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Mike MᶜGarry

One Month GRE Test Prep – Day-by-Day GRE Study Plan

By on July 21, 2019 in GRE Study Schedules

Magoosh One Month Study Schedule - How to Prepare for the GRE in 1 Month

1-Month GRE Study Schedule - image by Magoosh

This Magoosh One Month GRE Study Schedule is designed for those of you who are wondering how to study for the GRE in a short period of time on your own. How can you effectively do GRE test prep at home when you have competing priorities—school, work, family, hobbies—all demanding your time (and which are likely more tempting to indulge in)? The key is to commit yourself to an established plan.

We’ve eliminated the guesswork by detailing below exactly what you should do every single day to get your highest GRE score in the one month you have before your GRE exam date, along with some bonus GRE preparation tips. (If you think you need more or less time to study, Magoosh has lots of GRE study options for you!)

We’re not going to beat around the bush: one month is not a lot of time to prepare for the GRE, but it is doable if you follow this plan! Here’s how to prepare for the GRE in one month.

GRE Study Plan 1 Month Table of Contents

How to Study for the GRE in One Month: Your GRE Preparation Game Plan

  • Step 1: Take a practice test. Find out where you are compared to where you need to be. Taking a practice GRE exam early on can also help you diagnose problem areas, figure out score goals, and set priorities.
  • Step 2: Get your foundations in place. Familiarize yourself with the test, its format, its question types, and its scoring.
  • Step 3: Set up your schedule. While we have everything you need to prep for the GRE in one month, you’re the one who needs to decide when and how this fits in with your other priorities.
  • Step 4: Practice daily. This includes work on both the GRE Quantitative section and the GRE Verbal section, GRE vocabulary study, and lessons on GRE-specific strategies.
  • Step 5: Test yourself. Complete daily practice questions on the concepts and strategies you’ve just learned.
  • Step 6: Prepare for the full exam. This includes the AWA (writing section)! How to do it? Weekend essay writing practice and mock GRE practice tests, simulating real test conditions.
  • Step 7: Mentally and physically prepare. Get enough sleep, perform confidence-boosting exercises, and model healthy eating the days before the test

This outline will guide you to GRE mastery over the next month. It’s a simple formula with proven success!

GRE Study Plan Essential Materials:

1) Magoosh GRE Prep, including Magoosh GRE lessons and Magoosh GRE practice

2) ETS’s Official Guide to the GRE book

If you already own a 2nd edition of the Official Guide, don’t feel you have to buy the 3rd edition.

3) ETS’s Free PowerPrep Tests: When you’re done, we offer video explanations here. I highly recommend using PowerPrep Online if you can, since taking the test on a computer is a good simulation of exam day conditions.

4) A journal or notebook (yes, a physical hard copy item)

5) Magoosh’s online GRE Flashcards. They’re free and you can use them on the web, on your iPhone/iPad or Android.

6) Notecards (or Quizlet.com)

7) Magoosh’s GRE Complete Guide

This comprehensive, web-based guide to the GRE gives you the quick but very helpful overview you need to understand this test. You’ll see how the GRE is designed and scored, what skills it tests, how to find and use the best GRE prep, and how to prepare for the GRE’s different sections.

8) A Guide to GRE Practice Test Resources

This page includes instructions on where to find good full-length GRE practice exams, and how to take practice tests and incorporate them into your studies. This page also has links to Magoosh’s free GRE diagnostic quizzes.

9) Before you get started, Magoosh’s GRE expert Chris has some tips for how to use this schedule.

Okay! Let’s get started with day one.
 
 


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One Month GRE Study Plan: Week One


 
 
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Week One, Day One

1) Go to ETS.org, and read about the content of the GRE. Click on and read each sub-heading link: 10 minutes

2)  Watch the following lesson videos:

If the content in the video is new to you or relatively unclear, take notes on it in your journal. If the content is very familiar, feel free to click ahead to the summary at the end, just to verify that you understand it all.

Week One, Day Two

  Watch the following lesson videos:

 
Do the following practice questions:

Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

NOTE: If you are close to finishing a module you want to finish, feel free to move a lesson or two up a day or back a day so you can finish the module. As long as you are reading these average numbers, some give-and-take is fine. Also, when you get to end of a module, take the quiz, and keep reviewing until you pass the quiz.

Notice you are doing ALL topics from the get-go, whether you have already studied these or not. This means that you will make some mistakes at the beginning: see this post on a productive attitude toward making mistakes. If, after a week or so of practice, you find that there is simply too much new material for you, then narrow your studies to those topics you’re more actively studying plus one or two that you’re unfamiliar with. You should be constantly challenged. If you do narrow the topics of study, expand back to as wide a scope as possible as quickly as possible.

NOTE: For all math, you will be doing mixed practice. The temptation is to work on what you are studying at the moment, but that fails to simulate real test conditions. You don’t really understand a concept until you can answer a question about it in mixed practice. At the beginning, we know you will make mistakes on topics that you haven’t studied in depth yet, and that’s OK. See this post on having a productive attitude toward mistakes. If you make mistakes at the beginning and study them well, that will prime your mind for deeper understanding when you learn more about those concepts in the lessons.

Week One, Day Three

  Watch the following lesson videos:

Do the following practice questions:

Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

NOTE: If each day’s work is taking a long time, trim the number of questions in each section, rather than cutting one question type completely. If you must, reduce quantities, but always retain the diversity in your practice.

Week One, Day Four
Improve your GRE score with Magoosh.

  Watch the following lesson videos:

Do the following practice questions:

  • 10 Multiple Choice Questions: 19 minutes *
  • 15 Quantitative Comparison Questions: 18 minutes *
  • 3 Data Interpretation Questions: 4 minutes *
  • 10 Text Completion Questions: 10 minutes *
  • 10 Sentence Equivalence Questions: 8 minutes *
  • 10 Reading Comprehension Questions: 17 minutes *

    •  
    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week One, Day Five

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.
    Bonus: Download and start reading the Magoosh GRE eBook. Continue reading whenever you have the time over the course of the next two weeks.

    Week One, Day Six

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Today, you are going to write two essays, half an hour each. You will write one Issue essay and one Argument essay.

    The good news is that any prompt that you could possibly see test day is already on the ETS website: the pool of possible Issue prompts and the pool of the possible Argument prompts.

    For each essay, you can choose the essay prompt at random from the respective pool, or you might want to choose an essay topic that seems challenging to you. Write the essay in a word processing program. If you can turn off the spell check all the better–you won’t have the luxury of spell check test day. For each essay, hold yourself to a strict 30 time limit.

    Now that you have these essays, what do you do with them? If you have a friend or mentor who is a gifted writer, ask them to read the essays for you and critique them. If they are willing, you can show them the assessment criteria in the Official Guide, and ask them to follow it. If you can afford it, hire a writing coach or writing tutor: show that tutor the assessment criteria in the OG, and have them give you feedback. If you can’t afford a writing tutor and can’t convince anyone else to read it, you may try posting them on TheGradCafe, and see whether an expert there will critique your essay. Failing any of these options, at least you can set the essays aside, and in a couple days re-read them with the Official Guide’s rubric beside you.

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    One Month GRE Study Plan: Week Two

    Week Two, Day One

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Two, Day Two

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Two, Day Three

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Two, Day Four

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Two, Day Five

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Two, Day Six

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    1 Issue Task Essay : 30 minutes *
    1 Argument Task Essay : 30 minutes *

    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 topic pools on the ETS website, and pick a topic. Write the essays in Word.

    When done, share the essays with a trusted friend/mentor, or post in TheGradCafe, or set aside and critique it yourself with the Official Guide rubric in a few days.

    2) In the Official Guide:

    a) do the Verbal Reasoning Practice Sets 1-6

    b) do the Quantitative Reasoning Practice Sets 1-4

    Treat this as a mock GRE. You might even combine it with the two essays, and do consecutive batches 2-3 sets without interruption, to simulate more effectively a real GRE. Set a timer for the time limits. Here are the time limits to observe:

    Verbal Reasoning Set 1 = 9 minutes

    Verbal Reasoning Set 2 = 10 minutes

    Verbal Reasoning Set 3 = 9 minutes

    Verbal Reasoning Set 4 = 10 minutes

    Verbal Reasoning Set 5 = 10 minutes

    Verbal Reasoning Set 6 = 10 minutes

    Quantitative Reasoning Set 1 = 22 minutes

    Quantitative Reasoning Set 2 = 23 minutes

    Quantitative Reasoning Set 3 = 24 minutes

    Quantitative Reasoning Set 4 = 11 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.

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    One Month GRE Study Plan: Week Three

    Week Three, Day One

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Three, Day Two

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Three, Day Three

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Three, Day Four

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Three, Day Five

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Three, Day Six

    Take a full-length practice test. If you’re not a Magoosh student, you can use the free GRE practice exam on our site!

    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 Official Guide 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.

    You can take a short break when you are done, but before too long, grade the entire thing while it is still fresh in your mind. Study the solutions for any problems you got wrong, and right observations in your journal.details

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    One Month GRE Study Plan: Week Four

    Week Four, Day One

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Four, Day Two

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Four, Day Three

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Four, Day Four

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Four, Day Five

      Watch the following lesson videos:

    Do the following practice questions:

    Bonus: Using Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, begin and master a new deck, if possible. Spend 10 – 30 minutes reviewing previous decks, completing any that are started but not yet mastered.

    Week Four, Day Six

    Take a full-length practice test. *

    Today, you are going to take the PowerPrep test on your computer.

    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 Official Guide rubric. Give yourself a short break when the test is done, and then check all your work, studying carefully the questions you got wrong.As always, try to mimic the GRE conditions.

    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 Official Guide rubric. Give yourself a short break when the test is done, and then check all your work, studying carefully the questions you got wrong.

    GRE studying tips for any remaining days

    • Keep working on GRE math and verbal every day. Need suggestions for how to stay focused? Read on!
    • Keep watching 10-12 Magoosh videos a day. Go back and re-watch any videos in which you think you need to learn the topic more thoroughly.
    • You should have answered most of the Magoosh questions at this point; you can finish any remaining questions. You can try again Magoosh questions that you have already answered, and see if you do better on the question the second time around.
    • Keep drilling your stack of vocab cards every day.
    • There’s a second PowerPrep test you can take on the computer. There’s also another paper GRE in the back of the OG: even if you don’t take that under “test like” conditions, it still would be good to work through all the problems.

    Day Before the GRE Exam:

    1) No GRE preparation all day

    2) Eat a large, healthy, leisurely dinner – no alcohol!

    3) Go to bed earlier than usual.

    Day of the GRE:

    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 GRE 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.

     

    Wait! I Want to Know More About How to Prepare for the GRE in One Month!

    Not done yet? Fabulous! We have even more suggestions for how to boost your GRE score in a month. Check out the resources below to get that score sky-high.

    GRE Preparation Supplemental/Optional Materials:


     

    A Few Notes on GRE Study

    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.

    Daily review of vocab is vital. I wrote this schedule recommending the Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, but DO NOT limit yourself to just these words. As you read and find more words you don’t know, look them up, make flashcards (including context), and make your own flashcard decks. 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.

    A note on the prep books: Don’t write in any of the test prep books, because for any of them, after a period of time you may want to go back and do a problem again that you haven’t seen for a while. You can only start it fresh if the page is free of your marks.

    This one-month plan is a furiously intense pace, designed to have a person improve as much as possible in a month’s time. It’s not your high school level, 30 minutes a night study plan; this is the big league, graduate school level. I have designed four weeks, assuming 2-4 hours for each of the five weekdays, and one 5-6 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. Note: Many folks find that each day’s assignments take 2-4 hours, although times to complete them will vary for different students. It is possible that a day’s assignments will take significantly longer, and you may have to devote longer weekend sessions to finishing the week’s work.

    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.

    A note about additional materials:

    Magoosh contains all the information test takers need for wild success on the exam so they can get the school admission letters they want. Many students have achieved spectacular results using nothing but Magoosh—no GRE tutors, no extra books required. Nevertheless, we are recommending that you obtain additional materials and use them, in addition to the Magoosh materials. Here’s why: These plans were structured with far-reaching pedagogical principles in mind, and a deep consideration for how the human brain learns. Most people cannot hear or read something just once and, from that single hearing, remember it completely and understand it fully.

    At Magoosh, we are very ambitious for our students; we want them to learn as thoroughly and as masterfully as possible. We recommend using these additional resources to provide additional practice, alternative explanations, and extra review. Not every student will need or want additional materials, but for those who do, the books we recommend are the best for the overall goal of doing very well on the exam and getting your target scores.

    P.S. Ready to improve your GRE score? Get started today.

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    77 Responses to One Month GRE Test Prep – Day-by-Day GRE Study Plan

    1. Will Energy May 28, 2013 at 9:01 pm #

      My verbal score is 152 last time. I will take the GRE again one month later. I want to increase my reading speed. How to do it effectively?

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike May 29, 2013 at 10:08 am #

        Dear Will,
        Well, the first thing that leaps to mind is —– to get more comfortable with reading, you need to read every day. You need to read demanding, challenging material, on topics that you don’t necessarily find interesting, and try to get the most out of it. The NYT, the WSJ, the Economist magazine & Atlantic Monthly & Scientific American are all good places to get started.
        Building your active vocabulary also will help. I would strongly suggest watching all of Chris’ Vocab Wednesday videos on this blog.
        Finally, keep in mind that GRE Reading Comp is not a speed reading contest. It’s not about speed — its about understanding. Here’s a link to an article about GRE RC with many links to other relevant articles:
        https://magoosh.com/gre/gre-reading-comprehension/
        Here’s a particular good post on RC
        https://magoosh.com/gre/2011/faq-how-do-i-improve-on-the-reading-comprehension/
        BTW, my friend Chris is a verbal genius. You would do well to absorb every single scrap of advice you can wring out of this blog.
        I hope all this helps.
        Mike 🙂

    2. nwachi May 28, 2013 at 6:43 am #

      hi ,I wrote GRE in may and didn’t have good scores,148 quant,147 verbal,3.0 AWA.I will be writing it again at the end of June and really need advise on how to improve my scores especially analytical writing Scores.i also find the verbal comprehension questions very hard,any advice on how to tackle comprehension questions will be of good use to me.thanks

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike May 28, 2013 at 10:07 am #

        Dear Nwachi,
        Here are my recommendations:
        1) Read every single article on this blog, especially Chris’ verbal articles
        2) Sign up for Magoosh
        3) Follow this study plan assiduously.
        4) If you have the time, I would also recommend buying the verbal volumes of the MGRE set
        https://magoosh.com/gre/2012/manhattan-gre-book-review/
        Does all this make sense? Best of luck to you.
        Mike 🙂

    3. Karthik May 22, 2013 at 12:44 pm #

      How do i go about improving my vocabulary skills? Is the mnemonics approach efficient?

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike May 22, 2013 at 5:10 pm #

        Karthik,
        Mnemonics work for some folks. I have always been a fan of making flash cards, and simply drilling them over and over and over. MGRE has some good sets of flashcards already prepared. I would recommend watching every “Vocab Wednesday” video on this blog. I would also recommend the GRE vocab ebook:
        https://magoosh.com/gre/2012/gre-vocabulary-ebook/
        Finally, in a little over a month, Magoosh is going to launch a vocab flash card app — keep your eyes on this blog for that.
        I hope all this helps.
        Mike 🙂

    4. Swapna May 18, 2013 at 12:52 am #

      Hi Mike,

      I’ve taken the revised GRE for the first time and scored 303 (V-148, Q-155, AWA – 4.0). Although I am quite happy with my Quant score(considering I am applying to Biology), I only have 44 percentile in verbal. All the universities that I want to apply require a minimum of 50 percentile which would be 153. I want to buy 1-month GRE plan from Magoosh since my test is on June 20th and I wanted to know if it is different from the regular 6-months valid premium GRE plan. I am hoping to see an improvement in my verbal and also in my quant even though I am quite ok with the quant score. I want to use Magoosh for the entire month and just a little skeptical about the 1-month plan. Thanks!!

      • Margarette Jung
        Margarette May 19, 2013 at 10:29 pm #

        Hi, Swapna

        The 1-month plan is exactly like the 6-month plan: full access to all of our material, features, and support. The only difference is the length of the subscription. Getting to at least 50th percentile is definitely doable in a month, with a bit of hard work and focused practice! If you have any other questions as you get started, feel free to let us know and we’d be happy to help! 🙂

        Best,
        Margarette

    5. radha April 26, 2013 at 10:06 pm #

      I am taking my gre this june nd I am nt at all gud at vocab I am so tensed plz tell me how imprv my vocab in one month 🙁

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike April 29, 2013 at 9:31 am #

        Dear Radha,
        In addition to signing up for Magoosh and following this particular plan assiduously, I recommend
        (1) read through every article on the blog, paying particular attention to the “Vocab Wednesday” videos
        (2) see the links for vocabulary aids at the top — Wordsmart, Wordnik, and Word Dynamo — visit those sites every day.
        (3) read the NYT every day, looking up every single word you don’t recognize.
        (4) I would recommend the MGRE flashcard set — get those, and drill them every day
        (5) every time you write everything, even in texting & email, abandon all abbreviations, and write out everything with complete precision. Strive to make every sentence you create a masterpiece, as much as you can.
        Does all this make sense?
        Mike 🙂

    6. kendra April 26, 2013 at 9:39 pm #

      Hello I took the gre on the 15th and did really bad. I am now doing the 30 day plan and hope this will increase my score. V138 Q140 for grad school I need a 294.

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike April 29, 2013 at 9:25 am #

        Kendra,
        If you sign up for Magoosh and follow this plan religiously, I believe you will see significant improvement. Best of luck to you.
        Mike 🙂

        • kendra April 29, 2013 at 9:46 am #

          Yea I’ve been doing the 30 day plan and also using the Barron book

          • Mike MᶜGarry
            Mike April 29, 2013 at 9:51 am #

            Kendra,
            I assume you are familiar with our book reviews:
            https://magoosh.com/gre/2011/new-gre-book-reviews/
            Remember not only to watch all the Magoosh lessons, but also to watch all the video explanations after each question — certainly whenever you get the question wrong, even if you *think* you understand why you got it wrong.
            Does all this make sense?
            Mike 🙂

    7. Naveen April 18, 2013 at 1:37 pm #

      hi mike,

      I have scored gre 282 with 152 quant, 130 verbal and toefl 74. Realy i am so weak in verbal. I am planning to write exam after 1month. So please suggest me how to improve my verbal and i need badly to score 300+ atleast. Toefl too. plz suggest me.

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike April 18, 2013 at 1:54 pm #

        Naveen,
        Here’s what I recommend
        (1) Study this 1-month plan assiduously
        (2) Buy Magoosh, watch all the verbal lessons, then watch them all a second time.
        (3) Buy the MGRE verbal books and read through them
        (4) Over and above your GRE prep, read English, high level challenging English, for at least two hours each day.
        (5) Take notes, in English, on all of the above.
        (6) For the next month, give up any TV, any video games, any electronic entertainment. Focus on improving your English.
        Does all this make sense?
        Mike 🙂

    8. Trimella March 31, 2013 at 9:56 am #

      I really need to strengthen my verbal score but have about a month to prepare. Will the 30-day be enough prep? Other than time, what are the major differences in the verbal focused and. 30-day study schedule?

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike April 1, 2013 at 4:00 pm #

        Dear Trimella,
        This 30 day plan is an intense plan. if you follow it, you will definitely see improvement. Now, whether this improvement is enough to achieve your goals depends on where you are now, how fast you learn, your backgrounds, etc. etc.
        Because the 3-month Verbal plan is longer, it contains more material. if you are confident in your math, you might consider dropping some of the math prep in this 30 day plan and substituting in more verbal work fro that Verbal plan —-as much as you can fit in a 30-day period.
        Does this make sense?
        Mike 🙂

    9. Joe August 26, 2012 at 8:17 am #

      Hi Mike,

      I took the GRE yesterday and scored 161V/155Q but I consider myself a way more quantitative person. I used Kaplan prep materials to study math in the 2 months leading up to the test then the week before I realized that the questions were way too easy (after taking the power prep test) so I bought Magoosh and spent the week cramming. Needless to say I think you guys saved my math score.

      I’m applying to quantitatively heavy masters programs and I need to get my math score up at least 5 points. I think I just fell victim to test jitters + stupid mistakes so I’m going to take it again in a month. Do you think the schedule here will help me accomplish the 5 point gain? Can you suggest any tweaks? Do you think it is worth combining with the Manhattan math prep books?

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike August 26, 2012 at 10:28 pm #

        I think the schedule here will help you. I would also suggest look at the math resources in 90 Day Verbal Focus plan, esp. the NOVA book — you can mix some of those in. Also, the MGRE books are great, so those can’t hurt. If you learn all the math strategies Magoosh teaches, all the math strategies in the MGRE books, I think you will be more than ready next time.
        Mike 🙂

    10. Kim August 22, 2012 at 6:09 pm #

      Hi, Mike, I just took GRE yesterday and got V 142/ Q156 which I am not proud of.
      I am planning on retaking either early october or early november, which would you recommend? (my applications are due dec.1)
      and would I be able to boost up my score with one month plan?

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike August 23, 2012 at 11:01 am #

        Dear Kim:
        Yes, absolutely. If you follow this plan — and get Magoosh as part of that process — that combination will definitely raise your score.
        Mike 🙂

        • Kim August 27, 2012 at 10:26 am #

          thank you Mike,

          so, again, I am planning on retaking either early october or early november, which would you recommend? (my applications are due dec.1)

          • Mike MᶜGarry
            Mike August 27, 2012 at 11:25 am #

            Dear Kim
            You are quite welcome.
            Assuming you will be able to continuing studying solidly through the month of October, I would say the November date would allow you more prep time, which is always preferable.
            Mike 🙂

            • Kim August 27, 2012 at 4:28 pm #

              thank you so much Mike!
              I guess I’ll retake it early november 😀

              • Mike MᶜGarry
                Mike August 27, 2012 at 5:38 pm #

                You are quite welcome. Best of luck to you.
                Mike 🙂

    11. sriram August 16, 2012 at 12:08 am #

      should buy gre OG 1st edition or 2rd edition?

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike August 16, 2012 at 10:43 am #

        Always buy the most recent, most up-to-date edition. Here, that would be the 2nd edition.
        Mike 🙂

        • sriram August 17, 2012 at 4:43 am #

          thanks mike

          • Mike MᶜGarry
            Mike August 17, 2012 at 4:43 pm #

            You are quite welcome.
            Mike 🙂

    12. hi August 15, 2012 at 6:46 am #

      having a good experience with Magoosh. Thanks team !

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike August 15, 2012 at 10:19 am #

        Thank you for your kind words. Best of luck to you!
        Mike 🙂

    13. Monica Lazaro August 2, 2012 at 12:28 pm #

      Hello,

      I have purchased your product and was wondering about the 30 day study plan. I see that the math sections do indeed skip around. I wanted to make sure that all the videos are covered in the month span?

      Thank You!

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike August 2, 2012 at 6:17 pm #

        Monica: Yes, all the videos are covered in the one month span.
        Mike 🙂

    14. ALI SOHAIL July 17, 2012 at 11:56 am #

      hi mike..i learned about your one month plan.i have been preparing for some time for GRE now.but not getting the desired score in practice tests i gave.actually i feel i have over studied.coz i have been studying regularly for 5 months i guess..My AWA is really weak..quants is just abt 680-700 mark.and verbal i get score around 420.i need atleast 315 plus (1300 old score).will u one month plan will help??..can i be assured of 315 my target score.?. is there any money back guarantee?

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike July 20, 2012 at 9:50 am #

        Dear Ali:
        To follow the 1-month plan fully, you need to purchase the Magoosh product–and, yes, the Magoosh product could help you considerably. There is a score guarantee if you have already taken an official GRE (http://gre.magoosh.com/score-guarantee), but it’s not clear to me whether you have done so. You are looking for a rather large improvement: even with the Magoosh materials, this will take a great deal of work. I don’t know what your timetable is, but if you have the time, I would strongly recommend the full 3-month Verbal Focus Plan (https://magoosh.com/gre/2012/90-day-gre-study-plan-verbal-focused/)–if you want to fit all this improvement into only one month, then GRE preparation will have to be a full-time job for you. Magoosh has radically improved the performance of students like you. The limiting factor on how much you can improve is purely how much time & energy you can devote to it in this remaining period.
        Does that make sense?
        Mike 🙂

    15. Dileep July 15, 2012 at 9:49 pm #

      Which month is the best to take GRE?whats the best score(out of 340) for applying to universities?Please help me with this….

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike July 16, 2012 at 5:21 pm #

        Dear Dileep: The best month? That depends 100% on you and your schedule. When will you have the time to study, when will you be most prepared, etc. The GRE is scored such that no one gets an advantage or a disadvantage any of the 365 possible testing days in a year. When is the best month given grad school admission deadlines? Well, you will have to choose graduate school and contact them to find out their dates.
        Similarly, what’s the best score? In and of itself, this is not a fruitful question. Again, contact those schools, or look for a guide that will help you determine: what are the range of GRE scores among folks they accept. Take practice GREs to get a sense of your range, and Magoosh can help you improve from there. It’s important to have a sense of where you are starting so you can see what would be realistic for you to achieve.
        Does all this make sense?
        Mike 🙂

    16. Dawit July 8, 2012 at 3:39 am #

      Hi Mike and Chris,
      Thank you for the great web page. I find it very essential to my GRE prep.
      I will be taking my exam on Aug04 and have 30 days to prep. I am strong when it comes to math. But weak toward verbal (vocab) and writing since English is my 2nd language. Would you recommend “1 month GRE study Schedule” plan in my case. Also can I use “Prin.Rev. – Word Smart for the GRE, 2nd Edition” instead of the recommended “Prin.Rev. – Word Smart 5th Edition”?
      Thanks again
      -Dawit

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike July 9, 2012 at 6:34 pm #

        Dawit: Yes, use the 30 plan, but insofar as you have some additional time, look over the 90 Verbal Focus plan — perhaps you can work in a few resources from that as well. Between the two editions of PR Word Smart — I don’t think the difference would be big enough to cause concern.
        Mike 🙂

    17. yemmygb June 30, 2012 at 12:50 pm #

      thanks for the study guide. i intend to write the GRE on August 11. Will start using this guide tomorrow.

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike June 30, 2012 at 1:22 pm #

        Thank you, and best of luck to you! Let us know if you have any further questions.
        Mike 🙂

    18. Pranav June 26, 2012 at 2:49 pm #

      Hey,

      About this 1-month schedule of yours, would it be better to jump on some sections in math which I get wrong on 10MC practice sets? Coz I’m getting some of the probability questions wrong and that section doesn’t come up until much later in the schedule. So should I follow it blindly?

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike June 26, 2012 at 2:57 pm #

        Pranav: If there’s a single section, like probability, that is giving you a great deal of trouble, then yes, sub those videos into the video rotation right away. That way, you’ll get the familiarity you need, and you’ll be able to review those videos again toward the end of the plan.
        Mike 🙂

        • Pranav June 26, 2012 at 3:21 pm #

          Aight. Got it. Thanks.

          • Mike MᶜGarry
            Mike June 26, 2012 at 3:27 pm #

            You’re quite welcome. Let us know if you have any further questions.
            Mike 🙂

    19. Rohit June 23, 2012 at 1:30 pm #

      Hi,

      I gave GRE practice test on Powerprep II and got my scores:

      Verbal: 430 – 530
      Quant: 750 – 800

      I am not able to make a correct estimate about my verbal score, which obviously needs improvement. Could you please guide how to make a precise estimate according to the new pattern?

      Also, I had a major fight with time, I had to guess one whole RC passage in both the sections due to lack of time! I guess practice would correct that, but how to tackle that?

      • Chris Lele
        Chris June 27, 2012 at 3:01 pm #

        Hi Rohit,

        It seems as though the GRE verbal section has been scaled down towards the lower end of the range. Meaning, you received closer to a 430 than a 530. Sorry I can’t be more precise than that, but ETS tends to be mum with its exact algorithm.

        For practice, we offer tough questions on the Verbal section. Manhattan GRE also offers six on-line tests, which give you plenty of practice.

        Hope that helps!

        • Rohit June 28, 2012 at 12:29 am #

          That means I can estimate my score to be more or less 150, according to the concordance table. Right?

          Also, are they giving out revised powerprep test this July?

    20. bharat June 23, 2012 at 12:18 am #

      dear mike,
      i have my gre in 30 days flat and im at scratch
      i have been reading barrons 800 essentials words for gre
      im worried about the quant
      i bought this ets material
      and also subscribing to your 30 day plan
      since i have only 30 days
      and the only good thing is im completely free for these 30 days
      and can spend time on gre.
      do you have any tips for me please help me out.

    21. Jaizen June 21, 2012 at 5:55 am #

      Helllo,

      I recently signed up for this course and I will be starting the one month prep plan today!
      I have taken the GMAT previously and therefore I think that 1 month may be sufficient to get me a high percentile score. I do wonder though if you have any prep plans that focus on the more difficult aspects of the GRE?

      Thanks

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike June 21, 2012 at 10:07 am #

        Jaizen:
        I realize you only have a month, but I would suggest going to:
        https://magoosh.com/gre/2012/90-day-gre-study-plan-for-advanced-students/
        That’s where you will find our recommendations for the most challenging test prep material. Choose from that plan whatever looks good, whatever you can fit in to your month of preparation. Best of luck to you!
        Mike 🙂

    22. nikhilla June 20, 2012 at 9:58 pm #

      hey ..i m planning to take up my gre in aug 2012 and i hav maths phobia and i m little bad at it can you suggest ways to improve on how to get approach to solve math section … please !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike June 21, 2012 at 10:04 am #

        Dear Nikhilla:
        First of all, I would suggest looking at:
        https://magoosh.com/gre/2012/90-day-gre-study-plan-math-focused/
        I know you don’t have a full 90 days until your GRE, but there are several resources in that plan that can help you. Also, I don’t whether you are a Magoosh member yet, but the Magoosh lesson videos will be an enormous help for you. Also, there are several helpful math articles on this blog that are worth reading. Finally, free free to mail us any individual math questions, and we’ll give you detailed explanations. With our support, you will be able to handle GRE math!
        Mike 🙂

    23. Priscilla S. June 20, 2012 at 6:42 pm #

      Hey Magoosh team,
      Just wanted to thank you guys for this study plan. I became a premium subscriber and followed it, while doing plenty of practice outside of the guide. I scored significantly higher than my first GRE. Thanks again.

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike June 21, 2012 at 9:55 am #

        Congratulations! Also, thank you very much for letting us know about your success.
        Mike 🙂

    24. Pranav June 20, 2012 at 11:21 am #

      Hi. I’ve recently signed up for your 1 month course and my test is in 20 days. I’ve been reading some classics and I’m not really worried about the quantitative section, I know I’ll nail it with some practice. Any suggestions as to how to follow this schedule? I’m planning on doing 2 days work in 1 day, is that all right?

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike June 20, 2012 at 11:41 am #

        Dear Pranav:
        You sound as if you are already quite comfortable with both Verbal and Quantitative, so I think if you have the time, doing 2 days in 1 sounds like a good plan. Best of luck to you, and let us know if you have any specific questions.
        Mike 🙂

        • Pranav June 20, 2012 at 12:20 pm #

          Well I find the Verbal section tough sometimes as English is my secondary language. I guess I’ll give more time to improve my vocabulary. Thanks for the quick reply. Great course, I’m already loving it!

          • Mike MᶜGarry
            Mike June 20, 2012 at 1:35 pm #

            I’m glad you like it. Best of luck to you.
            Mike 🙂

    25. John May 27, 2012 at 8:23 am #

      This is my first comment after reading this post.
      ‘Amazing’
      I’m preparing for GRE from past 2 months and due to my busy work schedule almost 12hours a day, I couldn’t find right strategy to prepare. Although I have done some practice but after reading this schedule by Mike. I think I found my bible at the right time. I’m sure it will really help me. But Mike can you tell me how to build vocabulary, because I’m very bad at it . Please help with that too.
      Thanks a lot.

      • Chris Lele
        Chris May 29, 2012 at 1:25 pm #

        Hi John,

        Mike thanks you for the kudos :).

        As I’ve written most of the posts pertaining to your question, I thought I’d chime in. In a nutshell, you want to approach vocab prep for the New GRE differently from other standard vocabulary exams.

        The key is supplementing vocab list study with reading in context. A great place to get started is our new Vocabulary E-book:

        https://magoosh.com/gre/2012/gre-vocabulary-ebook/

        Let me know if you have any questions :).

    26. John May 27, 2012 at 6:22 am #

      This is my first comment after reading this post.
      ‘Amazing’
      I’m preparing for GRE from past 2 months and due to my busy work schedule almost 12hours a day, I couldn’t find right strategy to prepare. Although I have done some practice but after reading this schedule by Mike. I think I found my bible at the right time. I’m sure it will really help me.
      Thanks a lot.

    27. Ross May 15, 2012 at 10:13 am #

      Hi Mike,

      I have about 60 days to prepare and I have a little head start on the vocabulary section.
      Would you suggest following the 30 day or the 90 day plan?

      Thanks

      Ross

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike May 15, 2012 at 12:03 pm #

        Ross: I’d say, tailor one of the 90 plans. You will probably have to either skip some videos or watch them at a faster clip, and you can probably judge for yourself which other materials to skip, compress, or accelerate. You can compare resources to the 30 day plan, which includes only the bare essentials. Of the four 90 plans, the “math-focused” plan assumes you have a bit of a headstart on the verbal side. I hope this helps. Let us know if you have any further questions.
        Mike 🙂

    28. KATIE May 4, 2012 at 1:41 pm #

      What do the numbers before the question types represent?

      Example: “6 QC (Section: “Math- Quantitative Comparison “, check off all Subjects)”

      My question is about the number 6 here – does this mean 6 questions? 6 minutes? Not sure, can someone please clarify?

      Thanks!

      • Margarette Jung
        Margarette May 4, 2012 at 1:46 pm #

        Hi, Katie

        That should read “5 QC”, and it refers to the number of questions. We’ll fix those throughout the plan. Thanks for letting us know, and feel free to send us any other questions you have along the way!

        Best,
        Margarette

        • KATIE May 4, 2012 at 3:13 pm #

          you guys are soooo good – thanks for the prompt response!

          • Margarette Jung
            Margarette May 4, 2012 at 3:17 pm #

            haha you’re welcome, glad we could help! 🙂

            Best,
            Margarette

    29. Nimrod March 4, 2012 at 12:47 pm #

      *thank, of course

    30. Nimrod March 4, 2012 at 12:46 pm #

      Hi Mike and the rest of the Magoosh team, tank you for all the great advice!

      I took the GRE for the first time a month ago (157V, 152 Q. I panicked a bit), and now i’m regrouping, reconsidering and preparing myself for a second round. I’d love to hear your suggestions:

      Since I’ve taken a formal course, I’ve already studied for three and a half months before the test. It seems that without time pressure I can nail most of the GRE’s math questions, but since I’ve spend most of my adult life avoiding Math, it needs to be strengthened further. As for the Verbal part – with English as a second language, i’m realistic about my chances to hit the 170, but I hope for the best.

      In any case, I am a book learner, so I consider buying the Manhattan guides. at least for the Math. I also have some of the NOVA questions and a tiny bit of the Barron’s and ETS books that I didn’t reach on the previous round.

      I’m uncertain as to how to manage my time and exactly when to take the test – I have some time until i’m due to apply (i’m applying for 2013), and I need the highest grade I can possibly get. However, having a job, I have no idea how much time each day, other than the weekends, I could dedicate to studying. Any thoughts?

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike March 19, 2012 at 12:17 pm #

        NImrod: First of all, I would say — if English is your second language, congratulations! You are much more fluent in a second language than I am! I would also say, it might be more important to get the Manhattan books for Verbal than for Math, because it sounds like you need more support on the verbal side.. As far as when to take it, it’s hard to say. That depends on how much you can study. You say you have a full-time job —it’s really none of my business, but beyond job and sleeping, what constitutes the other hours in your weekdays? Is there any TV watching? This is very hard medicine, but I would suggest: if you cut out all TV, you would have that much more time to study for GRE. Of course, if most of those other hours are going to family, then that can’t be cut as blithely as TV watching. Do you have time commuting to/from work that you could use for studying? Anything you can do to put in just a few hours of consistent weeknight time will pay big dividends over the long term. What builds long term memory is repeated exposure, and it’s hard to get up to sufficient repetitions if you are just seeing the material on binge sessions on the weekends. —– As far as when to take the test: once you have watched all the Magoosh videos, done all the Magoosh practice questions, and worked through whatever MGRE books you are going to get, then that would be a good time to schedule the test. See if you can map out your time to estimate when you would through with all of that. Does all this make sense? Please let me know if you have any further questions. Mike 🙂

        • Nimrod March 19, 2012 at 1:20 pm #

          It did make sense, thank you. I got all of the Manhattan books, just in case. Although you guys found a few flaws in the Verbal books, I found that the drills are excellent – even the easy ones are not that easy, so for people like me, with English as a second language, I’d recommend them wholeheartedly. There isn’t too much TV, but you are right, of course. I am wondering, though – I have taken the GRE and got the aforementioned scores. Assuming I will have some time to practice (say, an hour or so a day, weekends, and some holidays are near) and good books and videos, is it realistic to attempt to get a top percentile grade, at least on the quantitative part? How many grade points does all this effort usually add?

          • Mike MᶜGarry
            Mike March 19, 2012 at 2:49 pm #

            You know, how realistic it is, how many points the effort adds, depends so much on you: how you learn, how you work, how you remember, etc. The more time each day you can put in consistently, the better your chances are. Make sure you see each and every Magoosh video at least once, taking notes on them as you watch them. I would recommend looking at the resources for the “Verbal Focused” 3-month plan (https://magoosh.com/gre/2012/90-day-gre-study-plan-verbal-focused/). In particular, I would recommend the GMAT OG as an additional practice source. GMAT math tends to be a bit more difficult than GRE math, so practice with the GMAT will strengthen you GRE quantitative skills further. Also, check out http://gmatclub.com/forum/, an online forum for the GMAT: check out their problem-solving forum, which is essentially the same format as ordinary GRE quantitative MC. You will see some high level math discussions there, and if you follow those regularly, that will give you a huge edge on the GRE quantitative. Also, read all the math posts on the Magoosh GMAT blog: https://magoosh.com/gmat/ — you will find some sophisticated math there as well. I hope all these suggestions help. Mike 🙂

    31. Arun March 4, 2012 at 8:00 am #

      Thanks Mike. To be very honest, I feel I made a right choice by picking Magoosh for my GRE prep only for such reasons. The team behind Magoosh is brilliant. Something that I couldn`t have got elsewhere. This blog coupled with Magoosh`s Content makes it one of the most effective GRE prep ever available. There are certain things money can`t buy. This is one such thing.

      • Mike MᶜGarry
        Mike March 19, 2012 at 11:29 am #

        Thank you for you kind words. Let us know however else we might support you.
        Mike 🙂


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