Last Updated on April 28, 2023
Preparing for the GRE is a monumental task, so it’s necessary to have a great study plan in place to ensure that you can effectively push toward your target GRE score. The good news is that as long as you have a structured, organized, and well-thought-out plan, there is no reason why you cannot succeed on the GRE.
This article will walk you through all of the components that make up each of the two critical phases of GRE preparation in any thorough and effective GRE study plan: the learning phase and the practice-test phase. If you’ve asked yourself, “What is the best way to study for the GRE?,” this two-phase approach is it!
Let’s start by defining the two phases and why it’s critical to complete them in order.
The Two Main Phases of GRE Preparation
Your GRE test prep should consist of two distinct phases: the learning phase and the practice-test phase. The first phase (the learning phase) consists of learning GRE quant and verbal topics through concept study and practice. The second phase (the practice-test phase) consists of practicing your acquired skills and knowledge by taking full-length practice exams.
You must keep these two phases separate. Besides initially taking a practice exam to get a baseline score, do not take any additional practice exams until you complete the entire learning phase of your study plan.
Waiting to take practice exams is very important. The data from those exams will be virtually meaningless unless you have already learned all you can from your GRE quant and verbal study. For example, let’s say you take a practice exam prior to learning geometry, and you get four geometry questions wrong. What does that actually tell you? Essentially what you already knew — you are not strong in geometry. No surprise there, because you have yet to learn about that topic!
TTP PRO TIP:
Don’t take practice tests during the learning phase of your GRE preparation.
If you want to ensure that you’re fully prepared to crush the GRE on test day, you’ll need a study strategy that involves learning GRE content first. Then you will refine your abilities with plenty of practice. So, let’s talk about study strategies for the first phase of your GRE preparation.
Phase 1: The Learning Phase
You’ve done your homework on your target schools and established a target score. You’ve completed your first full-length, official GRE practice test under realistic testing conditions to see how far you are from your target score. (If you haven’t already, read this post on how to get started with your GRE test prep.) You’re all set to begin your GRE preparation!
So, you may be asking yourself, “Now what?” Well, the first thing to consider is that GRE quant and verbal questions cover a wide variety of quantitative and verbal topics. There is no way to know which concepts will be tested on any given GRE. So, learning random GRE topics in a hit-or-miss fashion, without any order or logical progression, is not a productive or efficient study technique.
A topical approach, on the other hand, is a highly effective method for mastering all of the many topics and concepts you need to learn during the first phase of your GRE prep. Let’s discuss this strategy in detail.
Strategy #1: Use a Topic-by-Topic Approach
By following a linear, topic-by-topic approach to GRE prep, you’ll be using the best method to ensure that you properly understand each GRE topic. You won’t waste time trying to learn advanced topics before you’ve mastered your core knowledge.
For example, do you think it would be useful to jump around from Reading Comprehension questions to one-blank Text Completion questions before you have mastered either of those topics? The short answer is NO. Similarly, would it be helpful to jump from Exponent questions to Quadratic questions to Probability questions before mastering those topics? Again, the answer is NO! Jumping around in such a way will not allow you to gain footing in any one quant or verbal topic. You will feel as though you’re treading water rather than moving forward smoothly and building your knowledge.
So, the structure of your GRE study plan should be to learn one topic at a time, and then practice questions just on that one topic before moving to the next one. Using this method, start with the fundamentals and work your way up to more advanced concepts.
TTP PRO TIP:
Don’t try to learn advanced topics before you’ve mastered the basics.
The TTP GRE Study Plan, for example, begins with a chapter on foundational GRE quant skills, including rules on fractions and decimals, basic concepts of exponents and roots, PEMDAS, etc. These topics are presented in individual lessons followed by 2 to 3 questions based on each lesson. So, let’s say a student learns about PEMDAS. Immediately after learning that concept, he would be presented with 2 to 3 PEMDAS questions to ensure comprehension.
Also, following each chapter, students take a series of chapter tests based on the chapter just completed. These tests are broken up into easy, medium, and hard levels.
After each chapter test, detailed analytics are provided. Students can easily review the lessons that gave them issues on the chapter test. Using that data, students can strengthen any weak areas before they move to the next test. Finally, after all tests — easy, medium, and hard — have been completed and reviewed, the student moves to the next quant or verbal topic presented in the study plan.
Following an organized and topical approach allows for maximum efficiency, as you’ll always be able to see what you’ve already learned and what you still have to learn. Furthermore, if you understand each topic before attempting a large number of practice questions based on that topic, your GRE practice becomes a tool not only for honing your skills but also for validating that you understand all of the topics you’ve studied.
If you don’t have a well-structured and organized study plan, finding and addressing your GRE knowledge gaps can feel like a game of whack-a-mole. This will become frustrating and could even lead to your giving up on GRE prep altogether.
TTP PRO TIP:
Use a linear, topic-by-topic approach to make your GRE prep more organized, efficient, and productive.
Now that you have a basic structure for your study plan, let’s discuss some more specific study tactics you should use to master each new GRE topic.
Strategy #2: Alternate Between Quantitative and Verbal Study
While some separation of quant and verbal study is a good idea in GRE prep, I don’t recommend studying GRE quant and verbal at entirely different times during the preparation process. For example, I would not advise studying just GRE quant for the first two months of prep, and then studying just GRE verbal for the next two months. Having such large gaps in time will make retaining what you’ve learned more difficult. Think about how much quant knowledge you would lose by month four after taking two months off of quant prep!
While we don’t want to lose what we’ve learned, it is important to give our brains a little “breather” when we’re dealing with a large number of concepts in a single topic. For example, consider what it would be like to take only math classes for an entire semester. Pretty exhausting, right? Even if you enjoy math, spending hours every day studying only math would likely lead to boredom, restlessness, and a lack of enthusiasm. Furthermore, the influx of data may cause your brain to get overloaded.
As a result, it’s a good idea to alternate quant and verbal topics within your study plan. For example, let’s say a student using the TTP course worked through our quant chapter on Linear and Quadratic equations for 12 days, covering all of the lessons and chapter tests. The study plan would next present the verbal chapter on Sentence Equivalence questions. After completing that verbal chapter, a return to quant — perhaps Roots and Exponents — would be next, and so on.
Learning in this way provides students the necessary time and space between topics to comprehend what they’ve learned and keep their preparation on track. They’re also more likely to stay engaged and interested in what they’re learning. This prevents the study process from becoming monotonous. After all, when a task becomes repetitive, we tend to zone out and lose our focus and drive to study.
TTP PRO TIP:
To increase your knowledge, skills, and retention as you proceed through your GRE prep, alternate between learning a quant topic and learning a verbal topic.
Strategy #3: Take Notes While Learning
Taking notes as you learn new topics is essential when you are in the learning phase of your GRE study plan. Too often, students read or watch videos about concepts without taking any action to reinforce what they’re learning. Passive activities are not an effective way to learn.
One way to become an active participant in your learning is by taking notes as you cover new concepts. The act of putting a concept into your own words encourages you to think more deeply about its meaning. The more you have to think about what you’re learning, the more you’ll remember. So, when reading a lesson or watching a video, engage your brain by taking meaningful notes on the essential concepts presented.
Taking notes will not only help you recall more information but also provide you with something to review at a later time. Furthermore, note-taking will aid in the process of making flashcards, which we will discuss next.
TTP PRO TIP:
Taking notes makes you an active participant in your learning and gives you reference material for later review.
Strategy #4: Use Flashcards to Study Strategically
Creating and reviewing flashcards that summarize critical concepts is a terrific method of making your GRE studying more efficient and helping you to be a better test-taker. Use key concepts from your notes to make flashcards. This provides you with yet another chance to think about what you’ve learned and put it into your own words, both of which are proven to help with knowledge retention.
A great part about flashcards is that they can be used almost anywhere. For example, if you take public transportation to and from work, you can use that time to review your flashcards. Or if you’re waiting in line at the grocery store, take out your flashcards and give yourself a 2-minute quiz. You’ll undoubtedly discover that there are several opportunities to fit in “quick-hit” flashcard study sessions throughout your day, and believe me when I say that they add up! You can add an extra 20 minutes to your daily study time by fitting in five minutes here and 10 minutes there. Over the course of a week, you’d fit in an extra 2 hours and 20 minutes of GRE studying!
Some students prefer to use traditional paper flashcards, while others prefer digital flashcards. Whatever format you select, make sure to use your flashcards as frequently as possible. Shuffle the deck or randomize your cards before each use to add a new level of difficulty. Your brain will have to work a little harder to remember the material if you reorder the cards each time you study them, and your retention will improve.
Keep in mind that the number of flashcards you use will increase as you proceed through your GRE study plan. So, to make flashcard study more efficient, divide your cards into two piles: one for concepts you’ve mastered and another for concepts you haven’t. Naturally, you’ll want to look at the “not mastered” pile more often than the “mastered” pile. However, as we’ll see next, you won’t want to forget about what you’ve already learned, so be sure to look at your “mastered” pile every so often. If you are wondering what should go on your flashcards, check out our GRE quant equation guide for some inspiration.
TTP PRO TIP:
To make your flashcard review more challenging, shuffle the deck before each use.
Strategy #5: Take a Look Back at What You’ve Learned
You must revisit GRE topics you’ve already covered on a frequent basis as you go through the learning portion of your GRE study plan. As we’ve already discussed, you don’t want to get so far from a topic that you forget it. Because there is so much information to learn for the GRE, you risk losing knowledge as you progress through your study plan if you don’t go over previous topics regularly.
As an example, consider studying a foreign language: even if you become proficient, it doesn’t take long to forget words if you don’t routinely hear the language spoken and speak it yourself. Approach GRE prep in the same way. Over the duration of your study plan, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to study a topic once and only once and recall that topic on test day.
It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to study a topic once and only once and recall that topic on test day.
So, incorporate periodic review quizzes on previously studied topics into your GRE study plan. Do this in addition to fitting in flashcard review whenever you can to refresh essential concepts. By analyzing these quizzes, you’ll easily see if you’ve lost any knowledge from previously learned topics.
For example, when students move from one quant or verbal chapter in the TTP course to the next one, they begin with a review quiz that includes 10 questions based on several of the prior chapters they’ve studied. These quizzes provide students with a valuable opportunity to regularly review what they’ve learned. As a result, important concepts are less likely to be forgotten as new information is learned.
Periodic, mixed-topic review quizzes also allow students to routinely assess their ability to apply what they’ve learned. Because these quizzes present problems from many topics, they are similar to what students will encounter on the math section or the verbal section of the real GRE. At TTP, our mixed sets are compiled strategically, so that our students never waste time on problem sets that include topics they haven’t yet learned. Thus, students never progress too far without seeing a previous topic.
For example, if a student finishes the Number Properties chapter on day 75, she won’t have to wait until day 150 to see another Number Properties question. She may come across Number Properties questions in mixed-problem review quizzes on days 85, 100, 127, and so on.
In addition to the review quizzes, the TTP study plan includes larger, 40-question review tests that cover topics from several previous chapters (shown below). These tests, once again, provide strategic review of previously learned topics as well as ample timed practice.
TTP PRO TIP:
Revisiting previously taught GRE topics at regular, strategic intervals trains your brain to notice that the information is essential. This increases your chances of remembering the information on test day.
Another way to study past topics regularly is through reviewing your error log. Let’s discuss that strategy now.
Strategy #6: Examine Your Error Log Weekly
While it’s important to review every GRE question that you incorrectly answer, it’s equally as important to keep track of those incorrect answers and the reasons why you got those questions wrong. However, simply keeping track of your mistakes and going through them at random is not an efficient way to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.
In the TTP course, for example, there is a built-in error log that we advise students to review once a week. In conducting this review, our students reread the solutions to the problems they’ve answered incorrectly. They then go back to their study materials or notes to revisit any concepts that tripped them up.
A weekly review of your error log ensures that you fix mistakes and fill knowledge gaps right away. This prevents those gaps from lingering and growing larger and ensures that poor habits don’t become ingrained.
Additionally, performing a weekly “check-in” with your error log guarantees that you’re never confronted with an overwhelming list of topics that need improving. Consider how much work you’d have to do if you spent three months studying and practicing for the GRE before reviewing your error log.
Remember, the value of your practice sessions will diminish if you don’t frequently rectify your errors. Thus, ensure that your GRE study schedule includes a weekly review of your error log.
TTP PRO TIP:
A weekly “check-in” with your error log ensures that knowledge gaps and bad habits don’t linger and grow.
Once you’ve studied and practiced each GRE topic thoroughly, revisited previous topics in mixed sets, and reviewed and fixed your weak areas regularly, the learning phase of your preparation will be complete. Thus, you’ll be ready to move on to the second (and final) part of a successful GRE study strategy: completing full-length practice tests in the practice-test phase.
Phase 2: The Practice-Test Phase
In the final phase of your study plan, you will take the remaining four full-length, official GRE practice exams. (Note that there are actually five practice exams available on the ETS website, but you will have already taken one of them to establish your baseline GRE score at the start of your study plan). Let’s discuss how to take these remaining exams.
Strategy #7: Spread Out Your Practice Tests
Use the four remaining full-length practice exams on the ETS website. They will help you familiarize yourself with the test-taking experience, build stamina, polish your pacing, determine whether you can hit your target score, and identify any remaining weak areas. I want to be clear: this strategy of using ETS practice exams to help with any lingering weak areas works only because you have completed the learning phase.
Be sure to spread out your practice exams, leaving about seven days between exams. You don’t want to be in a scenario in which you have to take all four practice tests in the same week. By spreading them out, you’ll have time between practice tests to examine and fix your weak areas. Plus, you’ll give yourself a few days to clear your head before your next practice test — a must for performing at the top of your game.
TTP PRO TIP:
Be sure to spread out your practice exams, leaving about seven days between exams.
Of course, if you’re not getting your target score on full-length practice exams, you might want to think about whether you need more time to prepare for the GRE. Because every student learns and develops abilities at a different rate, there is no “standard” time frame for completing GRE preparation. The further your baseline score is from your target score, the more time you’ll need to prepare for the GRE adequately. If you’re unsure of how long you may need to adequately prepare for the GRE, this article can help you calculate your study time.
Happy studying!
