Rachel Wisuri

Four Month GRE and TOEFL Combined Study Schedule

GRE & TOEFL Combined Study Plan - image by Magoosh

GRE & TOEFL Combined Study Plan

First, let’s talk about one very important point. If you can separate your studies, you should. Ideally, if you are going to take both the TOEFL and the GRE, you should do this:

  1. Study for the TOEFL
  2. Take the TOEFL
  3. Study for the GRE
  4. Take the GRE

There are a few reasons for this. First, it is easier to focus on one test at a time. You will improve on the GRE more efficiently if you are only learning the GRE, so you don’t risk mixing it up with the TOEFL. Similarly, if you are focusing only on the TOEFL, you will make faster improvement on that test than you would if you were also learning about the GRE.

button to gre and toefl study schedule

Second, if your scores on the TOEFL are much lower than you need, then you may not be able to get admission to the school you want regardless of your GRE scores. In that case, taking the GRE immediately may just be a waste of money. It would be better to spend time improving your general English skills before taking the TOEFL a second time, and then tackling the GRE.

And finally, it is easier to customize your study schedule if you separate your studies. For example, if you are going to study for the TOEFL first and then the GRE, you can simply choose the TOEFL study schedule that is best for you, and then the GRE study schedule that works best when the TOEFL schedule is done.

Who this schedule is for

If you are going to take the GRE and the TOEFL near the same time, and you have no choice, then this schedule can help! For example, if it is June now and the only test dates that are open are in October, but applications deadlines are in November, then you will have no choice but to study both tests at the same time.

How this schedule is structured

As I wrote above, it’s best to study the tests as separately as possible. That’s why you will not even start studying the TOEFL until week ten. The GRE is a large, difficult test that includes very advanced English reading and some extremely tricky math. Improving your score on such a difficult test can take time, which is why we start by learning only the GRE skills.

After a few months of studying the GRE, it will be time to change to studying the TOEFL for a few weeks. You will then switch back and forth, studying the GRE sometimes and the TOEFL sometimes, depending on which test you will take first.

button to gre and toefl study schedule

Customizing this schedule

Understand that this schedule is a template. You may want to change some parts. There are optional books, for example, that you can either use or ignore. It is your choice, depending on how much time you have to study every day and how much money you can spend on practice material.

We recommend starting without the optional material. If you then decide that you can actually do more than the minimum of the schedule, then you might purchase the optional material, too.

A note on 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 vocabulary 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 flash cards (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.

Improving your English

The TOEFL parts of this plan are mostly designed to get you familiar with the TOEFL format and question types, but with the ultimate aim of getting your TOEFL scores to an acceptable level. That means some of the material focuses on academic English in general. But if you’re concerned about your overall level of English, the weeks of TOEFL prep may not be enough. In that case, practice your English AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE during the GRE weeks. You will need to practice not only reading and writing, which are on the GRE, but also speaking and listening. You should use English every day, even if that means just talking to yourself in your head.

Download TOEFL GRE combined study schedule - magoosh

Materials:

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.

  • The rest of the volumes 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.  This is not absolutely necessary, but it is recommended. You will have to find places in this schedule to “fit in” the extra reading, but it will help you. Nevertheless, we do not recommend the Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence book, because these rely on too much obscure vocabulary.
  • McGraw-Hill’sConquering 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.
  • For TOEFL: Quick Prep (Note that Quick Prep is older and slightly out-of-date. Quick Prep is currently hosted by Archive.org and a number of students have indicated that the content loads slowly. Before you use Quick Prep, check out Magoosh’s guide to using older TOEFL prep.
  • Quizlet.com: gives you online access to personalized flashcards, making it easier, say, to quiz yourself on your mobile device
  • Vocabulary.com: provides conversational definitions and a flood of example sentences
  • Word Dynamo (Dictionary.com): give you little quizzes & games to add some variety to vocab learning
  • Magoosh iPhone/Android apps, for watching lesson on mobile devices.
  • Magoosh’s free Study Timer app for iPhone/iPad for timing yourself on exam sections and keeping yourself on pace. Currently only available in iTunes.
  • Using Magoosh’s TOEFL Essay Feedback Service In Your Study Schedule

    Magoosh offers TOEFL essay feedback to our premium subscribers. Those with a six-month Magoosh TOEFL subscription can get up to four of their essays scored. The one-month plan includes one scored essay. While we don’t strictly require the use of essay grading in our TOEFL study schedules, it can definitely be useful.

    If you have just one essay credit, it’s good to use that credit in the first week of your study plan. That way you can check your Writing “baseline” and get some feedback on how you should improve over the course of your study schedule.

    If you have four essay credits, it’s still get one essay scored at the beginning. However, from there, you should space your remaining essays evenly throughout the rest of your schedule. That way, you can periodically re-check your progress. And the feedback you receive can help you decide which Writing skills to focus on in a given week. 

    Week One

    Week One, Day One

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

    2) In the Official Guide,

    • 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 5, “GRE Quantitative Reasoning” (everything up to the sample questions)

    3) Start reading through the GRE Math Review in the Official Guide, the entire Arithmetic section. Take notes on whatever is unfamiliar. Do the Arithmetic Exercises and correct your answers.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to start studying the cards in the first deck, Algebra.

    5) In the Magoosh Lessons, watch

    • The first five lessons in the “Intro to the GRE” module

    Week One, Day Two

    1) Continue reading through the GRE Math Review in the Official Guide, the first Algebra section. Take notes on whatever is unfamiliar. Do the Algebra Exercises and correct your answers.

    2) Download and start reading the Magoosh GRE eBook. Continue reading whenever you have the time over the course of the next two weeks.

    3) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to continue studying the cards in the first deck, Algebra.

    4) In Magoosh GRE, watch the following videos

    • The remaining lessons in the “Intro to the GRE” module

    Week One, Day Three

    1) Continue reading through the GRE Math Review: read the Geometry section. Take notes on whatever is unfamiliar. Do the Geometry 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 topics. You can use this ebook for review.

    3) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to continue studying the cards in the first deck, Algebra. Review any cards you missed earlier.

    4) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the first five Math lessons

    5) In Magoosh GRE, set up a practice session by clicking on the “Practice” link in the header. For Math, check off none of the subjects, set the difficulty to “adaptive”, the question pool to “unanswered”, the number of questions, the time to “no limit”, and the mode to “practice mode.” You are not entering a practice time beforehand, but keep a pace of 90 sec/question, or 30 minutes for 20 questions.

    Do the following practice sets:

    • 20 Multiple Choice math questions

    Notice you are doing all topics from the start, 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.

    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, watch the video, taking notes about any concept or any aspect of the question type that was unclear to you.

    Week One, Day Four

    1) Continue reading through the GRE Math Review: read the first half of the Data Analysis section. Take notes on whatever is unfamiliar.

    2) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    3) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to continue studying the cards in the first deck, Algebra. Review any cards you missed earlier.

    4) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Text Completion verbal questions

    Week One, Day Five

    1) Continue reading through the GRE Math Review, pp. 275-296. Take notes on whatever is unfamiliar. Do the Data Analysis Exercises (pp. 296-298) and correct your answers.

    2) Download the Magoosh Complete Guide to GRE Vocabulary

    • Read carefully the section “Making Words Stick,” about learning vocabulary, and the section “Vocabulary in Context: Articles from Magazines and Newspapers.” Skim the rest of the book to get a sense of the layout and style. As you build vocab through this plan, periodically go back to this book to verify your understanding and to make connections to other words. The more ways you have of remembering a word, the more likely you are to remember it!

    3) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to continue studying the cards in the first deck, Algebra. Review any cards you missed earlier.

    4) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the first five Writing lessons

    5) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Quantitative Comparison math questions

    Week One, Day Six

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the remaining Writing lessons

    As you finish math modules, take the quiz at the end of the module. Keep reviewing and retaking the quiz until you pass the quiz for the module.

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

    For topics, go to the ETS GRE Issue Pool and the ETS GRE 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. Observe a strict 30 minute 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 Official Guide to the GRE, 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. (Notice whatever route worked for you with these essays; you can repeat that will all the essays you write in the practice tests you take as part of this plan.)

    3) In the GRE Official Guide :

    a) in GRE Official Guide, do the Ch. 4, Verbal Reasoning Practice Sets 1-4

    b) in GRE Official Guide, do the Ch. 6, Quantitative Reasoning Practice Sets 1, 2, & 4

    Follow strict time limits, to give you sense of the pace you need to keep on the GRE. Set a timer for the time limits. Here are the time limits to observe:

    • Official Guide Verbal Reasoning Set 1 = 12 minutes
    • Official Guide Verbal Reasoning Set 2 = 18 minutes
    • Official Guide Verbal Reasoning Set 3 = 12 minutes
    • Official Guide Verbal Reasoning Set 4 = 18 minutes
    • Official Guide Quantitative Reasoning Set 1 = 22 minutes
    • Official Guide Quantitative Reasoning Set 2 = 23 minutes
    • Official Guide Quantitative Reasoning Set 4 = 13 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 through, taking notes on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you.  You can also watch the Magoosh Video Explanations of the Official Guide to the GRE practice questions.

    Week Two

    Week Two, Day One

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • Read Chapters 1-2

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master at least 20 words from the first deck.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Start working with the second deck, Fractions, Ratios, and Percents. Review any cards you missed earlier.

    5) Read 1-3 articles from your reading source of choice, noting grammatical structures. Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Reading Comprehension verbal questions

    (Some RC questions are stand-alone single questions with a short paragraph, and sometimes a group of two or three come with a longer passage. Make sure you finish all the questions associated with a passage on one sitting. This may mean that you do a couple more than 20 questions one time, and then a couple fewer the next time.)

    Week Two, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • Read Chapter 3 and do the exercises

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck).

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the second deck, Fractions, Ratios, and Percents. Review any cards you missed earlier.

    5) Read 1-3 articles from your reading source of choice, noting grammatical structures. Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Multiple Choice math questions

    Week Two, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • Read Chapter 4 and do the exercises

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the second deck, Fractions, Ratios, and Percents. Review any cards you missed earlier.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Text Completion verbal questions

    Week Two, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • Read Chapter 5 and do the exercises

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the second deck, Fractions, Ratios, and Percents. Review any cards you missed earlier.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Quantitative Comparison math questions

    Week Two, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • Read Chapter 6 and do the exercises

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the second deck, Fractions, Ratios, and Percents. Review any cards you missed earlier.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Reading Comprehension verbal questions

    Week Two, Day Six

    1) Today, you will take a mock GRE on Magoosh. At the heading at the top inside the Magoosh practice, select “Practice Test,” which will lead you to this page.

    Make sure you have four hours of uninterrupted time set aside, and make sure you have writing implements and plenty of scratch paper.

    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, watch the explanation video for the question, taking notes on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you.

    Don’t attach great importance to the score on this test. You are still at the beginning of your studying. 🙂

    Week Three

    Week Three, Day One

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • Read the intro to Part Three, and Ch. 7 through the section on Real Numbers; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Start working with the third deck, Geometry. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read 1-3 articles from your reading source of choice, noting grammatical structures. Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Multiple Choice math questions

    Week Three, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the first five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • Read Chapter 7 up to the first set of “Practice Problems”; do the “Practice Problems” and check your answer; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the third deck, Geometry. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read 1-3 articles from your reading source of choice, noting grammatical structures. Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Text Completion verbal questions

    Week Three, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the third deck, Geometry. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Data Interpretation math questions

    (As with some of the Reading Comprehension questions, the Data Interpretation questions come in batches, typically 2 or 3 questions, pertaining to the same graph or chart. Do all the questions in a set at once. This mean you may do a few more than 10 DI questions one time, and then during the next session in which you are doing DI questions, you will do a couple fewer.)

    Week Three, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the third deck, Geometry. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Reading Comprehension verbal questions

    Week Three, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 7, read up to and including the section on “Prime Numbers”; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the third deck, Geometry. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Multiple Choice math questions

    Week Three, Day Six

    1) Today, you are going to take one of the paper-based GREs in the back of the Official Guide, Practice Test #1, beginning on p. 303. For each of the essays, write the essay in a word-processing program on the computer, and keep a strict time limit. For the other sections, you can write the answers either in a word-processing program on the computer, or on paper: just don’t write in the book. Observe strict time-limits for each section.

    This is still early in your practice, so you get a choice about how strictly you want to observe the structure of a whole GRE. You could chose to make it very GRE-like, with only a 1-minute break between sections, and only a 10-minute break between sections 3 and 4: that would be very rigorous. Or, you could be far more casual: do a couple sections, take a break and do something else for a while, then do a few more sections, etc. Right now, it is more important to get a feel for the layout of the sections and for the calibre of the questions. Building your test-taking stamina will come later.

    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 on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you.  You should also watch the Magoosh video explanations for the first practice test, at the bottom of that page.

    Week Four

    Week Four, Day One

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 7, read “GCD and LCM Revisited”, do the “Practice Problems” immediately following that, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Start working with the fourth deck, Number Properties I. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read 1-3 articles from your reading source of choice, noting grammatical structures. Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Text Completion verbal questions

    Week Four, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 7, take “Number Properties Test 2″, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

      • Take 15 minutes to

    review the cards. Continue working with the fourth deck, Number Properties I. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read 1-3 articles from your reading source of choice, noting grammatical structures. Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Quantitative Comparison math questions

    Week Four, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the fourth deck, Number Properties I. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Sentence Equivalence

    Week Four, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • Beginning reading Chapter 8, through all the Properties of Operations; do the “Practice Problems” immediately following, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the fourth deck, Number Properties I. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Data Interpretation math questions

    Week Four, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, read the first part of the “Fractions” section, up to the examples following “Equivalent Fractions”; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the fourth deck, Number Properties I. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Reading Comprehension verbal questions

    Week Four, Day Six

    1) Today, you are going to take the other of the paper-based GREs in the back of the Official Guide, Practice Test #2, beginning on p. 431. For each of the essays, write the essay in a word-processing program on the computer, and keep a strict time limit. For the other sections, you can write the answers either in a word-processing program on the computer, or on paper: just don’t write in the book. Observe strict time-limits for each section.

    Once again, this is relatively early in your practice, so you get a choice about how strictly you want to observe the structure of a whole GRE. You could chose to make it very GRE-like, with only a 1-minute break between sections, and only a 10-minute break between sections 3 and 4: that would be very rigorous. Or, you could be far more casual: do a couple sections, take a break and do something else for a while, then do a few more sections, etc. Right now, it is more important to get a feel for the layout of the sections and for the calibre of the questions. Building your test-taking stamina will come later.

    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 on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you.  You should also watch the Magoosh video explanations for the second practice test.

    Week Five

    Week Five, Day One

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Start working with the fifth deck, Number Properties II. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Multiple Answer math questions

    Week Five, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, begin reading the “Operations with Fractions” section, the sections on addition & subtraction of fractions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the fifth deck, Number Properties II. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Text Completion verbal questions

    Week Five, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, finish reading the section on “Operations with Fractions”, do the “Practice Problems”, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the fifth deck, Number Properties II. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Quantitative Comparison math questions

    Week Five, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, read the section “Decimals,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the fifth deck, Number Properties II. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems:

    • 20 Sentence Equivalence verbal questions

    Week Five, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, do the “Arithmetic Computation Test 1,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the fifth deck, Number Properties II. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Numerical Entry math questions
    • 10 Data Interpretation math questions

    Week Five, Day Six

    1) In the Official GRE Verbal Reasoning Practice Questions,

    • Skim Ch. 1-2. Most of this material should be review at this point.
    • Do all the practice sets in:
      • Ch. 3 Reading Comprehension
      • Ch. 4 Text Completion
      • Ch. 5. Sentence Equivalence

    For the easy & medium sets, try to keep a time limit close to that of the GRE, about 90 seconds per question (allowing a little more time for Reading Comprehension passages). For the hard sets, if you can do them timed, that’s great, but at least work through all those questions untimed to get a sense of them.

    When you are done, check all your answers. Include any new words in your flashcard decks. Take notes on any ideas you need to study more thoroughly.

    2) Today would be a good time to do a thorough review of both the vocab flashcards and the math flashcards you have learned so far.

    Week Six

    Week Six, Day One

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Start working with the sixth deck, Statistics and Probability. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems:

    • 20 Reading Comprehension verbal questions

    Week Six, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, read the short “Word Problem” section, do the Practice Problems (Word Problems), grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the sixth deck, Statistics and Probability. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems:

    • 20 Multiple Choice math questions

    Week Six, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, read a little more than half the section on “Ratios and Proportions”; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the sixth deck, Statistics and Probability. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems:

    • 20 Text Completion verbal questions

    Week Six, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, finish reading the section “Ratios and Proportions”, do the “Practice Problems”, grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the sixth deck, Statistics and Probability. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Quantitative Comparison math questions

    Week Six, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, read the “Motion and Work Problems” section, do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the sixth deck, Statistics and Probability. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems:

    • 20 Sentence Equivalence verbal questions

    Week Six, Day Six

    1) Today, you are going to take a full-length practice test, using the first of the six Manhattan GRE practice tests online (the MGRE volume you bought should give you the code to access these).

    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.

    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 on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you.

    Week Seven

    Week Seven, Day One

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (Optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Start working with the seventh deck, Mixed Practice I. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems:

    • 20 Multiple Choice math questions

    Week Seven, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, read the section “Types of Average,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the seventh deck, Mixed Practice I. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems:

    • 20 Reading Comprehension verbal questions

    Week Seven, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, read the section “Powers and Roots”; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the seventh deck, Mixed Practice I. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Multiple Answer math questions

    Week Seven, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the seventh deck, Mixed Practice I. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Text Completion verbal questions

    Week Seven, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 8, do the “Arithmetic Computation Test 2,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the seventh deck, Mixed Practice I. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Quantitative Comparison math questions
    • 10 Data Interpretation math questions

    Week Seven, Day Six

    1) In the Official GRE Verbal Reasoning Practice Questions,

    • In Ch. 6, do the three Practice Sets. For each one, time a 38-minute time limit, to get a sense of the tempo you have to maintain on the GRE.

    When you are done, check all your answers. Include any new words in your flashcard decks. 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 on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you

    2) In the GRE Official Guide

    a) in GRE Official Guide, do the Ch. 4, Verbal Reasoning Practice Sets 5-6

    b) in GRE Official Guide, do the Ch. 6, Quantitative Reasoning Practice Sets 3

    These three sections of practice questions are HARD, about as hard as anything you will see on the GRE. If you are ambitious, you can do these sections timed, taking about 90 second per question (plus a little more for Reading Comprehension). If you have been finding hard questions frustrating in this plan, then don’t do these sections timed, but do take some time to wrestle with these questions and get a sense for them.

    After you are done, check all your answers. Include any new words in your flashcard decks. 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 on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you.  You can also watch the Magoosh Video Explanations of the Official Guide to the GRE practice questions.

    Week Eight

    Week Eight, Day One

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Start working with the eighth deck, Mixed Practice II. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Sentence Equivalence verbal questions

    Week Eight, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the eighth deck, Mixed Practice II. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Numeric Entry math questions

    Week Eight, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the eighth deck, Mixed Practice II. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems:

    • 20 Reading Comprehension verbal questions

    Week Eight, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the eighth deck, Mixed Practice II. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems:

    • 20 Multiple Choice math questions

    Week Eight, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the eighth deck, Mixed Practice II. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Text Completion verbal questions

    Week Eight, Day Six

    1) Today, you are going to take a full-length practice test, using another of the six Manhattan GRE practice tests online.

    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.

    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 on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you.

    Week Nine

    Week Nine, Day One

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Start working with the ninth deck, Mixed Practice III. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems:

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Data Interpretation math questions

    Week Nine, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 9, do the “Algebra Test 2,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the ninth deck, Mixed Practice III. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Reading comprehension verbal questions

    Week Nine, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the ninth deck, Mixed Practice III. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems:

    • 20 Multiple Choice math questions

    Week Nine, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the ninth deck, Mixed Practice III. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 Text completion verbal questions

    Week Nine, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the ninth deck, Mixed Practice III. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 10 Multiple Choice math questions
    • 10 Quantitative Comparison math questions

    Week Nine, Day Six

    1) Today, you are going to take a full-length practice test, using another of the six Manhattan GRE practice tests online.

    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.

    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 on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you.

    Week Ten

    This week, you will start working on the TOEFL! This week and next will be devoted entirely to learning the format of the TOEFL and practicing that test.

    Week Ten, Day One

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • Watch the first four videos in Magoosh: under Introduction to the TOEFL, from “Overview of the TOEFL” to “Listening Section.”
    • Watch the video “Using the Grammar Lessons” in Introduction to TOEFL Grammar.
    • Watch any 4-5 grammar videos in Magoosh of your choice according to your weaknesses.

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    3) Official Practice:

    • Complete Listening Practice Sets 1 and 2 on the ETS TOEFL Listening Practice sets. To get these later sets, complete with audio files, you’ll need to scroll to the bottom of that page and click the download link under the “Need More Practice?” link.
    • Complete Reading Practice Set 1 on TOEFL Reading Practice PDF. Your goal is to become familiar with the format of the test—don’t worry too much about how many right and wrong answers you get.

    Week Ten, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • Watch the next three videos in Magoosh: under Introduction to the TOEFL, from “Speaking Section” to “Studying for the TOEFL.”

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Answer 10 questions, until the text changes to a new topic passage. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
    • Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Answer all of the questions associated with four different recordings (about 23 questions). Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong. If you start a third recording, return to the dashboard by clicking “Magoosh” at the top left of the screen to exit your practice.

    3) Official Practice:

    Week Ten, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the first two videos under Reading, titled “Pacing While Reading” and “Sample Passage: Clonal Colonies.”
    • Watch any 3-4 grammar videos in Magoosh of your choice according to your weaknesses.

    2) Official Practice:

    • Take the “Reading” section of Practice Test 1 from the software that accompanies the Official Guide. The format is not identical to that of the iBT, but it will give you a more authentic practice session than the practice tests in the book. Use the self-scoring chart in the back of the book to see where you stand. Review your wrong answers carefully so that you understand why you made every mistake.

    Week Ten, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the first four videos under Speaking, from “How to Practice Speaking” to “Other People Talking.”

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Speaking” button on your Dashboard. Answer 4 questions. Watch the explanation video for every question.
    • Master at least 20 more words in Magoosh’s TOEFL flashcards. Again, if you believe the deck you are working on is easy for you, finish it today.
    • Complete Magoosh TOEFL Blog Reading Practice Set The Legacy of Edmund Wilson (the second set in the linked PDF).

    3) Official Practice:

    • Take the “Speaking” section of Practice Test 1 from the software that comes with the Official Guide. Use either your phone or this online recorder to record your answers. Don’t worry about grading them today. You will listen to them on day 6.
    • Complete Reading Practice Set 2 on TOEFL Reading Practice PDF. Review your incorrect answers carefully, learning from your mistakes.

    Week Ten, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the first three videos under Listening, the “Sample Recording” videos.
    • Watch any 3-4 grammar videos in Magoosh of your choice according to your weaknesses.

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete one essay, and watch the explanation video.

    3) Official Practice:

    • Take the “Listening” section of Practice Test 1 from the software that comes with the Official Guide. Use the self-scoring chart in the back of the book to see where you stand. Review your wrong answers carefully so that you understand why you made every mistake.

    Week Ten, Day Six

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the first three videos under Writing, from “The Five-Paragraph Essay” to “Integrated Introduction Sample.”

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Answer 10 questions, until the text changes to a new topic passage.

    3) Official Practice:

    • Take the “Writing” section of Practice Test 1 from the software that comes with the Official Guide.
    • Listen to the recordings of your answers that you made on day Four. Compare them to the sample answers on fromt he software and explanations in the book.

    Week Eleven

    Week Eleven, Day One

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the next three videos under Reading, the “Question Type” videos from “Vocabulary in Context” to “Except.”
    • In Magoosh, watch the next four videos under Listening, from “Question Type: Main Idea” to “Using Your Notes.”

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Spend 10-20 minutes working on Magoosh’s TOEFL flashcards.
    • Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Answer all of the questions associated with four different recordings (about 23 questions). Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong. If you start a fourth recording, return to the dashboard by clicking “Magoosh” at the top left of the screen to exit your practice.

    3) Official Practice:

    • Read the essays that you wrote on Week Ten, day 6. Compare them to the sample answers explanations in the book. Grade yourself based on which sample essays yours was most similar to. Edit both your essays to improve them.

    Week Eleven, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Speaking, “Task 1 – Choose One from Two” and “Task 1 – Sample Answers.”
    • Watch 4-5 new grammar videos in Magoosh.

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Speaking” button on your Dashboard. Answer 4 questions. Watch the explanation video for every question.

    3) Official Practice:

    • Complete Listening Practice Sets 3 and 4 on the ETS TOEFL Listening Practice sets. To get these later sets, complete with audio files, you’ll need to scroll to the bottom of that page and click the download link under the “Need More Practice?” link.
    • Complete speaking practice questions 3 and 4 from the TOEFL Speaking Practice Questions PDF. Use either your phone or this online recorder to record your answers to the speaking section. Review your incorrect answers to the speaking section carefully. Listen to your recordings, and note what could be improved. Then, answer the questions again with those improvements.

    Week Eleven, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Speaking, “Task 2 -Conversation and Reading” and “Task 2 – Sample Answer.”

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete one essay, and then watch the explanation video.
    • Spend 20-30 minutes working on your vocabulary either with Magoosh’s TOEFL flashcards or these vocabulary exercises. (The easiest set of words is sublist one; the most difficult is sublist ten.)

    3) Official Practice:

    Week Eleven, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Writing, “Integrated Structure A” and “Integrated Structure B.”
    • Watch 3-4 new grammar videos in Magoosh.

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Answer all of the questions associated with four recordings (about 23 questions). Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
    • Complete the reading and questions for The Caravaggio Mystery, the third set in Magoosh’s TOEFL Reading Question Types PDF.

    3) Official Practice:

    • Complete speaking practice questions 5 and 6 from the TOEFL Speaking Practice Questions PDF. Save the recordings of your answers to the speaking section.
    • Complete Reading Practice Set 3 on TOEFL Reading Practice PDF. Carefully review your answers and learn from your mistakes in the reading section. Save the recordings of your answers to the speaking section.

    Week Eleven, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Writing, “Integrated Body Sample (Structure A)” and “Integrated Body Sample (Structure B).”

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete one essay, and then watch the explanation video.

    3) Official Practice:

    Week Eleven, Day Six

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Reading, “Inference” and “Purpose.”
    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Listening, “Question Type: Function” and “Getting in the Speaker’s Head.”

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Answer 10 questions, until the text changes to a new topic passage. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
    • Spend 10-20 minutes working on your vocabulary either with Magoosh’s TOEFL flashcards or these vocabulary exercises.

    Week Twelve

    Week Twelve, Day One

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 9, read the section “Quadratic Equations and Inequalities,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Start working with the tenth deck, Mixed Practice IV. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • At this point, you should be finished with most of the Magoosh questions. Over the subsequent days, do 20 questions a day for practice. First of all, finish any remaining unanswered questions, Math or Verbal. Once you are done with unanswered questions, then select “incorrect” as your pool, and do the questions you got wrong again, to see how well you learned from your mistakes. Once your pool of incorrect questions gets relatively small, reset your question stats, and continue to do 20 questions a day. Vary Math and Verbal as needed.

    Week Twelve, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Verbal lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the tenth deck, Mixed Practice IV. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

    Week Twelve, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 9, finish reading the section “Algebraic Word Problems,” do the “Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards.  Continue working with the tenth deck, Mixed Practice IV. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

    Week Twelve, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh GRE, watch the following videos

    • At this point, you should be about finished with the Verbal lesson videos. Watch any remaining videos.

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • In Ch. 9, do the “Algebra Test 3,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the tenth deck, Mixed Practice IV. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

    Week Twelve, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

    • Watch the next five Math lessons

    2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

    • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

    3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

    • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

    4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

    • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the tenth deck, Mixed Practice IV. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

    5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

    6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

    • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

    Week Twelve, Day Six

    1) Today, you are going to take a full-length practice test, using the last of the six Manhattan GRE practice tests online.

    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.

    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 on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you.

    THE FINAL MONTH

    At this point your test date for either the TOEFL or the GRE must be soon. Below are two weeks of TOEFL studies and two weeks of GRE studies. You will first focus on the test you are taking soonest. So, for example, if you are taking the TOEFL in two weeks, then this week you will start with “The second to last TOEFL week” below. And next week, you would use “The final TOEFL week.” Conversely, if you are taking the GRE in two weeks, then start with “The second to last GRE week” and do “the final GRE week” after that.

    After you finish one test, devote the rest of your time to the other test, finishing anything you haven’t done. At the end of the schedule is even more material for review, if you need it for either test.

    The Second to Last TOEFL Week

    Second to last TOEFL week, Day One

    Congratulations–you’ve now reached the halfway point of your one month of TOEFL study.
    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Speaking, “Task 3 – Lecture & Reading” and “Task 3 – Sample Answer.”
    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Writing, “Essay 2 -Independent” and “Independent Introduction Sample.”
    • Watch 3-4 new grammar videos in Magoosh and review 1 more.

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Answer all of the questions associated with four recordings (about 23 questions). Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.

    3) Official Practice:

    • Complete the first three reading practice sets in the Official Guide, in the Reading chapter. Carefully review your wrong answers, learning from your mistakes.

    Second to last TOEFL week, Day Two

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Reading, “Reference” and “Paraphrase”
    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Listening, “Question Type: Attitude” and “Tone of Voice.”

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Speaking” button on your Dashboard. Answer 4 questions. Watch the explanation video for every question.
    • Spend 10-20 minutes working on your vocabulary using these vocabulary exercises.

    3) Official Practice:

    • In the Official Guide, read the first Indepdnent Writing prompt in the Writing chapter. Outline your own answer to the question (don’t write the essay yet—just prepare for it). Then, read the sample responses and commentary that follow the prompt. After you read each essay and before you read the rater comments, critique the essay yourself. What are its strengths and weaknesses? What would you have done differently? What aspects of this essay might you try to incorporate into your own writing? Then return to your outline, and write your own response.

    Second to last TOEFL week, Day Three

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete one essay, and then watch the explanation video.

    2) Official Practice:

    • Do the Reading section of Practice Test 2 from the software that comes with the Official Guide. Give yourself exactly one hour to complete it. Score yourself with the table at the back of the book. Review your incorrect answers carefully.

    Second to last TOEFL week, Day Four

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Speaking, “Task 5 – Conversation” and “Task 5 – Sample Answer.”
    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Reading, “Insert Text” and “Summary.”

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Answer 10 questions, until the text changes to a new topic passage. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.

    3) Official Practice:

    Second to last TOEFL week, Day Five

    1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

    • In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Writing, “Independent Structure A” and “Independent Structure B.”
    • Watch 3-4 new grammar videos in Magoosh and review 1 other lesson of your choice, grammar or TOEFL-based.

    2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

    • Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Answer all of the questions associated with four recordings (about 23 questions). Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.

    3) Official Practice:

    • Do the Speaking section of Practice Test 2 from the software that comes with the Official Guide. Record your answers so you can review them later.

    Second to last TOEFL week, Day Six

    Today, you’re going to take a full practice test. If you don’t have a full four hours to spend, then switch this day with a day next week when you will have the time. You need four hours with no interruptions at your computer.

  • Reading section: 54 minutes
  • Listening section: 16.5 minutes total to answer the questions of all five recordings. Stop the timer when you are listening to the recordings. )
  • BREAK: 10 minutes (have a quick snack!)
  • Speaking section: (You will need to time yourself and record yourself in the speaking section, so be prepared.)
    • 15 seconds to prepare, 45 seconds to speak.
    • 30 seconds to prepare, 60 seconds to speak.
    • 30 seconds to prepare, 60 seconds to speak.
    • 20 seconds to prepare, 60 seconds to speak.
  • Writing section:
    • 20 minutes
    • 30 minutes

The Final TOEFL Week

Final TOEFL Week, Day One

1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

  • In Magoosh, watch the last three videos under Writing, from “Independent Body Sample (Structure A)” to “Independent Conclusion Sample”
  • In Magoosh, watch the next four videos under Listening, “Question Type: Organization,” “Structural Key Words,” “Question Type: Inference,” and “Don’t Go Too Far.”

2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

  • Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete two essays, watching the explanation videos.

3) Official Practice:

  • Review all of your answers from the full practice test you took at the end of last week. Pay careful attention to your wrong answers in reading and listening, learning from your mistakes. Grade your speaking and writing tasks by comparing them with the examples given on the software.

Final TOEFL Week, Day Two

1) In Magoosh TOEFL Video Lessons:

  • In Magoosh, watch the last two videos under Speaking, “Task 4 – Lecture” and “Task 4 – Sample Answer.”
  • In Magoosh, watch the final video under Reading, titledCategory,” and the final two videos in Listening, “Question Type: Filling in Tables” and “Easiest to Hardest.”

2) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice:

  • Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Answer 10 questions, until the text changes to a new topic passage. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.

3) Official Practice:

  • Do the Listening section of Practice Test 2 from the software that comes with the Official Guide. Score yourself with the table at the back of the book. Review your incorrect answers carefully.

Final TOEFL Week, Day Three

1) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice

  • Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Answer all of the questions associated with four recordings (about 23 questions). Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.

2) Official Practice:

  • Do the Writing section of Practice Test 2 from the software that comes with the Official Guide. Grade your essays by comparing them with the examples given with the OG.

Final TOEFL Week, Day Four

1) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice

  • Review all your vocabulary from both Magoosh flashcards and EnglishVocabularyExercises.com
  • Click the “Practice Speaking” button on your Dashboard. Answer 4 questions. Watch the explanation video for every question.

2) Official Practice:

  • Return to the speaking task recordings you created on week thirteen, day five. Repeat the same tasks better than the first time, attempting to include new vocabulary in every answer.
  • Return to the essays you wrote yesterday. Edit them and add to them to make them even better.

Final TOEFL Week, Day Five

1) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice

  • Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete one to two essays, watching the explanation videos.

2) Official Practice:

  • Complete the last three reading practice sets in the Official Guide. Give yourself no more than 18 minutes per passage (including the questions). Carefully review your wrong answers, learning from your mistakes.

Final TOEFL Week, Day Six

1) In Magoosh TOEFL, do the following practice

  • Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Answer 10 questions, until the text changes to a new topic passage. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.

2) Official Practice:

  • Complete the five listening practice sets in the Official Guide, in the Listening chapter. Carefully review your wrong answers, learning from your mistakes.

3) Listen to Amy Cuddy’s TED talk about posture, and consider how this could help you on your test.

The Second to Last GRE Week

Second to last GRE Week, Day One

1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

  • Watch the next five Math lessons

2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

  • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

  • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

  • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Start working with the eleventh deck, Mixed Practice V. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

  • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

Second to last GRE Week, Day Two

1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

  • Watch the next five Math lessons

2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

  • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

  • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

  • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the eleventh deck, Mixed Practice V. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

  • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

Second to last GRE Week, Day Three

1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

  • Watch the next five Math lessons

2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

  • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

  • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

  • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the eleventh deck, Mixed Practice V. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

  • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

Second to last GRE Week, Day Four

1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

  • Watch the next five Math lessons

2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

  • 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 on anything new or unfamiliar.

3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

  • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

  • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the eleventh deck, Mixed Practice V. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

  • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

Second to last GRE Week, Day Five

1) In Magoosh GRE Video Lessons

  • Watch the next five Math lessons

2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

  • In Ch. 10, do the “Geometry Test,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

  • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

  • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the eleventh deck, Mixed Practice V. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

  • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

Second to last GRE Week, Day Six

1) Today, you are going to take the first practice GRE available through the GRE PowerPrep software.

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.

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 on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you.

The Final GRE Week

Final GRE Week, Day One

1) In Magoosh GRE, watch the following videos

  • At this point, you should be about done with the Math Lesson videos. Watch any remaining videos.

2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

  • At the end of Ch. 10, do the “solved GRE Problems” and “GRE Practice Problems,” grade yourself, and read the solutions; take notes on anything new or unfamiliar.

3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

  • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

  • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Start working with the twelfth deck, Mixed Practice VI. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

  • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

Final GRE Week, Day Two

1) In Magoosh GRE, watch the following videos

  • Watch any 5 videos for a second time

2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

  • 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 the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

  • Master 20 more words (a bit less than half a deck). Spend 10-30 minutes reviewing previous decks.

4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

  • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the twelfth deck, Mixed Practice VI. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

  • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

Final GRE Week, Day Three

1) In Magoosh GRE, watch the following videos

  • Watch any 5 videos for a second time

2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

  • 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 anything new you learn or anything you need to remember.

3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

  • Spend 30 minutes reviewing mastered decks.

4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

  • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the twelfth deck, Mixed Practice VI. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

  • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

Final GRE Week, Day Four

1) In Magoosh GRE, watch the following videos

  • Watch any 5 videos for a second time

2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

  • 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 the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

  • Spend 30 minutes reviewing mastered decks.

4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

  • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the twelfth deck, Mixed Practice VI. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

  • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

Final GRE Week, Day Five

1) In Magoosh GRE, watch the following videos

  • Watch any 5 videos for a second time

2) In McGraw-Hill’s Conquering the New GRE Math (optional)

  • 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 anything new you learn or anything you need to remember.

3) In the GRE Vocabulary Flashcards

  • Spend 30 minutes reviewing mastered decks.

4) In the GRE Math Flashcards

  • Take 15 minutes to review the cards. Continue working with the twelfth deck, Mixed Practice VI. Review any cards you missed from this or previous decks.

5) Read your chosen reading material (one chapter, or a few articles). Look up and write down any words you don’t know.

6) In Magoosh GRE, do the following problems

  • 20 questions; see Week 12, Day 1 for details.

Final GRE Week, Day Six

1) Today, you are going to take the second practice GRE available through the GRE PowerPrep software.

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.

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 on any concepts you didn’t understand and anything about the question format that confused you.

TOEFL: If you have time remaining

  • Review Magoosh videos and practice questions daily.
  • Review vocabulary that you’ve already learned.
  • Plan 10 essays based on the questions in in the Indepent Writing topics list in the Writing chapter of the official guide. Write 1 or 2 of them. Set them aside for a day or two, then come back and edit/improve those essays.
  • Answer questions from the OG’s Independent Writing topics list as if they were speaking task 2 questions. Record your answers.
  • Complete these additional free practice materials from ETS.
  • Regularly listen to TED talks and read articles from New York Times or Newsweek. After every article or talk, summarize what you learned either in writing or in speech. If you speak your summary, record yourself.
  • GRE: If you have time remaining

    • Through selecting question type & difficulty on the “Dashboard”, do Magoosh problems over again, and see how you do a second time.
    • Keep watching for an additional time 5 Magoosh lesson videos a day, on whatever topics you feel you need to review
    • Keep reading your challenging material, to build vocabulary and acclimate your ear to eloquent style.
    • Keep drilling your vocab flashcards and your math flashcards.
    • 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.
    • If you have time for more practice tests, you should have two Manhattan GRE practice tests remaining.

    The day before either test:

    Be confident, comfortable, and happy! You’ve done a lot of work to prepare, and now it’s time to relax. Don’t study today—you’ll just build up anxiety.

    Get a good night’s sleep, and have a healthy breakfast in the morning. Good luck!

    Practice for your TOEFL exam with Magoosh.

    Any questions on this plan? Just leave us a comment!

     

    Author

    • Rachel Wisuri

      Rachel helps eager students find out about Magoosh. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a super helpful double major in History and French. In her free time she can be found eating peanut butter, drinking five cups of tea per day, and playing with cats.

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