them!)
- Where necessary, work through practice problems in McGraw Hill Conquering the GRE Math if you need help on a given concept in math.
- Complete 100 practice questions from Magoosh Verbal (Sentence Equivalence, Text Completions, and Reading Comprehension)
- Determine which of the Manhattan GRE guides will help address your weaknesses
Secondary Goals:
- Read two articles from The New Yorker/Atlantic Monthly/Economist. Find fifty words you do not know. Reference in Wordnik.com or Word Smart and make flashcards (articles should be 4 – 15 pages).
- Write a quick summary/review of one of the two articles you wrote, threading GRE words you learnt these two weeks (can come from any of the sources, e.g. lesson, questions, etc), and apply them where necessary.
- Make your way through 10 words a day from Barron’s 1100 Words You Have to Know; 150 After 15 days.
- Use quizlet.com to quiz yourself on 200 vocabulary words from articles and the Barron’s book.
Week 3-4 – Take ETS’s Powerprep to assess your level
Primary Goals:
- Take the Powerprep to assess your level.
- Check your answers to review mistakes.
- Use the test to identify areas in which you need more practice.
- Practice 50 more questions for Verbal and 75 Math from Magoosh.
- Work through the beginning of the GRE Official Guide (book), and cover the easy and medium sections at the beginning of the book for both math and verbal.
Secondary Goals:
- Continue working through vocabulary for Barron’s 1100 book, five a day, quizzing yourself on all the words you have learned up to this point.
- Up your reading to two articles a week
- Solidify fundamentals using Magoosh and any Manhattan GRE guide
- Pick fifty words each week from the two articles (a total of four articles for each week)
- Make sure you continue practicing problems from the McGraw-Hill Math if you are struggling with any fundamentals (fractions, exponents, etc.
- For the high scorers, take a practice Manhattan GRE test, reviewing all your mistakes once you are done.
Week 5-6
Primary Goals:
- Work through The GMAT Official Guide.
- Depending on your level, complete 100 math problems (the higher the number, the harder the problem). You may also want to pick and choose based on your perceived areas of weakness.
- If lower level math, focus more on Manhattan GRE math and easy-level Magoosh questions.
- From the GMAT OG, do 10 timed Reading Comprehension Passages. Time yourself on 5 Critical Reasoning questions each day.
- Customize practice sessions within Magoosh product to target weaknesses. You should complete all of the verbal and all of the math questions (except the very hard level – if you haven’t yet broken into the 700 range).
Secondary Goals:
- Continue practicing vocabulary in the same manner described above.
- For more math problems, you can use the College Board SAT book and/or GMAT OG
Week 7-8
Primary Goals:
- Finish going through all of the questions on the hard set of the Official Guide material
- Take the entire test at the back of the Official Guide, including the AWA section. Attempt to do this within one week of the test.
- Watch video on Official Guide test and make sure you understand every question.
- Focus on areas of weaknesses: if Reading Comp, do more questions from GMAT OG.
- Make sure you are doing as many timed sections as possible from various sources. If you can’t work through an entire section, always have a stopwatch whenever you work through questions.
Secondary Goals:
- Optional: Use Barron’s New GRE book – just so you can get as much practice on new GRE question form. It’s best for extra practice on RC and Sentence Equivalence (Text Completions are weak).
- Continue learning vocabulary as before. You should know at least 800 words by now, and should probably know even more from working with the GRE Official Guide and Magoosh product
- Take a Manhattan GRE practice tests. (Review mistakes).
For advanced Verbal students:
Do a timed verbal LSAT Reading Section each day and 5 Critical Reasoning questions. Try to determine why answers are wrong on your own.
Take no more than two Manhattan GRE on-line practice tests.
For advanced Math students:
Finish all problem-solving questions in GMAT OG and every very hard problem on Magoosh.com. Also, go through College Board SAT book, and be able to complete every difficult problem (usually last 5-6 problems of each math section).
Take no more than two Manhattan GRE on-line practice tests.
Good luck…and remember, I’m always just a click away. Let me know whenever you have a question!
Thank you, Chris!!
You’re welcome!
Chris,
I have seen the Barron’s 1100 words book. That book is very big… and it has a the time table of around 50 weeks, which is a very long period. Is there any way to crack the book in one month?
Please advise.
Thanks,
Siva
Hi Siva,
I know – that must seem pretty daunting. In the 30-day study guide plan I noted that it is a very aggressive one. For the Barron’s 1100 words, luckily, there are some words that are very basic. Therefore, for most, it is more like the Barron’s 800 book. That works out to a little less than 30 words a day. Again, that is a fair amount, but I’ve seen some students handle as many as 50 words a day.
Hi Chris, you mentioned doing timed RCs. What type of speed should we be targeting? And how much do we expect to shave off?
Could you elaborate on this further?
Sebastian,
For the longer passages, I would focus on bringing your time down to 2 to 2:30 seconds. The key though is not simply reading the passage, but, upon finishing it, knowing what’s at issue, what are some current theories/opinions on the issue, and what the author’s take/main point is.
To get to this point, you may need to practice underlining/marking up the passage, but eventually you should be able to do the above in your head.
Hopefully that helps!
Hi Chris,
I’m planning to prepare for a little under 2 months before I take the revised GRE. I’ve taken the old GRE and scored a modest 760 Quant and 550 Verbal. I spent about 10 days preparing the first time around and focused my time on the Quant section.
My question is whether or not my old prep material (Kaplan OG, Princeton Review 1014 GRE questions) will be of any use? Also, would you say that preparing using Magoosh alone should be sufficient to score well or is the ETS OG absolutely necessary?
Thank you,
I had bad experiences using the 1,014 from Princeton Review with students on the old GRE. Riddled with errors and typos it was rush to print in this specious conclusion that more questions equals greater quality. Strong material for the old GRE can be used to prep. Don’t forget there is an old GRE powerprep test (1 and 2) that would be helpful.
That brings me to your last question: I would always supplement any prep books/system with original material. While some out there will claim you can use only their content, this claim is disingenuous. Practicing with some content is better than practicing with no content, but if you want to maximize your potential you should always use ETS material. As for complimentary prep material nothing out there is as complete as magoosh.
Hi Chris,
I just have 2-3 months to take my GRE exams, i spend about 6-8 hrs a day preparing for my exam, i use Barron’s book for vocabulary, kaplan and manhattan for quans,but still could’nt get my practise tests right(i score low marks) , could you suggest me a study plan
If you are still struggling after going through those books, even the best study plan can’t help. You might consider a class or a private tutor. Magoosh offers a combination of the two – you have a private video tutor who you can pause whenever you want (it’s purely a video based format). Give it a try – we offer a free trial!
Hi dear Chris,
in advance, thank you so much.
I took 2 GRE on 5Nov2011, and 3Jan2012, and other one will be likely on 27March2012. unfortunately, despite taking all time on preparing for revised GRE(magoosh 2 times, ETS, Kaplan,…) but my scores are not good at all. first one was( Q 152, V 137), second one was(Q156 V136). now, I need good score for university, and I don’t know what should I do now. in advance I appreciate you to help me.
Thank you,
Lnaz
Hi Lnaz,
Sorry about your scores – though I definitely appreciate your perseverance.
A few questions – how did you prepare given that you were using Magoosh.How often did you take practice tests? And how did you focus on your weaknesses? Finally, what method did you use to learn vocabulary?
The answer to those questions should help me provide you with a study plan over the next couple months. I want to make sure that this time around you achieve your goals.
Hear from you soon!
Dear Chris, I appreciate your attention. I’m sorry in advance for my delay. I started my magoosh using from 11th-Sep-2011
I used its lessons’s videos, especially in verbal part; after that started my tests on magoosh, ETS, kaplan and Barrens.
I read the 1100 barren’s Readings and its vocabularies and some other verbal packets like Guru with around of 5100 vocabs, but unfortunally, I am still not having success. I am so worried for my next exam on 22th March.
Thank you for replying to me.
Lnaz
Well, I just finished advising a student about the importance of understanding words in context. Hopefully, you were learning some of these words, not just as definitions, but the way in which they are used in sentence (Barron’s 1100 does a little bit of this).
At this point, you’ve basically seen every word you could possibly encounter on the GRE. My suggestion: read.
Read often from the New York Times and even Newsweek magazine. You will encounter words you’ve learned. Can you define them in context? Have wordnik.com open on a browser just to check words. But without really understanding how words work in a sentence you can memorize thousand different word lists and complete a thousand practice problems without really learning words.
Let me know if that makes sense
.
Also, I can provide more advice on reading.
Best of luck (and with this approach you should have enough time before Mar. 22nd)
Hi dear Chris,
I appreciate your guidance.
I have started to read more than in the past.
I am new to this approach and it is difficult for me to adapt to it, but I’ll do my best.
Kindest Regards
Lnaz
Dear Chris, I appreciate your attention. I’m sorry in advance for my delay. I started my magoosh using from 11th-Sep-2011
I used its lessons videos, especially in verbal part; after that started my tests on magoosh, ETS, kaplan and Barrens.
I read the 1100 Readings and its vocabularies and some other verbal packets like Guru with around of 5100 vocabs, but unfortunally, I am still not having success. I am so worried for my next exam on 22th March.
Thank you for replying to me.
Lnaz
Hi chris,
After taking serious initiatives i’m able to crack the quans easily, but still i am weak in vocabulary section; could you please guide me through this? Currently i’m using baroons 3500 wordlist.
Hi Sur,
Here is a post that answers your question. I hope you find it helpful!
http://magoosh.com/gre/2011/vocabulary-lists-for-the-revised-gre/
Hi, I’m from Pakistan. I’m a medical student planning to do the GRE. I have no idea how to start my prep. Being a med student I cannot afford more than 2 hours studying for GRE each day. Please tell me how to begin. I’ll be very thankful.
hi chris.. i was wondering you provide full-length tests or just provide practice questions. Actually i’m concerned only with verbal part .
Hi Gaurav,
We do not provide full-length practice tests – as of yet.
What you can do, as a Magoosh user, is create mock practice tests (http://magoosh.com/gre/2011/mock-tests-for-the-new-gre/). Essentially, you can focus only on harder and very hard questions, thereby modeling the difficult section on verbal.
Does that help?
Hi Chris,
I have a very low gpa in engineering (55% from my 1st semester to my 8th); I’m a computer science student. After cracking the GRE with good marks, do you think I’ll get admitted to a US school for an MS? I have no work experience or research papers, so what should I do? Is it the right decision to do the GRE? Please help!
Hi Krishna,
A good GRE score could definitely help you gain admission to an MS program. By good GRE score I mean 90% Quant, 80% Verbal. I do not know anything about specific schools in MS – so getting into a competitive program on a solid GRE score alone will be difficult.
Hope that helped!
Hi Chris,
To guage my initial level, I had given ETS PowerPrep test and my score range is following.
Verbal – 400-500
Quant – 750-800
Can you please advise me what will be the right course of preparation for me. I plan to take GRE in July and have 3-4 months at hand. The above plan sounds good for me but I feel that I can stress more on Verbal part to improve my score.
Hey Chris,
I was wondering if there is a daily 2 months plan?
Hi WL3,
As of now we don’t have any 2-month daily plans. You can adjust the three month plan accordingly, perhaps giving yourself even more to do (esp. if you are ambitious
).
Hi
I have been doing a lot of critical reasoning questions from GMAT materials for my GRE prep. Am I on the right track here, considering the shift in focus of the new GRE towards reasoning type questions?
Also, on average, it takes me about 2:00 minutes to answer medium-hard CR questions. Is this a good enough time, or should I be working towards speeding up a bit more?
Hi Nitish,
That’s definitely the right strategy
.
The GMAT is very similar to the GRE RC, especially now with the Critical Reasoning questions.
About 2 minutes is not too much time, provided you are answering the questions correctly. On the GRE you will only get a few CR questions that are at the GMAT medium-hard level.
Let me know how prepping goes, and don’t hesitate to ask any other questions
.
Hello Chris:
I’m manal from Saudi Arabia I have been studying English for one year now and I took the GRE last December after studying English as a second language for 9 months and preparing for GRE for 3 months. My score was very low in all the sections as 11% in writing, 26% in Q , and 18% in verbal. Now I need to retake it and my goal just to reach the 30% in all the sections to be accepted in the university. What is your advice for me because I’m really felling lost . In the first time I used Barron books for math and general test and voc.
Thank you
Manal,
Let me just say congratulations
. For somebody who has only been studying English for one year, your ability is phenomenal. That you are even attempting the GRE after such a short time studying English is an accomplishment in of itself.
With your natural ability–and I presume drive (English isn’t easy)–you should, with a little more practice, be able to reach your goal of 30%. Anyhow, you used Barron’s, which isn’t the best source out there.
For textbooks, I recommend Manhattan GRE, and for computer-based learning, I recommend magoosh (Check out our product at gre.magoosh.com).
Let me know if you have any more questions
.
-Chris
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your reply.
On my last post I mentioned that i was preparing for the new GRE verbal using GMAT materials (for RC and CR).
Now, I feel that – since I am very thorough with the GMAT CR and RC materials – I might as well prepare for GMAT only. My intended course accepts either GRE or GMAT.
I had solved 100 (50+50) RC and CR questions on Kaplan’s GMAT premier and got only 10 of them wrong. This made me contemplate about taking the GMAT.
I am right now working on sentence-corrections, which should not be a big hurdle either.
Can you comment on the relative difficulty of the new GMAT and new GRE, and whether this whimsical decision of mine is a good one?
That’s a great question!
The GMAT is much more difficult quant-wise. So if this your strong suit, then your whimsical decision is a sound one.
Sentence Corrections aren’t too tricky so if you are doing well on the GMAT verbal definitely take the test.
In the end, I’d recommend you take both tests. Whichever score is better, i.e., has a higher percentile ranking, then submit that one.
Best of luck, and don’t forget that Magoosh can help you score very well on both tests: gre.magoosh.com and gmat.magoosh.com.
Hope that helps
.
Hi Chris,
Why does the study guide advise against taking more than two of the Manhattan practice tests?
During a two-week stretch students should have enough time to take and review the test (not to mention complete the other stuff in a two-week time period). While you can take more than two, especially if you aren’t missing too many questions, for most students two is enough.
Hope that helps!