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For many people preparing for the GRE General Test to apply to graduate school, a key question is, “How can I improve my GRE Verbal speed?” It isn’t surprising that people wonder how to be faster in GRE Verbal since each of the GRE Verbal sections only gives you about 1.5 minutes per question, which can be fairly sophisticated and tricky.. So, completing the Verbal section of the GRE on time can be challenging.
The good news is that, by making the right moves, anyone can get faster at GRE Verbal, complete the section in the allotted time, and achieve a high Verbal section GRE score. In this article, I’m going to discuss 8 key tips for speeding up in GRE Verbal that will help you to achieve your Verbal score goal.
Here are the topics we’ll cover:
- Tip 1: Have a Clear Strategy for Each GRE Verbal Question Type
- Tip 2: Develop Stronger GRE Verbal Skills
- Tip 3: Read More Carefully
- Tip 4: Work on Efficiency
- Tip 5: Reduce Your Note-Taking
- Tip 6: Don’t Get Bogged Down in the Details of RC Passages
- Tip 7: Don’t Pre-Think Answers to GRE Verbal Questions
- Tip 8: Use the Five-Finger Method to Track Answer Choices
- Summary: How to Increase Your Speed in GRE Verbal
- What’s Next?
Let’s get started by discussing how having an efficient strategy for answering each type of GRE Verbal question can help you increase your GRE Verbal speed.
Tip 1: Have a Clear Strategy for Each GRE Verbal Question Type
The first move you can make to get faster at GRE Verbal is to have a clear, reliable strategy for answering each type of GRE Verbal question. Why? Well, even if you can get most GRE Verbal questions correct without clear strategies, you’ll likely answer them significantly faster if you have such strategies.
For example, you may be able to find your way to the correct answer to a Main Idea question in a Reading Comprehension passage without a clear strategy. However, if you know in advance that, when you see a Main Idea question, you should identify important points in the passage, use those points to bring the main idea into focus, and determine which choice fits what the important points indicate, you’ll likely answer the question faster.
By learning or developing a strategy for answering each type of question, you’ll save time in answering every question you see.
TTP PRO TIP:
To be faster in GRE Verbal, have a clear strategy for answering each type of GRE Verbal question.
Let’s now talk about another foundational move you can make to speed up in GRE Verbal, developing stronger GRE Verbal skills.
Tip 2: Develop Stronger GRE Verbal Skills
It’s easy to get the impression that you could complete the GRE Verbal section in the allotted time if you didn’t have “timing issues.” However, the truth is that, when people have difficulty completing the GRE Verbal section, timing itself generally is not the main issue. The main issue is a skills issue. After all, what enables you to answer GRE Verbal questions quickly is skill. So, another key move you can make to increase your GRE Verbal speed is simply to develop stronger GRE Verbal skills.
Now, you may be wondering how exactly to develop stronger GRE Verbal skills. The answer may surprise you because much of the answer is to slow down when practicing. It’s true: practicing slowly is the way to speed up in GRE Verbal. Here’s why.
When you’re practicing GRE Verbal, your goal is to develop skill in doing things such as identifying keywords in Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions, finding information in Reading Comprehension passages, and analyzing arguments in Critical Reasoning questions. Sure, once you’re fully prepared for the GRE, you’ll be able to do these things in a minute or two per question. However, to develop skill in doing these things, you’ll have to spend much more time on each question. In other words, you’ll have to give yourself time to learn.
So, to speed up in GRE Verbal, rather than set a timer and seek to answer practice questions at the pace you’ll keep on test day, work untimed and focus on skill development. Speed will come with skill.
TTP PRO TIP:
To develop the skills that will enable you to answer GRE Verbal questions quickly, practice untimed and focus on skill development.
Another way to speed up in GRE Verbal is to read more carefully. Let’s discuss.
Tip 3: Read More Carefully
You might think that reading more carefully would slow you down in GRE Verbal rather than speed you up. However, the truth is that reading more carefully can really help you complete the Verbal section on time. Careful reading sets you up to answer Verbal questions faster by giving you a clearer picture of the sentence, passage, question, or answer choice you’re dealing with.
For instance, people often quickly glance over the sentences in a Text Completion question, and then go to the answer choices without having a clear picture of what the sentences say. Such an approach can end up wasting time rather than saving time because it leaves you operating on incomplete information. So, rather than quickly narrowing down the choices and selecting the correct answer, you may end up circling through the choices wondering what makes one better than the others. Simply put, you spend time doing something you would not have to do if you read carefully in the first place.
On the other hand, if you read sentences, passages, questions, and answer choices carefully, you set yourself up with all the information you need to evaluate answer choices. Thus, the correct answers may practically jump out at you.
So, to answer GRE Verbal questions faster, read more carefully.
TTP PRO TIP:
To answer GRE Verbal questions faster, read the sentences, passages, questions, and answer choices more carefully. Set yourself up for success.
Let’s now discuss another move you can make to get faster at GRE Verbal, working on efficiency.
Tip 4: Work on Efficiency
Another way to get faster at GRE Verbal is to work on efficiency. When preparing for GRE Verbal, we tend to focus on things such as learning GRE words and strategies and developing skill in arriving at correct answers consistently. At the same time, we can also focus on the efficiency aspect.
You may already be familiar with focusing on efficiency from your GRE Quant preparation. When preparing for GRE quant, it’s common to work on answering questions in the most efficient ways possible. Well, you can work on GRE Verbal in a similar way. In addition to learning to find correct answers consistently, work on finding them in the most efficient way possible.
For instance, in Sentence Equivalence, you can develop skill in efficiently working through the answer choices by eliminating easy-out choices first, then carefully choosing between the remaining ones. In Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning, you can learn to find efficiencies in the ways you look for information in passages and go through answer choices.
There are many ways to become more efficient in how you go about answering GRE Verbal questions, and any move you make to become more efficient is going to help you get through the Verbal section more quickly.
TTP PRO TIP:
In addition to learning to find correct answers to GRE Verbal questions reliably, work on finding them efficiently.
An often overlooked way to speed up in GRE Verbal is to reduce note-taking. Let’s discuss that now.
Tip 5: Reduce Your Note-Taking
Some people find that taking notes can help them answer Verbal questions on the GRE. For instance, note-taking might help you to focus on a Reading Comprehension passage. The thing is, what may be helpful in small doses can be score-eroding in large ones. After all, you can use up a lot of time if you get caught up in taking many notes on GRE Verbal questions.
So, if you’ve been taking many notes when answering Verbal questions, one way to speed up could be to reduce the amount of note-taking you do. The truth is that most GRE Verbal questions are not very long. So, there is not so much to keep in mind when answering them that taking notes makes a significant difference. Also, when answering RC questions, you can refer back to the passages to find any information you need. So, there isn’t really any need to note many details of the passages.
In fact, many people score high on GRE Verbal without taking any notes at all. Others take large quantities of notes only to completely ignore those notes after taking them. You may find that you can go through the Verbal section of the GRE faster and increase your Verbal score by simply refraining from taking notes. Alternatively, if you feel that taking some notes helps you, then you can seek to optimize your note-taking, so that it benefits you without wasting your time.
TTP PRO TIP:
To increase your speed in GRE Verbal, stop taking notes or optimize your note-taking so that it benefits you without wasting your time.
Another way to speed up in GRE Verbal is to learn to read Reading Comprehension passages without getting bogged down in details. Let’s discuss that now.
Tip 6: Don’t Get Bogged Down in the Details of RC Passages
Some GRE Reading Comprehension passages, especially longer ones, present many details. For instance, a passage may discuss two different authors and various details of their approaches to writing. Or a passage might discuss the ins and outs of how a particular natural phenomenon arises. In reading such passages, it’s easy to get bogged down in the details of the discussion.
The issue is that fully understanding and keeping straight all those details takes time, and the questions about the passage likely won’t ask about all those details. Furthermore, you can always go back to the passage to find details you need for answering questions. So, if you spend time seeking to fully process all the details of a passage, you’ll unnecessarily use up some of the precious time you have to complete the Verbal section.
Accordingly, a time-saving move to make when reading a detail-heavy RC passage is to focus on understanding what the passage says overall, rather than seek to fully process every detail. That’s not to say that you should skim the passage or use a gimmicky strategy such as reading only the first sentence of each paragraph. You do need to comprehend what the passage says. The point is that you can save time by not attempting to fully process or memorize every detail when you first read a passage.
TTP PRO TIP:
You can save time in GRE Verbal by not attempting to fully process every detail of a detail-heavy Reading Comprehension passage the first time you read it.
Another way to get faster at GRE Verbal is to answer questions without pre-thinking. Let’s explore why.
Tip #7: Don’t Pre-Think Answers to GRE Verbal Questions
You may have heard of the GRE Verbal strategy known as “pre-thinking.” Pre-thinking involves coming up with a possible answer to a Verbal question — usually a TC or CR question — before going to the answer choices. This strategy is flawed in a few ways, including in that it can waste precious time.
The First Way Pre-Thinking Wastes Time
One issue with pre-thinking is that it involves spending time doing something you really don’t have to do. The answer choices are right there in front of you. So, you don’t have to come up with an answer on your own. You can simply analyze the choices presented. After all, if you understand the passage, question, and choices you’re dealing with, then analyzing the choices is the most direct path to the correct answer.
TTP PRO TIP:
Analyzing the choices in front of you, rather than pre-thinking, is the most direct path to the correct answer.
The Second Way Pre-Thinking Wastes Time
Secondly, pre-thinking can cause you to waste time looking for an answer choice that resembles your pre-thought answer. Yes, in some cases, the correct answer will resemble your pre-thought answer. However, especially in the case of harder questions, there is a good chance that the correct answer will not match your pre-thought answer.
In these cases, at best, your pre-thought answer will be a distraction that slows you down as you go through the choices. At the same time, what often happens is that people end up going through the choices twice. First they go through looking for their pre-thought answer. Then, when no choice matches it, they go through the choices again to actually analyze them. What a waste of time.
Much of the reason why some people recommend pre-thinking is to get students to pay attention when reading GRE Verbal questions and think carefully about them. Of course, you can pay attention and think carefully without pre-thinking answers, and thus save time.
So, to speed up in the GRE Verbal section and complete it on time, don’t pre-think answers.
TTP PRO TIP:
To speed up in the GRE Verbal section and complete it on time, don’t pre-think answers.
One more way to be faster in GRE Verbal is to use the five-finger method to keep track of answer choices. Let’s discuss that method.
Tip 8: Use the Five-Finger Method to Track Answer Choices
When we answer a multiple-choice GRE Verbal question, losing track of which answer choices we’ve eliminated can slow us down. After all, if we fail to keep track of which choices we’ve eliminated, we might be forced to review choices we’ve already decided are incorrect.
One way test-takers address this issue is by keeping track of eliminated choices on the notepad. However, doing so requires looking away from the screen the GRE test is on and taking time to write on the pad. So, having a way to keep track of choices while looking at the screen and without having to write on the pad would be ideal. Fortunately there is such a way: the five-finger method. Here’s how it works.
When answering a multiple-choice question, simply hold one of your hands near the screen on which the test appears and use the fingers on that hand to represent the answer choices. Your thumb represents choice (A), and each of your other four fingers represents one of the choices (B) through (E). You start off with all five fingers extended, and as you eliminate a choice, you fold in the finger that represents that choice. If you change your mind and decide that a choice is a contender after all, you can unfold the finger that represents that choice.
You can see that this method is a super-easy and efficient way to keep track of answer choices. Using this method will help you complete the Verbal section of the GRE in the allotted time.
TTP PRO TIP:
Use the five-finger method to efficiently keep track of GRE Verbal answer choices and complete the GRE Verbal section in the allotted time.
Let’s now wrap up our discussion of how to increase your GRE Verbal speed.
Summary: How to Increase Your Speed in GRE Verbal
Here is a summary of the 8 high-value tips for increasing your speed in GRE Verbal that we have discussed:
- Have a clear strategy for each GRE Verbal question type
- Develop stronger GRE Verbal skills
- Read more carefully
- Work on efficiency
- Reduce your note-taking
- Don’t get bogged down in the details of RC passages
- Don’t pre-think answers to GRE Verbal questions
- Use the five-finger method to track answer choices
By applying these tips and using great GRE preparation resources, you can master GRE Verbal and achieve your score goal.
What’s Next?
For further information about the GRE Verbal sections, check out our breakdown of the question types you’ll face, and you can get some tips to improve your performance on Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions. Finally, you can learn how to avoid common pitfalls many students encounter while preparing for GRE Verbal.
