Preparing for the GRE on a tight schedule is daunting, especially when juggling other vital aspects of life—school, work, family, and personal pastimes all have important places. Recognizing this, we’ve tailored the Magoosh One Month GRE Study Plan for those who want a clear, well structured daily plan to meet this challenge.
We’ve meticulously charted out a daily roadmap to guide you towards achieving your target GRE score within this limited period. Moreover, sprinkled throughout this plan are bits of strategic advice to enhance your study sessions. Also the structure is not inflexible–so as we’ve shown elsewhere you may feel the need to adapt this schedule to better suit your pace, or you may want to consider one of the GRE study schedules tailored for different needs.
One month will fly by, but with your diligence and our guidance, you can reach your target GRE score. Let this plan be your trusted companion as you navigate this intensive journey in one month.
Your One-Month GRE Preparation Game Plan
As you begin your GRE preparation there are some general steps to set yourself up for success. While the study schedule can tell you what to do, consider these seven steps as guidelines that help you maximize benefit.
- Step 1: Start with a practice test. Determine your current standing and any gap between your present score and your target. This initial assessment will also reveal what areas need attention as you set goals and priorities.
- Step 2: Build your foundational knowledge. Gain a clear understanding of the test’s layout, its range of questions, and its scoring mechanics. This will help bolster your confidence in applying the strategies you’ll learn.
- Step 3: Set your study schedule. While our guide has you covered for GRE prep over the next month, it’s your responsibility to fit the work in among your other responsibilities.
- Step 4: Practice daily. That means get work in on both the Quantitative and Verbal sections, as well as vocabulary enhancement and testing strategies.
- Step 5: Keep on testing. Work through daily practice exercises in order to reinforce the concepts and strategies you’re learning.
- Step 6: Prepare for the full exam. Don’t forget the AWA (writing section)! Weekend writing practice and full-length GRE mock tests, will real you for the real thing.
- Step 7: Prepare mentally and physically. “Sound mind in a sound body” as the saying goes, part of preparing for the test means prioritizing sound sleep, do confidence-boosting activities, and eat nutritiously in the lead-up to test day
This outline will guide you to GRE mastery over the next month. It’s a simple formula with proven success!
Study Schedule Essentials
- Magoosh GRE Prep, including Magoosh GRE lessons and Magoosh GRE practice.
- ETS’s Official Guide to the GRE book
- 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.
- A physical journal/notebook or similar notetaking/writing app.
- Magoosh’s online GRE Flashcards. They’re free and you can use them on the web, on your iPhone/iPad or Android.
- 6. A flashcard app or website of your choice. There lots of them our there from flashcard maker mobile apps to Quizlet or Cram.
- 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.
- 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.
Additional Materials:
Most students have achieved spectacular results using nothing but Magoosh. Nevertheless, we recognize that there others who are equally dedicated to your success, and so we recommend additional materials that supplement our own. These plans were structured with far-reaching pedagogical principles, and for most people hearing or reading once is not enough.
At Magoosh, we are very ambitious for our students; we want you to learn as thoroughly and as masterfully as possible. These additional resources are vetted to provide additional practice, alternative explanations, and extra review.
- PowerPrep PLUS. After making use of the free PowerPrep tests, you can pay for additional tests.
- The Official GRE Quantitative Reasoning Practice Questions and The Official GRE Verbal Reasoning Practice Questions. If you need more high quality practice question, these are excellent sources!
- Math Review for Quantitative Reasoning Measure. Specifically for math, if you are struggling with concepts these videos and pdf collaboratively developed by ETS and Khan Academy may provide additional insights into specific skils.
- For supplemental reading practice use the site Arts & Letters Daily. There’s new material everyday across a range of subjects and publications.
- Vocabulary.com: provides conversational example sentences and a flood of example sentences
- Dictionary.com: gives you little quizzes & games to add some variety to vocab learning
- Magoosh GRE Prep App on iPhone or Android, for mobile practice
Sample GRE Study Plan: 1 Month
The study plan itself may be downloaded in .pdf form above, and here you can see a sample of days. By design, the schedule exposes you to all topics on the GRE from the beginning. Days 1-5 every week, you’ll do a combination of video lessons and practice problems in both Quantitative and Verbal areas. Day 6s vary, and include everything from more lessons to practice AWA sections (essays) to full-length practice tests!
| Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEEK 1 | GATHER MATERIALS AND DIVE IN | ||||
| Read official GRE material on ETS's website, complete 18 lesson videos on the Magoosh site (specified in PDF) | Watch 11 lesson videos and complete 6 practice sets on Magoosh's site (specified in PDF) | Watch 15 lesson videos and complete 5 practice sets on Magoosh's site (specified in PDF) | Watch 14 lesson videos, complete 6 practice sets on Magoosh's site, and take 2 quizzes (specified in PDF) | Watch 14 lesson videos, complete 5 practice sets on Magoosh's site, and take 1 quiz (specified in PDF) | Watch 15 lesson videos on Magoosh's site, then complete two AWA essays (specified in PDF) |
Last but not least, if you want to sign up for Magoosh today, use this coupon code at checkout for 20% off: grestudyplan30! Need more help?
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?
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 🙂
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
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 🙂
How do i go about improving my vocabulary skills? Is the mnemonics approach efficient?
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 🙂
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!!
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
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 🙁
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 🙂
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.
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 🙂
Yea I’ve been doing the 30 day plan and also using the Barron book
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 🙂
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.
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 🙂
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?
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 🙂
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?
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 🙂
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?
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 🙂
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)
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 🙂
thank you so much Mike!
I guess I’ll retake it early november 😀
You are quite welcome. Best of luck to you.
Mike 🙂
should buy gre OG 1st edition or 2rd edition?
Always buy the most recent, most up-to-date edition. Here, that would be the 2nd edition.
Mike 🙂
thanks mike
You are quite welcome.
Mike 🙂
having a good experience with Magoosh. Thanks team !
Thank you for your kind words. Best of luck to you!
Mike 🙂
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!
Monica: Yes, all the videos are covered in the one month span.
Mike 🙂
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?
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 🙂
Which month is the best to take GRE?whats the best score(out of 340) for applying to universities?Please help me with this….
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 🙂
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
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 🙂
thanks for the study guide. i intend to write the GRE on August 11. Will start using this guide tomorrow.
Thank you, and best of luck to you! Let us know if you have any further questions.
Mike 🙂
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?
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 🙂
Aight. Got it. Thanks.
You’re quite welcome. Let us know if you have any further questions.
Mike 🙂
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?
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!
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?
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.
Hi Bharat,
I’m taking this for Mike :).
As for GRE tips, check out Magoosh’s ebooks:
https://magoosh.com/gre/2012/gre-vocabulary-ebook/
https://magoosh.com/gre/gre-ebook/
The tips in the ebooks will definitely help you over the next 30 days.
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
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 🙂
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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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 🙂
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.
Congratulations! Also, thank you very much for letting us know about your success.
Mike 🙂
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?
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 🙂
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!
I’m glad you like it. Best of luck to you.
Mike 🙂
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.
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 :).
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.
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
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 🙂
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!
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
you guys are soooo good – thanks for the prompt response!
haha you’re welcome, glad we could help! 🙂
Best,
Margarette
*thank, of course
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?
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 🙂
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?
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 🙂
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.
Thank you for you kind words. Let us know however else we might support you.
Mike 🙂