Preparing for the GRE

How can you prepare effectively to take the GRE? This guide hits the highlights.

Who I Am: GRE Tutor Online and in Atlanta

I’m Richard L. Davis, founder and instructor at worldclasstutor.org in Atlanta. I teach the GRE professionally, both in person and online. I made a perfect score on it myself. It’s my job to empower you to reach your own GRE goals.

If you'd like to hire me, contact me by text, phone or email. Read on below to learn more about what you can do to prepare for the GRE.

What to Do Before You Start Studying for the GRE

There are several things you should do before you start studying for the GRE:

Step 1: Understand the Test

The GRE consists of three main parts: Verbal (or "Qualitative"), Math (or “Quantitative”), and Writing (or "Analytical Writing"). Each main part is divided into two halves.

1. There are two 30-minute sections in Verbal, each with 20 questions.
2. There are two 35-minute sections in Math, each with 20 questions.
3. There are two 30-minute essays in Analytical Writing.

Verbal and Math are each scored on a scale of 130 to 170, and Writing is scored from 0.0 to 6.0.

You will take the entire test in one visit to a GRE testing center, with short breaks between each section.

You should receive an unofficial score for Verbal and Math immediately after you finish the test. Your official score will arrive about two weeks later. The unofficial and official scores are the same.

Step 2: Identify Your Target Scores

There are four things to do in this step:

1. Contact each program you'd like to get into.
2. Ask them what scores they look for in their candidates for each section of the test.
3. Ask which sections of the test matter the most, or whether they all count equally.
4. Open a document on your computer and record all the information they gave you in response.

Step 3: Take an Online Practice Test

Don’t do this if you have already taken the GRE recently. In that case, you already know what you scored. Otherwise:

1. Create an account at www.ets.org and log in.
2. Then go here to access the first free timed PowerPrep practice test.
• This is a legit, timed, full-length GRE test you can take from your home computer.
3. Set aside 4 hours of uninterrupted time.
4. Grab a water bottle, some snacks, some pencils, erasers, and scratch paper.
5. Sit down to take the whole test.

This may be a brutal experience! You’re taking the test without any preparation, so you can only expect you won’t perform at the top of your potential. That’s ok. What matters for now is that you’re achieving four goals:

1. The practice test boosts your familiarity with the GRE. This will help you take the real test efficiently and with less nervousness later on.
2. You can check back through the practice test question by question after you take it, so your results help you know which types of problems you need to focus on in order to improve.
3. The score you receive on the practice test will serve as your baseline. Since you took the test without any preparation, you know that from now on your performance can only go up. This will be encouraging: it will prove that your efforts are actually working, because you’ll see that your practice scores on later tests (after you’ve invested real time and effort into studying) are higher than what you made the first time.
4. Your score on the practice tests tells you know how far there is to go between your practice scores and your target scores. Knowing this helps you create a realistic study plan.

Step 4: Decide How Much Study Time You Will Need

Determine how much time you realistically need to invest to reach your goal. This can vary a lot from one person to another.

As a rule of thumb, if you study according to a well-designed plan, you’ll need to invest about 10 hours of serious, uninterrupted study time for every 1 point improvement in Verbal or Math.

So for example, suppose you’re scoring 142 on Quant, and you want to bring that score up to 154. That’s a 12-point improvement, so you should plan to invest about 120 hours of study time to get there.

This is only a rule of thumb. It’s not a guarantee for every individual student. Some students will need more than 10 hours to raise their score by 1 point. Others will need less.

Also, keep in mind that lower points are easier to gain than the higher points. Improving from 150 to 155 is easier than improving from 160 to 165. If you're already scoring about a 160, plan to put at least twice as much time per point to raise your score further.

Once you've found a realistic estimate of the numnber of hours needed, write this number down. You'll need it for the next step.

Step 5: Make a Study Schedule (including rest)

Based on how many hours you need, make a study schedule in which you block out specific chunks of time to study for the GRE.

Make this schedule in an actual written form. For example, you can use an app like Google Calendar.

Take this seriously, as if you were scheduling hours at your job. You'll need to make a commitment actually to stick to whatever hours you schedule. Otherwise, there's little point in blocking them out.

It's important to be realistic. Practically no one can work a full-time job and also study 4 hours every single day. Full-time workers should aim for 10 to 20 study hours per week. People with part-time jobs should usually aim for 20 hours of weekly study minimum. Either way, some of this time will probably need to be on Saturdays.

Your brain needs rest in order to grow. I recommend you take one day each week completely off from GRE study. For me, that's always Sunday.

Step 6: Enroll for the Test at ets.org

You can use your total number of study hours (from step 4) and study schedule (from step 5) to decide when to enroll for your first official test date.

Don't enroll for a test too early. You can take practice tests for cheap or even for free until you're ready to sit for the real thing. The best plan is to take practice tests until you're consistently making your target score. Then you have a great shot of making that score on the official test.

However, you have to wait 21 days after you’ve taken the official test before you can take it again. So if you have a hard deadline for submitting your score, be sure you sign up for the GRE at least 21 days before that deadline, just in case you need to take the test a second time.

Step 7: Find a Coach, Cheer Team, and Study Partner

Your coach should someone who’s able to explain GRE questions to you when you get stuck. He or she can also help keep you accountable for sticking to your study schedule. A professional tutor or a smart colleague from school may be the best choice. See “When to Find a GRE Tutor” below for more information.

Your cheer team are people who know you’re working as hard as you can to prepare for the test. They are there to encourage you to stick with it!

I recommend letting your best friends know what you’re up to and asking them to check in with you once a week or so. Or you might bring in your family, coworkers, or boss. Choose those people in your life whose input is most likely to be affirming and encouraging.

As for the study partner, if you can find someone else who’s also preparing for the GRE and plan study time with them, this can be a great source of motivation.

Be selective. Only choose a study partner who will actually help you stay motivated and focused. Someone who will drain your time and energy because they talk too much, or because they would expect you to spend all your study time tutoring them, is not a good choice.

Step 8: Purchase GRE Study Materials

Your choice of study materials depends upon two things: (i) your goals and (ii) how much time you have available.

For math/Quant, use Target Test Prep (TTP) if you (a) are looking for more than 6 points improvement in Quant and (b) you have at least 100 hours of study time available to invest in math preparation.

Target Test Prep is a cost-effective and thorough online curriculum. It provides practice sets and quizzes to cement every math skill as you learn it.

TTP requires time. Do not expect to speed through. 100 to 200 hours are typically necessary to complete the curriculum.

If you cannot invest so much time or are content with a smaller improvement in math/Quant, consider using Manhattan Prep's 5 Lb Book of GRE Problems instead. It's available cheaply in an online version, and it breaks GRE math problems down into 20+ individual topic-based chapters with explanations for every problem.

I also personally have materials available for my students on cross-category math skills that help across most types of math problems on the test.

For verbal/Qualitative, there are multiple good options. Manhattan Prep's GRE Verbal Strategies book is a great place to start.

I also personally have materials for my students on the core verbal strategies which succinctly sum up the most essential steps and techniques for answering almost every verbal problem on the test.

You may also want to purchase (or else make) a set of GRE flashcards for vocabulary words and key equations. Consider using Trevor Klee's 21st Night digital flashcards to help you memorize and remember information.

What to Do While You’re Studying for the GRE

Step 1: Start working through your study materials the day they arrive.

For many students, getting started is the single hardest step. So... crack open your new book and work through at least a single section the very day it arrives. This will get those rusty gears turning.

Step 2: Stick to your study schedule.

There are no ‘buts’ about it: the only way to improve your score is to put in serious study time. The very best study times available are probably the hours you’ve blocked out for it on your calendar.

Try sticking tightly to your schedule for a single week. This will prove to yourself that you can do it. It will also form the roots of a habit to carry you through the rest of your study period.

If you miss a scheduled hour or session, don’t be discouraged. What’s important here isn’t perfection, but commitment and consistency. Identify what made you miss your scheduled study session, and immediately take steps to prevent that problem from arising again.

You may discover that the schedule you initially blocked out was overly ambitious. That’s ok. If after a couple days of trying it, you find you can’t put in as much study time as you planned, then scale your plan back to something you can do. Don’t guilt yourself by trying to stick to a schedule that’s unrealistic. Instead, dial your schedule down to something realistic – even if it’s just a single hour on a typical weekday and three to six on weekends.

Finally, some students do better with setting a total number of hours to study each week, and keeping track of each study hour they complete, rather than blocking out specific daily times.

Step 3: Disconnect from distractions.

For most of us, this means putting the cell phone on silent. Better, turn it off.

Some of us can’t completely. Just do the best you can.

You’ll also want to make sure you’re in a pleasant, quiet place with lighting you find conducive to study. Having a water bottle and a healthy snack (an apple, protein bars) on hand tends to help.

Some students find that soft background music is better than total silence. Try Mozart, nature sounds, or non-lyrical instrumental.

Step 4: Be thorough and methodical.

Work through your chosen textbooks slowly, start to finish. Work every problem. Try not to skip the hard parts. You’re not aiming at speed – that will come later. For now, you’re aiming at thorough comprehension of the material.

When you encounter a concept or problem you don’t know how to solve (not even after reading the explanations in your book), make a note of it. Take that problem to your coach, or research it on the Internet.

If you’ve scheduled regular study sessions with your coach, then store up these ‘hard problems’ and let your coach know about them before you meet so he or she can prepare to help you with them one by one.

Step 5: Begin studying vocabulary, right away.

Your vocabulary is the most important factor in your Verbal score. It’s important to work on this daily.

Several study methods work for this, including flashcards, Quizlet, and repeatedly writing down new words and their definitions on opposite columns on a piece of paper.

If you use this last method, then practice the new words until you can cover up each colum and recite it from memory, using the other column as your hints.

Step 6: Take Practice Tests

Take one timed practice every week, if possible. If that’s not possible, then take one every two weeks.

You can find several free practice tests, timed and untimed, at ETS.org.

Note on your study schedule when you’ll take these tests. Weekends work well for many students.

These practice test are a good time to work on your speed. Figure out how much time you have available for each question (about 90 seconds, depending on the problem type) and try to stick to this during the timed sections.

Step 7: Be Healthy

Yes, seriously: you need to eat well, sleep well, and exercise in order to succeed on the GRE.

Your mental ability is tied to your physical health. Every hour you put into GRE prep will be more efficient and effective if you have good nutrition, sleep, and exercise in the background.

Your time is precious. So don't waste it. Don’t you want to get 90 minutes worth of progress for 60 minutes worth of studying? That’ll really add up if you’re putting in 15+ hours of prep per week!

Some simple steps to get there:

1. Go to bed and wake up at about the same time each night.
2. Don’t look at any lighted screen within an hour before bed. Or if you do, at least set the lighting to Night mode. (Seriously, that's what I do.)
3. Perhaps you already have an exercise plan. If not, here's an easy way to start: Just go for one brisk walk every day. You can talk on the phone or listen to music while you do it.
4. If your diet needs work (and whose doesn’t?), try eating fruit, nuts (or peanut butter), and protein bars. I personally find the keto diet and Quest protein bars to be a lifesaver. The point is to find healthy foods that you actually like and which don't take too much trouble to prepare.

Step 8: Meet with Your GRE Tutor 2 to 6 hours a Week

I recommend the “reverse studying” method: this means you try to learn the material on your own before you go over it with your tutor. That way, your tutor and you can spend those precious tutoring hours on the hardest parts: the ones you didn’t completely grasp in your individual studying.

When to Get a GRE Tutor

A great GRE tutor fills several important roles:

1. No one textbook covers everything. An excellent tutor will identify techniques and strategies that you’re missing, and he or she can teach these to you one-on-one – in a way individualized for own learning style. This will improve your testing ability and saves you worlds of stress, time, and trouble.
2. A good tutor saves you time. Your tutorial hours are the single most efficient way to crack the hardest concepts and problems. Your coach may teach you in thirty minutes what it would take you three hours to work out on your own.
3. A great tutor is encouraging. They commend you for your progress and keep you from feeling isolated and alone in the hard work of GRE prepping.
4. Great tutors help you stay on track. They’ll ask you about your error log and study schedule and provide a degree of accountability.
5. The best tutors give you energy. Let’s face it: you’ll be tired and want to quit during much of your GRE study period. A tutor can feed you focus and energy during your study time to keep you from burning out.

If you possess exceptional self-discipline, you may be able to stick to your study schedule, make consistent progress, and crack every hard problem and concept on your own. If you can, that’s great! Still, for most of us, seeking regular help from a tutor is part of our discipline, just like getting regular training from a great coach is part of up a good athlete’s routine.

Learning on your own is hard. Learning with a guide is much easier.

I believe the ideal scenario for most students is about 6 hours per week of tutoring; but if that’s financially out of reach, then even 2 hours weekly can make a healthy impact. I recommend you start tutoring early – at the very beginning of your GRE prep period – so that your GRE coach can keep you at your best performance and help you make optimal use of your time. If at any point you feel your tutor isn’t actually helping, be upfront and honest about it. Ask your tutor if she can do things differently to help you get the most from your tutoring time.

For the record, whenever my schedule has openings, I offer any new student a conditionally free hour-long 1-on-1 tutoring session. I will give you a total refund if after that first 1-on-1 lesson, you decide you don’t want to have any further sessions. I want you to know for sure whether I’m the tutor that suits you, before you financially commit. If you decide I’m not, then we’ll part as friends, and I’ll hold no hard feelings about it at all.

Also, please feel free to email me any questions (seriously! any of them!) about your GRE or other tutoring needs.

This should get you started! There’s much more to learn. Stay tuned to my blog posts, and don’t hesitate to ask me any question directly. You can reach me Monday through Saturday by text at (315) 600 – 8625 or by email at richard@worldclasstutor.org.