OK, you are starting more or less from scratch, and you want to prepare for the GRE in 90 days. You need a strategic plan to organize yourself. I designed four different versions of the 90 Day Plan, and I need you to start with a little self-diagnosis. Which sounds most like you?
- 90 Day GRE Study Plan for Beginners: Help! Math and verbal both scare the living bejeebers out of me! I need all the help and support I can get! Help!
- 90 Day GRE Study Plan (Math Focused): I have a natural affinity with the verbal, but the math is far less intuitive for me. I would like to focus more there.
- 90 Day GRE Study Plan (Verbal Focused): Me a math nerd. Me think all math easy. Me have big verbal problems. One day, me will talk good.
- 90 Day GRE Study Plan for Advanced Students: I actually feel reasonably comfortable with math & verbal; if I took the test today, I’d get around 305-315 combined score. I’m interested in refining my understanding, and getting into the upper 320s region in the next twelve weeks.
90 Day GRE Study Plan (Math Focused)
Essential Materials:
- Magoosh GRE Prep
- ETS’s Official Guide to the GRE book (+ our free video explanations)
- 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 Poweprep software if you can, since taking the test on a computer is a better simulation of exam day conditions.
- Subscribe to the Sunday New York Times (NYT), online or print
- Reading material: this may be any non-fiction scholarly book, history and social science preferable. You may also choose one of the recommended magazines: Scientific American, Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, National Geographic, The Economist. You are reading (a) to build your reading comprehension skills, (b) to refine your understanding of grammar and usage, and (c) to expand your vocabulary.
- a journal or notebook (yes, a physical hard copy item)
- Notecards
Supplemental/Optional Materials:
Any of the steps listed in the schedule for the materials below are purely for extra practice, so they are to be done as optional tasks if you have extra time.
- Any one volume of the Manhattan GRE books. It’s an eight-volume set, so buy as much as you think will help you and as you can afford. One of the purposes of getting one book is to get the code in the back, to register and get access to six GRE tests online.
- Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know: a good starting point for learning GRE vocabulary
- McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math: this book is for those struggling with the very basics of math, folks who are sheer panic over almost anything mathematical. I assume that is relevant for you, since you are following this plan.
- Manhattan GRE 500 Essential Words Flash Card set — another good starting point for learning GRE vocabulary
- Quizlet.com: gives you online access to flashcards, making it easier, say, to quiz yourself on your mobile device
- WordSmart: very basic “level 1″ definition of words with simple sentences
- Dictionary.com: very good example sentences with definition
- Wordnik.com: provides a flood of example sentences
- Word Dynamo (Dictionary.com): give you little quizzes & games to add some variety to vocab learning
- Magoosh iPhone/Android app, for mobile practice
A note on learning GRE vocabulary: first of all, it’s important not only to learn the literal dictionary definition (the denotation), but also to understand the metaphorical use of the word in context (the connotation). For example, the word “opaque” literally means “not transparent”, but metaphorically it can means “hard to understand” or, describing a person, it can mean “thick-headed, stupid.” Ultimately, you should strive to learn both the denotation and the connotation of each word.
Nothing beats physical stacks of flashcards: You could have one pile for words whose denotation you are trying to master, another containing words for which you know the denotation but not the connotation, and a “done” stack that gets reviewed only rarely. Daily review of vocab is vital. I wrote this schedule recommending the Barron’s 1100 Words as a basic word list, but if you have another vocab list you would like use as your starting point, use that. DO NOT limit yourself to just the Barron’s words, or just the MGRE words. AS YOU READ and find more words you don’t know, look them up, make flash cards (including context), and mix them into your piles.
This 90-day plan demands a manageable pace that must be followed diligently so things don’t get out of hand. It’s designed to have you improve as much as you can improve in a three month period. I have designed twelve weeks, assuming 1-2 hours for each of the five weekdays, and one 4-5 stint on the weekend (“Day Six”). If you would prefer to work on both weekend days, and free up some weeknight time, feel free to make those changes.
Also, as much as possible, get enough sleep during this month. REM sleep plays an important role in encoding long term memory, and in an eight hour period of sleep, the last hour has the most REM. If you are getting 7 hours/night instead of 8 hours/night, you are depriving your brain of one of its most powerful systems for learning and remembering. Caffeine and energy drinks will keep you feeling awake if you don’t get enough sleep, but they don’t do bupkis to replace the lost opportunity to encode more information into long term memory.
Abbreviations
OG = the ETS Official Guide to the GRE
MC = Multiple Choice math questions
MA = Multiple Answer math questions
NE = Numeric Entry math questions
QC = Quantitative Comparison math questions
DI = Data Interpretation
TC = Text Completion verbal question
SE = Sentence Equivalence verbal question
RC = Reading Comprehension verbal question
PA = Paragraph Argument
AWA = the Analytical Writing Assessment, the essay-writing section
Week One
Week One, Day One
1) Go to http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about/content/, and read about the content of the GRE. Click on and read each sub-heading link.
2) In the OG,
Read Chapter 1, “Introducing the GRE revised General Test”
Read Chapter 2, “GRE Analytic Writing” (just the descriptions of the question, not all the sample material)
Read the introductory few pages of Chapter 3, “GRE Verbal Reasoning” (everything up to the sample questions)
Read the introductory few pages of Chapter 4, “GRE Quantitative Reasoning” (everything up to the sample questions)
3) Start reading through the GRE Math Review, the entire Arithmetic section. Take notes in your journal on whatever is unfamiliar. Do the Arithmetic Exercises and correct your answers.
4) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Integer Properties”, the first two videos in that section
Week One, Day Two
1) Continue reading through the GRE Math Review, the first half of the Algebra section. Take notes in your journal on whatever is unfamiliar.
2) Download and read the Magoosh GRE eBook.
3) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Integer Properties”, up to “Squares of Integers”
4) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
For each Magoosh problem, after you submit your answer, on the next page which tells you whether you were right or wrong, there’s a video solution and below that a text summary. If you got the question right, skim the text summary to verify you got it right for the right reason. If you got the question wrong, see if you can figure out for yourself why the right answer is right. After thinking through it yourself, watch the video, taking notes in your journal about any concept or any aspect of the question type that was unclear to you
Week One, Day Three
1) Continue reading through the GRE Math Review: finish the Algebra section. Take notes in your journal on whatever is unfamiliar. Do the Algebra Exercises and correct your answers.
2) Download the Magoosh GRE Math Formula eBook.
Read carefully the first section, “GRE Math Formulas: How to (Not) Use Them.” Right now, just skim the rest of the book, just to get a sense of what topics are covered. As you move through this plan, you will cover all of these. Use this for reinforcement and review: as you cover a particular math topic in the Magoosh lessons, read the corresponding part of this book to verify your understanding. By the end of this plan, you should know every section of this book.
3) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Integer Properties”, up to “GCD LCM Rule”
4) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
Week One, Day Four
1) Continue reading through the GRE Math Review, the Geometry section. Take notes in your journal on whatever is unfamiliar. Do the Geometry Exercises and correct your answers.
2) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Integer Properties”, up to “Consecutive Integers”
3) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
Week One, Day Five
1) Continue reading through the GRE Math Review: read the first half of the Data Analysis section. Take notes in your journal on whatever is unfamiliar.
2) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Integer Properties”, the last two videos in that section
NOTE: As you finish each section of lesson videos, take the practice quiz at the end of the set.
In Math: under “Arithmetic and Fractions”, the first video in that section
3) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
Week One, Day Six
1) Continue reading through the GRE Math Review: finish reading the Data Analysis section. Take notes in your journal on whatever is unfamiliar. Do the Data Analysis Exercises and correct your answers.
2) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In AWA: all ten videos
3) Today, you are going to write four essays, half an hour each. You will write two Issue essays and two Argument essays.
For topics, go to the ETS GRE Issue Pool (http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/issue/pool) and the ETS GRE Argument Pool (http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/argument/pool). Figure out a way to pick topics at random (maybe you print the lists, cut it into slips of paper, and choose some at random). Write the essays in a word processing program.
Now that you have these essays, what do you do with them? If you have a friend or mentor who is a gifted writer, see if they would read the essays for you and critique them. If they are willing, you can show them the assessment criteria in the OG, and ask them to follow it. If you can’t convince anyone else to read it, you may try posting them on that same GMAT club forum, and see whether an expert there will critique your essay. Failing either of these options, at least you can set the essays aside, and in a couple days re-read them with the OG’s rubric beside you.
Week Two
Week Two, Day One
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Arithmetic and Fractions”, up to “Multiples of 10″
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
read Chapters 1-2
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the first 20 words (in Barrons or whatever vocab source you are using). For each one, if the definition (both denotation and connotation) is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
If you have a facility with words, you may find many of these words familiar at first glance, which will result in a relatively small stack of flashcards.
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
Week Two, Day Two
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Verbal: under “Text Completion – Overview”, all six videos
In Verbal: under “Paragraph Argument”, first three videos
In Math: under “Data Interpretation”, watch all four videos
NOTE: you may find the information in some of the verbal videos obvious. If the content of a video seems obvious to you, don’t suffer through it — simply click to the end and read the summary to verify that there’s nothing you’re missing.
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
read Chapter 3 and do the exercises
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 TC
5 SE
2 PA
Week Two, Day Three
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Arithmetic and Fractions”, the last six videos in that section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
read Chapter 4 and do the exercises
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
Week Two, Day Four
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Verbal: under “Text Completion – No Shifts”, all four videos
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
read Chapter 5 and do the exercises
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 RC
Week Two, Day Five
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Percents and Ratios”, the first four videos in that section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
read Chapter 6 and do the exercises
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
20 MC
Week Two, Day Six
1) Today, you are going to write two essays, half an hour each. You will write one Issue essay and one Argument essay.
For topics, go back to the topics from the ETS Issue Pool & Argument Pool. Again, choose topics at random. Write the essays in Word.
When done, share the essays with a trusted friend/mentor, or post in the GMAT forum, or set aside and critique it yourself with the OG rubric in a few days.
2) In the OG & McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math:
a) in OG, do the Verbal Reasoning Practice Sets 1-6
b) in OG, do the Quantitative Reasoning Practice Sets 1-4
c) in McGraw-Hill, do GRE Math Practice Section 1
Treat this as a mock GRE. You might even combine it with the two essays, and do consecutive batches 2-3 set without interruption, to simulate more effectively a real GRE. Set a timer for the time limits. Here are the time limits to observe:
OG Verbal Reasoning Set 1 = 9 minutes
OG Verbal Reasoning Set 2 = 10 minutes
OG Verbal Reasoning Set 3 = 9 minutes
OG Verbal Reasoning Set 4 = 10 minutes
OG Verbal Reasoning Set 5 = 10 minutes
OG Verbal Reasoning Set 6 = 10 minutes
OG Quantitative Reasoning Set 1 = 22 minutes
OG Quantitative Reasoning Set 2 = 23 minutes
OG Quantitative Reasoning Set 3 = 24 minutes
OG Quantitative Reasoning Set 4 = 11 minutes
McGraw-Hill, GRE Math section = 35 minutes
After you are done, check all your answers. For any question you got right, skim the explanation to verify that you got it right for the right reason. For any question you got wrong, read the explanation thorough, taking notes in your journal on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that psyched you out. If you still can’t make sense of the question after reading the explanation, email us at Magoosh.
If you are doing much better than expected on either Math or Verbal, this might be a good time to consider whether you should switch to another version of the 3-month plan (see explanations of them at the top).
Week Three
Week Three, Day One
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Percents and Ratios”, the last four videos in that section
In Verbal: under “Paragraph Arguments”, remaining videos
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
read the intro to Part Three, and Ch. 7 through the section on Real Numbers; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
2 PA
Week Three, Day Two
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Verbal: under RC videos, the first six videos
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
read Chapter 7 up to the first set of “Practice Problems”; do the “Practice Problems” and check your answer; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 TC
5 SE
Week Three, Day Three
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Algebra, Equations, Inequalities”, the first four videos in that section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 7, read the Ch. 7 section on “Even & Odd Numbers”; take the “Number Properties Test 1″, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
Week Three, Day Four
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Verbal: under RC videos, the last five videos
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 7, do the “solved GRE Problems” and “GRE Practice Problems” (immediately after “”Number Properties Test 1″), grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 RC
Week Three, Day Five
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Algebra, etc.”, up to “Factoring – Rational Expressions”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 7, read up to and including the section on “Prime Numbers”; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
20 MC
Week Three, Day Six
1) Today, you are going to write four essays, half an hour each. You will write two Issue essays and two Argument essays.
For topics, go back to the topics from the ETS Issue Pool & Argument Pool. Again, choose topics at random. Write the essays in Word.
When done, share the essays with a trusted friend/mentor, or post in the GMAT forum, or set aside and critique it yourself with the OG rubric in a few days.
Week Four
Week Four, Day One
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Algebra, etc.”, up to “Three Equations with Three Unknowns”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 7, read “GCD and LCM Revisited”, do the “Practice Problems” immediately following that, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
Week Four, Day Two
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Verbal: under SE videos, the six videos of that section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 7, take “Number Properties Test 2″, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 TC
5 SE
Week Four, Day Three
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Algebra, etc.”, up to “Working with Formulas”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 7, do the “solved GRE Problems” and “GRE Practice Problems” (immediately after “Number Properties Test 2″), grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
Week Four, Day Four
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Verbal: in “Text Completion – Sentence Shifts”, the first four videos
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
Beginning reading Chapter 8, through all the Properties of Operations; do the “Practice Problems” immediately following, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 RC
Week Four, Day Five
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Algebra, etc.”, the last five videos in that section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, read the first part of the “Fractions” section, up to the examples following “Equivalent Fractions”; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 MC
5 NE
Week Four, Day Six
1) Today, you are going to take the hard copy practice GRE at the back of the OG.
For the two essay questions, write the essays in a word processing program. These essays you will either share with a trusted friend or mentor, or post in the online forums asking for feedback, or critique later with the OG rubric.
As much as possible, try to mimic the GRE conditions. Give yourself relatively short breaks in between sections. Only eat the kinds of snacks that you are planning to bring to the real GRE. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. Write any observations in your journal.
Week Five
Week Five, Day One
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Word Problems”, the first three videos in that section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, finish reading the “Fractions,” section up to the “Practice Problems;” do the “Practice Problems”, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
20 MC
Week Five, Day Two
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Verbal: in “Text Completion – Sentence Shifts”, the last five videos
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, begin reading the “Operations with Fractions” section, the sections on addition & subtraction of fractions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 TC
5 SE
Week Five, Day Three
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Word Problems”, up to “Age Questions”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, finish reading the section on “Operations with Fractions”, do the “Practice Problems”, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
Week Five, Day Four
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Verbal: in “Text Completion – Double Blanks”, all five videos in that section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, read the section “Decimals,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 RC
Week Five, Day Five
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Word Problems”, up to “Shrinking and Expanding Gaps”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, do the “Arithmetic Computation Test 1,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
Week Five, Day Six
1) Today, you are going to take your first of the MGRE practice tests. Take the whole test, and then read & study the explanations, taking notes on whatever you got wrong — whatever about the concepts or the questions format was unclear.
As much as possible, try to mimic the GRE conditions. Give yourself relatively short breaks in between sections. Only eat the kinds of snacks that you are planning to bring to the real GRE. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. Write any observations in your journal.
Week Six
Week Six, Day One
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Word Problems”, up to “Three Criteria Venn Diagrams”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, do the “solved GRE Problems” on and “GRE Practice Problems” (immediately following “Arithmetic Computation Test 1″), grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
20 MC
Week Six, Day Two
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Verbal: in “Text Completion – Tripe Blanks”, the first four videos in that section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, read the short “Word Problem” section, do the Practice Problems (Word Problems), grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 TC
10 SE
Week Six, Day Three
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Word Problems”, up to “Growth Tables”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, read a little more than half the section on “Ratios and Proportions”; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
Week Six, Day Four
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Verbal: in “Text Completion – Tripe Blanks”, the last three videos in that section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, finish reading the section “Ratios and Proportions”, do the “Practice Problems”, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 RC
Week Six, Day Five
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Word Problems”, the last four videos in that section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, read the “Motion and Work Problems” section, do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 MC
8 MA
Week Six, Day Six
1) Today, you are going to take another one of the MGRE practice tests. Take the whole test, and then read & study the explanations, taking notes on whatever you got wrong — whatever about the concepts or the questions format was unclear.
As much as possible, try to mimic the GRE conditions. Give yourself relatively short breaks in between sections. Only eat the kinds of snacks that you are planning to bring to the real GRE. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. Write any observations in your journal.
Week Seven
Week Seven, Day One
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Power and Roots”, the first five videos in the section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, read the short sections “Percentage” and “Percentage Word Problems,” do both “Practice Problems” sets (one at the end of each section), grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
Week Seven, Day Two
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Power and Roots”, up to “Simplifying Roots”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, read the section “Types of Average,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 TC
5 SE
3 DI
Week Seven, Day Three
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Power and Roots”, the last four videos in the section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, read the section “Powers and Roots”; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
Week Seven, Day Four
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Coordinate Geometry”, the first four videos in the section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, read the short “Standard Deviation” section, do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; then read “Simple Probability” section, do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 RC
Week Seven, Day Five
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Coordinate Geometry”, the last five videos in the section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, do the “Arithmetic Computation Test 2,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
20 MC
Week Seven, Day Six
1) Today, you are going to take another one of the MGRE practice tests. Take the whole test, and then read & study the explanations, taking notes on whatever you got wrong — whatever about the concepts or the questions format was unclear.
As much as possible, try to mimic the GRE conditions. Give yourself relatively short breaks in between sections. Only eat the kinds of snacks that you are planning to bring to the real GRE. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. Write any observations in your journal.
Week Eight
Week Eight, Day One
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Geometry”, the first four videos in the section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, do the “solved GRE Problems” and “GRE Practice Problems” (immediately following “Arithmetic Computation Test 2″), grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
Week Eight, Day Two
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Geometry”, up to “Polygons”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
Begin Chapter 9. Read the first sections, do the first “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; then, read the “Tables of Powers and Roots” and the section “Radical Expressions,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 TC
5 SE
Week Eight, Day Three
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Geometry”, up to “Circle Properties”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 9, read the section “Operations with Radicals,” do the “Practice Problems” and then “Algebra Test I,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
Week Eight, Day Four
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Geometry”, the last three videos in the section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 8, do the “solved GRE Problems” and “GRE Practice Problems” (immediately following “Algebra Test I”), grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 RC
Week Eight, Day Five
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Statistics”, all five videos in the section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Chapter 9, read all the short sections from “Translating Verbal Expressions into Algebraic Expressions” to “Division of Algebraic Expressions,” do the two sets of “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 MC
10 NE
3 DI
Week Eight, Day Six
1) Today, you are going to take another one of the MGRE practice tests. Take the whole test, and then read & study the explanations, taking notes on whatever you got wrong — whatever about the concepts or the questions format was unclear.
As much as possible, try to mimic the GRE conditions. Give yourself relatively short breaks in between sections. Only eat the kinds of snacks that you are planning to bring to the real GRE. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. Write any observations in your journal.
Week Nine
Week Nine, Day One
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Counting”, the first four videos in the section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 9, read the sections “Algebraic Fractions” and “Factoring Algebraic Expression,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; then, read the section “Operations with Algebraic Fractions,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
20 MC
Week Nine, Day Two
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Counting”, up to “MISSISSIPPI rule”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 9, do the “Algebra Test 2,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 TC
5 SE
3 PA
Week Nine, Day Three
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Counting”, the last four videos in the section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 9, do the “solved GRE Problems” and “GRE Practice Problems” (immediately following “Algebra Test 2″), grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
Week Nine, Day Four
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Probability”, the first three videos in the section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 9, read the five little sections from “Linear Equations” to “Equations with Radicals,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 RC
Week Nine, Day Five
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Probability”, up to “Determining Independence”
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 9, read the section “Systems of Linear Equations,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; then, read the tiny section “Linear Inequalities,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
3 DI
Week Nine, Day Six
1) Today, you are going to take another one of the MGRE practice tests. Take the whole test, and then read & study the explanations, taking notes on whatever you got wrong — whatever about the concepts or the questions format was unclear.
As much as possible, try to mimic the GRE conditions. Give yourself relatively short breaks in between sections. Only eat the kinds of snacks that you are planning to bring to the real GRE. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. Write any observations in your journal.
Week Ten
Week Ten, Day One
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
In Math: under “Probability”, the last four videos in that section
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 9, read the section “Quadratic Equations and Inequalities,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
20 MC
3 PA
Week Ten, Day Two
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
At this point, you should be done with all the Magoosh lesson videos. Keep up a pace of watching 4-5 videos a day, watching whatever videos you decide you need to see a second time.
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 9, read the section “Functions,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; then, read a little more than half the section “Algebraic Word Problems,” take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 TC
5 SE
Week Ten, Day Three
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for a second time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 9, finish reading the section “Algebraic Word Problems,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
Week Ten, Day Four
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for a second time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 9, do the “Algebra Test 3,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 RC
3 PA
Week Ten, Day Five
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for a second time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 9, do the “solved GRE Problems” and “GRE Practice Problems” (immediately following “Algebra Test 3″), grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
Week Ten, Day Six
1) Today, you are going to take another one of the MGRE practice tests. Take the whole test, and then read & study the explanations, taking notes on whatever you got wrong — whatever about the concepts or the questions format was unclear.
As much as possible, try to mimic the GRE conditions. Give yourself relatively short breaks in between sections. Only eat the kinds of snacks that you are planning to bring to the real GRE. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. Write any observations in your journal.
Week Eleven
Week Eleven, Day One
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for a second or third time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
Begin Chapter 10. Read the section “Points, Lines, Angles,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; then read the section “Polygons,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
20 MC
Week Eleven, Day Two
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for a second or third time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 10, read the section “Triangles,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; read the section “Quadrilaterals,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 TC
10 SE
Week Eleven, Day Three
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for a second or third time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 10, read the section “Perimeter and Area,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; read the section “Circles,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
3 DI
Week Eleven, Day Four
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for a second or third time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 10, read the section “Solid Geometry,” do the “Practice Problem,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; read the section “Coordinate Geometry,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 RC
Week Eleven, Day Five
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for a second or third time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In Ch. 10, do the “Geometry Test,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
Week Eleven, Day Six
1) Today, you are going to take the last of the MGRE practice tests. Take the whole test, and then read & study the explanations, taking notes on whatever you got wrong — whatever about the concepts or the questions format was unclear.
As much as possible, try to mimic the GRE conditions. Give yourself relatively short breaks in between sections. Only eat the kinds of snacks that you are planning to bring to the real GRE. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. Write any observations in your journal.
Week Twelve
Week Twelve, Day One
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for an additional time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
At the end of Ch. 10, do the “solved GRE Problems” and “GRE Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes in your journal on anything new or unfamiliar.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 MC
10 MA
Week Twelve, Day Two
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for an additional time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In a 35 minute sitting, take GRE Math Practice Section 2; grade it right after, but you don’t have to check all the solutions tonight.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 TC
5 SE
Week Twelve, Day Three
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for an additional time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
Go over the solutions to GRE Math Practice Section 2. For questions you got right, skim the explanation, simply to verify that you got it right for the right reason, and that there’s nothing further about that topic you need to know. For questions you got wrong, read the explanation carefully, writing in your journal anything new you learn or anything you need to remember.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
10 QC
3 DI
Week Twelve, Day Four
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for an additional time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
In a 35 minute sitting, take GRE Math Practice Section 3; grade it right after, but you don’t have to check all the solutions tonight.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the next 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 RC
3 PA
Week Twelve, Day Five
1) In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Watch any 4-5 videos for an additional time
2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math
Go over the solutions to GRE Math Practice Section 3. For questions you got right, skim the explanation, simply to verify that you got it right for the right reason, and that there’s nothing further about that topic you need to know. For questions you got wrong, read the explanation carefully, writing in your journal anything new you learn or anything you need to remember.
3) In Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know
Look over the what should be the last 20 words. For each one, if the definition is not immediately obvious to you, make a flashcard for the word. Review your flashcards
4) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.
5) In Magoosh, do the following problems
5 MC
10 NE
Week Twelve, Day Six
1) Today, you are going to take the practice GRE available through the GRE PowerPrep software. Pay attention to any differences you notice between the MGRE tests and this one: this one is presumably much more representative of the real GRE.
As much as possible, try to mimic the GRE conditions. Give yourself relatively short breaks in between sections. Only eat the kinds of snacks that you are planning to bring to the real GRE. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. Write any observations in your journal.
At the end, copy the essays you wrote into a Word doc, and as before, these you will share with a trusted friend or mentor, or post in the online forums asking for feedback, or critique later with the OG rubric.
After Week 12: Concentrated Review
At this point, if you have been following the schedule, you should have done every question in both Magoosh at least once. For whatever days remain before the test, keep up work on GRE math and verbal. Some suggestions for what to do:
1) Through selecting question type & difficulty on the “Dashboard”, do Magoosh problems over again, and see how you do a second time.
3) Keep watching for a additional time 4-5 Magoosh lesson videos a day, on whatever topics you feel you need to review
4) Keep reading your challenging material, to build vocabulary and acclimate your ear to eloquent style.
5) Keep drilling your vocab cards.
6) Re-read any topics in the McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math — any topics where you feel you would benefit from further review.
Day before the test:
1) No GRE preparation all day
2) Eat a large, healthy, leisurely dinner – no alcohol!
3) Go to bed earlier than usual.
Day of test
1) ABSOLUTELY NO LAST MINUTE GRE PREPARATION!
2) Eat a large breakfast, full of protein
3) Do relaxing, fun activities to pass time until the test
Bring to the test
1) A liter of water
2) Healthy energy-packed snacks (nuts, protein bar, etc.)
3) On breaks, make sure to get up, move & stretch – moving & stretching the large muscles of the body (legs & torso) will get oxygen flowing throughout, which will help keep you awake and keep you thinking clearly.
I don’t quite understand the logic behind some of the math centric study guide. The first day for example, you read the Arithmetic section of the GRE Math Review in the Official GRE Guide, take notes, and do the quiz. This section goes over things (prime factorization, square roots etc.) that I think are better explained in your videos, yet we don’t watch these. What gives?
Also, when you say 10 MC in Magoosh, you mean just go to practice and select 10 questions and multiple choice?
Lauren,
That’s a great question. You see, this plan was designed with the idea that getting a question wrong earlier in your study primes your mind to learn that concept more deeply when you do encounter it — when you get to those Magoosh videos, you won’t be wondering, “When will I ever use this in a problem?” because you already will have seen some problems with those ideas. Admittedly, this organization requires a certain tolerance for frustration at the beginning —we hope that you understand the overall logic and can tolerate a few mistakes at the beginning.
And yes, MC = multiple choice — you can practice any topics, or you can limit questions by topic and/or by difficulty if you choose.
Does all this make sense?
Mike
I was wondering this too. It is definitely frustrating to get so many questions wrong at first, but I am paying close attention to new lessons that answer old questions. Glad to know the method behind it!
I’m glad to hear that you are getting a great deal from the lessons because of this. Thanks for the feedback.
Mike
I have 45 days until I take the GRE, and I’m pretty strong in my verbal/reading comprehension (I’ve been tackling vocab for the past 6 months). I literally have nothing to do for the next 45 days except study for the GRE, and I’ve worked it out so that I could complete this 90-day schedule in 36 days straight if I double up days and skip the ‘rest’ day.
My questions:
1) I have the ETS OG, powerprep software, a subscription to Magoosh, and I read articles from The Economist and The Atlantic as well as some stuff that’s free on from the New York Times and New Yorker. I don’t have the Mcgraw-Hill Math book, instead I have the Nova Math Prep Course book which has better reviews on Amazon as compared to the Mcgraw-hill. In your opinion, is it sufficient to sub out the instructions for the Mcgraw-hill and apply them to the Nova book?
2) Regarding the Magoosh instructions, I’ve looked over the schedule and I don’t see where it explicitly tells me to take the module quizzes. Are we just supposed to complete the quizzes after we finish a section? The answer might be an obvious ‘yes’ but I didn’t know if that would take away from the overall question bank and maybe the schedule doesn’t intend for us to take the quizzes immediately after reviewing the info, to see how well we retain it later on…
Thanks and I love the site!
Sara: Good questions. I appreciate your determination!
The McGraw-Hill is a great book if you are weak in math and want everything spoon-fed to you. The Nova book has virtually no instruction, and is just a bank of very challenging problems. As for the choice between the two, it depends on where you are as a math student: if you need the hand-holding, McGraw-Hill is the way to go. If you relish the challenge of throwing yourself into hard problems, go the Nova route.
For the module quizzes, “yes” — do them when you finish the module.
Thank you for your compliments.
Mike
Thank you so much! I’ve noticed the wealth of problems and dearth (!) of explanation within the Nova material, however I bought the Quantitative Comparison Manhattan Prep book today (for the 6 practice GREs), so I’m hoping that the QC book will make up for some of that. I don’t know what I’d do without your schedule!!
Thank you for your kind words.
Mike
Hi!
I just took the GRE’s and did aweful. 147 on quant, 158 on verbal, and 3.5 on awa. ugh. I expected my quant score, but I did not time myself well enough on verbal and ran out of time on the first section. I only really studied for a month. I am planning on taking them again in Nov. I printed out the 90 day math plan. I work 12 hr shifts every weekend, taking 2 classes, volunteer in a research lab 12 hrs a week, and I have a 2yr old and 13 yr old at home…. soooo my question is what would be the best way to take this plan and stretch it out over 4 months? I do not have 4-6 hrs on the weekend so I am pretty much restricted to the weekdays. Any suggestions would be great! (By the way, I am applying to a Human Development and Family Studies Phd program so I’m not real concerned about the quant…but I at least want to get to the 50th percentile!)
If you are only shooting for 50th percentile on Quant, just drop the McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math — that will free time every day. The Magoosh videos & problems will be enough in Quant. Since your weekends are jammed, it sounds like you will have fewer opportunities for a full four-hour-sit-down practice GRE, although I would urge you to find the time to do a couple of those during your four months. If you keep a pace of doing four-days of this plan every week — for the first two Day Six’s, you can break those into pieces and do them on the week days, and just skip the other Day Six’s — with the caveat, again, that at some point, you create a full four-hour-sit-down practice GRE for yourself. Does all that make sense?
Mike
Yes, it does! Thank you!
Good. I’m glad I could help. Best of luck to you!
Mike
Hi there I am using this study guide, with Magoosh and it is going well so far. But on numerous days the author says: “Today, you are going to take one of the MGMAT practice tests. ”
Meanwhile it lists the following as the only required materials:
* Magoosh GRE Prep
* ETS’s Official Guide to the GRE book (+ our free video explanations)
* 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 Poweprep software if you can, since taking the test on a computer is a better simulation of exam day conditions.
* Subscribe to the Sunday New York Times (NYT), online or print
* Reading material: this may be any non-fiction scholarly book, history and social science preferable. You may also choose one of the recommended magazines: Scientific American, Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, National Geographic, The Economist. You are reading (a) to build your reading comprehension skills, (b) to refine your understanding of grammar and usage, and (c) to expand your vocabulary.
* a journal or notebook (yes, a physical hard copy item)
* Notecards (or Quizlet.com)
* WordSmart (or Wordnik.com)
What are the MGMAT tests that he is referring to and where are they to be found?
The ‘McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math’ has three ‘tests’ in it book but I don’t think that is what he is referring to.
Many thanks
-D
I’m sorry. That was a misprint, which I just corrected — it now correctly says, “Today, you are going to take one of the **MGRE** practice tests.” MGRE is an abbreviation for Manhattan GRE, listed in the Supplemental Materials. If you buy any one book of that 8-vol series, you will get access to all the online MGRE practice GREs.
Does that make sense?
Mike
Which GRE study plan should my daughter use?
She is an English LIt major, so she is obviously going to be very comfortable with the verbal side of the GRE. She got a (disappointing!) 760 in critical reading on her SAT and 730 (if I recall correctly) on her writing, although she didn’t really do much work on preparing for the writing because her chosen school didn’t look at that score. She just used the official guide to prepare.
The math was different. Although she got As in math (e.g., precalculus, advanced precalculus, etc.) in school and was in the top math section, but she was never really comfortable with it compared to the verbal and she certainly lacked confidence. I sent her to a tutor for a few sessions to help with the SAT math techniques/tricks/traps. She ended up with a comparatively weak 680. Fortunately, these scores were above the requirement for admissions to the honors program of her choice.
So…which GRE study plan track should she go for? Should she focus on the math track OR maybe just go with the advanced student track?
She will probably need to go with the 90 day plan starting in the Fall so that she has time for a couple of retakes, if necessary.
Thank you.
Hi, Alison
I’d recommend that she use the Math-focused plan, but it’s really up to her– she can pick a plan to start out with, but she may find that she wants to re-adjust her focus along the way, based on her performance, strengths/weaknesses, schedule, etc.
I hope that helps! Feel free to let us know if you have any other questions!
Best,
Margarette
Hi, I was wondering is there a reason why you included the McGraw-Hill book into the schedule as opposed to Manhattan GRE? I’m using Magoosh and Manhattan GRE prep and could use some insight on how to mix those.
Good question!
The McGraw Hill is only the McGraw Hill Math book, and it should be used only if you need a review of the fundamentals. If you are relatively strong at basic percentages, square roots, etc., then you will be fine with just Magoosh and Manhattan GRE.
Hope that helps
Magoosh,
These study plans seem great! Is there anyway to get them in an excel/word/printable format? Thanks!
Hi, Audrey
We’re working on making PDF versions of all of our study plans, but it we probably won’t have them up for a few weeks at the earliest. For now, I’d suggest copying the text of the plans straight from the page into Word and printing from there.
Feel free to let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with!
Best,
Margarette