How to Increase Your GRE Quant Score

Last Updated on March 15, 2024

With so many industries relying on big data, analytics, and statistics, many top graduate programs require solid quant skills. Earning a strong quant score on the Quantitative Reasoning section of the GRE is a surefire way of demonstrating your ability to work with numbers and reason analytically and displaying to graduate school and business school admissions that you are capable of handling graduate-level math.

The good news is that, even if math is not your best subject, if you follow a strategic plan of study, using the best materials and putting in the required time and effort to prepare, you can earn an impressive GRE Quantitative score. In this article, we’ll take a look at the particular challenges that GRE Quant presents and how you can overcome them, plus give you some key tips and tricks to help you maximize your score.

Here are the topics we’ll cover:

• How the GRE is Structured and Scored
• The Types of GRE Questions You Will Encounter
• GRE Quant: More Than a Math Test
  • GRE Quant Questions Require Reasoning
  • GRE Quant Questions Are Simpler Than They Seem
• Systematic, Abundant Practice is Critical
• Build a Strong Foundation
• Regularly Review the Material
• Embrace Your Weaknesses to Eliminate Them
• Algebraic Translation: An Essential Skill for GRE Quant
• The Three Levels of Problem-Solving Proficiency
• Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable
• Work Carefully to Avoid Careless Mistakes
• Use One Resource to Prep for GRE Quant
• Set a Realistic Time Frame
  • The Time-Based Scheduling Strategy
  • The Readiness-Based Scheduling Strategy
• Key Takeaways
• What’s Next?

How the GRE is Structured and Scored

There are two separate Quantitative sections on the GRE: the first consists of 12 questions in 21 minutes, and the second consists of 15 questions in 26 minutes. The first Quant section consists of a mix of easy, medium, and difficult questions. The difficulty level of the second Quant section depends on how well you score on the first quant section. Thus, the GRE is referred to as section-adaptive.

Although no one other than ETS knows exactly how the GRE scoring algorithm works, we do know that your score depends heavily on the difficulty level of the questions you’re answering. Since the test is adaptive by section, not by individual question, it is imperative that you correctly answer as many questions as possible in the first Quant section. This not only will drive up your score but also will allow you to see more difficult questions in the second Quant section, giving you a greater opportunity to earn a high score.

KEY FACT:

There are two separate Quantitative sections on the GRE: the first consists of 12 questions in 21 minutes, and the second consists of 15 questions in 26 minutes.

Keep in mind that, even if you are unsure of some answers or have to guess on a few questions in the first quant section, all is not lost. It is a common myth that test-takers must answer every question correctly in order to hit a 165+ Quant score. If you try to predict how well you’re doing, or if you fret over a slip-up on what seems like an easy question, you will likely only distract yourself from the task at hand, impairing your ability to perform at your best on the remaining questions. In GRE Quant, you can incorrectly answer a reasonable number of questions and still earn a high score, even if a couple of those questions are easy ones.

That said, it is important to strive to answer both easy and difficult questions correctly. If you’re hoping to outscore your peers, correctly answering only the easy questions will not be enough. So, if you feel confident about your performance in the first quant section and notice that the questions seem more difficult in the second, that doesn’t mean you can “afford” to ease up on your efforts. There is no way to accurately determine how well you’re scoring as you’re taking the GRE, and you shouldn’t try to. You must give each question your full effort and your full attention if you want to earn a high score.

Another important element of GRE scoring is that the GRE does not penalize incorrect responses, and thus, even if you have no idea what the correct answer to a question is, you should always select an answer rather than leaving the question blank. A guess, even a random one, has a chance of being correct and increasing your score, whereas a blank question has no chance of being correct. So, do not leave any question on the GRE unanswered, even if you are pressed for time and your answer is nothing but a guess.

Now, let’s discuss the types of quant questions on the GRE.

The Types of GRE Questions You Will Encounter

Unlike other standardized tests you may have taken in the past, the GRE offers some unique question types that require additional practice, even if you are confident about your overall math skills. The first of these is the Quantitative Comparison (QC) question. This question type presents you with two quantities, Quantity A and Quantity B, and you must determine the relationship between them. In a simple example, if Quantity A = 6 and Quantity B = 8, then we see that Quantity B is always greater than Quantity A. In a more challenging scenario, if Quantity A = x and Quantity B = 2x, then the relationship between them cannot be determined. Sometimes the two quantities are equal (if x = 0), sometimes Quantity A is greater than Quantity B (if x is negative), and sometimes Quantity B is greater than Quantity A (if x is positive).

You will also encounter numeric entry questions, in which you have to calculate an answer and then type the answer into a box.

You will see traditional multiple-choice questions that contain 5 answer choices, but you will also see “select all that apply” multiple-choice questions, in which you must choose all correct answers from as many as 7 answer choices.

While we’re on the topic of question types, let’s address the unique way that data interpretation questions are presented. Generally, you will see a chart, graph, or table, and sometimes a combination of two of those. Then, you will be asked exactly 3 questions about the data presented. 

TTP PRO TIP:

Become intimately familiar with the types of GRE question types: Quantitative Comparison, numeric entry, traditional multiple-choice, and “select all that apply.”

Before you continue reading, consider trying your hand at the following five GRE Quant questions. As you work through them, take note of what makes them different from the run-of-the-mill math questions you may be used to seeing.

Now, let’s take a look at what makes the GRE Quant section different from other math tests.

GRE Quant: More Than a Math Test

The first step toward increasing your GRE Quant score is realizing that GRE Quant requires skills that are different from the math skills that you used in high school and college. The GRE Quantitative Reasoning section is more than a math test; it is also a reasoning game. So, increasing your score requires improving skills that relate specifically to the GRE Quant game.

Of course, it’s imperative that you know an array of basic math concepts, such as 30-60-90 triangle rules, Venn diagrams, the difference of squares, divisibility, patterns in units digits and in remainders, combinations and permutations, and algebraic translations, to name a few. However, you need to far surpass simply understanding those concepts; you must develop strong analytical reasoning skills.

In short, without a solid understanding of the underlying math, increasing your GRE Quant score will be difficult, but merely learning math probably won’t be sufficient to earn you a high Quant score. The key is to learn how the GRE uses basic math to create logic-based questions.

Let’s take a closer look at what makes GRE Quant questions different from what you’re used to seeing.

GRE Quant Questions Require Reasoning

Whereas high school and college math tests are challenging because of the complexity of the mathematical concepts being tested, GRE Quant is challenging because of the level of reasoning the questions require. An ordinary math test assesses whether you understand concepts (and often allows the use of a calculator). The GRE, on the other hand, largely assumes that you understand certain concepts and uses those concepts as the foundation of reasoning questions.

Furthermore, the GRE is structured in such a way that you’ll need to be able to answer each quant question in one minute and forty-five seconds, on average. Thus, your understanding of how to answer GRE Quant questions must be so great that you are able to attack each question as efficiently as possible. Being able to answer a question in four minutes may be a good start when you’re beginning your quant study but does you little good on the actual GRE.

KEY FACT:

On average, you’ll have one minute and 45 seconds to answer each GRE quant question.

So, just because you have been able to score at a high level on ordinary math tests, don’t assume that that knowledge will automatically translate into a high GRE Quant score. Likewise, just because the math concepts in GRE Quant questions are relatively simple — the type that people learn in middle school math — does not mean that GRE questions are simple. Nearly every GRE Quant question has a unique “twist” to it, engineered by the test-maker. Mastering concepts is only the beginning; you must learn to think like the test-maker and be able to apply advanced analytical thinking skills to a wide range of questions.

For example, try the following very simple GRE Quant question:

As is the case with all GRE Quant questions, seeing a key aspect of what this question presents is necessary for getting the right answer. What you have to see in this question is that going down by 50% results in a numerical change different from that generated by going back up 50%.

Similarly, it’s important to recognize that there is simplicity in GRE Quant questions.

GRE Quant Questions Are Simpler Than They Seem

Most, if not all, GRE Quant questions have relatively simple solutions, yet too often, students look for complex solutions. This approach is a mistake. A crucial aspect of GRE Quant questions is that they tend to be designed such that each question contains one or two key elements that the test-taker must identify in order to answer the question efficiently. Once you identify those key components, the question can become quite simple — far simpler than you expect. It’s often the case that a question that takes many test-takers three minutes to solve can be correctly answered in less than one minute if you pinpoint one or two key aspects of the problem.

Consider the following questions, all of which seem complicated until we identify the simplicity within them:

GRE Sample Units Digit Pattern

Even when a test-taker is scoring high and thus seeing relatively challenging questions, many of those questions can be solved using methods that are not particularly sophisticated. In other words, for most questions, the optimal path to the solution will be quite basic. Simplicity is your goal.

Keeping this goal in mind, you should ask yourself the following questions when solving GRE Quant problems:

“What is the question really asking?”

“How can I make this question as simple as possible?”

“What is a shortcut to answering this question?”

At this point, most students ask, “How do I learn to see what I need to see?” The answer is that you must prepare with study materials that teach you how to answer GRE Quant questions accurately and efficiently. Then, you must engage in a ton of systematic practice. Through that deliberate study and practice, you’ll gain the skills you need to recognize the keys that “unlock” GRE Quant questions and expose their inherent simplicity. 

TTP PRO TIP:

Use study materials that both teach math and provide you insight into the efficient solutions of GRE problems.

Systematic, Abundant Practice is Critical

While there is typically limited variability in the way concepts are presented on a traditional math test, on GRE Quant, there are dozens of potential variations of even the most seemingly simple question types. One mistake that students make when preparing for GRE Quant is that they don’t systematically practice with enough questions in each category.

For most people preparing for the GRE, working on quant questions one type at a time is the most effective method for increasing their quant scores, and mastering how to correctly answer questions in a particular category can take answering many such questions. Practicing questions by topic means spending a certain number of days working on only Rate-Time-Distance questions, for example. The goal is to become so skilled at Rate-Time-Distance questions that you can’t get them wrong. By working through question categories one at a time, you learn how to decipher the logic of that question type, developing multiple approaches for arriving at answers and gaining a clear understanding of the common pitfalls in a category. You might make the same type of mistake twice in a row, but you probably won’t make it five times in a row. Thus, you must solve a wide spectrum of realistic practice questions in each quant category.

When people don’t spend sufficient time mastering a topic prior to taking the GRE, they tend to struggle with questions that look and feel different from the ones with which they practiced. In other words, they tend to get bogged down when they encounter problems that center on familiar concepts but use those concepts in new and unique ways. Consider the algebra topic known as the difference of squares. Most test-takers understand that x² – y² = (x + y)(x – y). However, some don’t engage in enough deliberate practice to be able to actually recognize and solve questions on the difference of squares. Conceptual knowledge must be bolstered by the practical application of that knowledge if you hope to have success in GRE Quant.

Check out this article for more on the types of knowledge necessary to achieve a high GRE score, and try these practice questions on the difference of squares. How does your practical know-how stack up against your grasp of that concept?

Thorough conceptual and practical mastery will help give you the confidence you need to walk into the test center cool, calm, and collected, knowing that you are well-equipped to handle whatever spin the test puts on a question type. By focusing on categories of questions, you drive your quant score higher with each category that you master. If you work in this way, hitting your Quant score goal is almost inevitable. Remember, when you study a topic, your goal is not to practice until you get questions right, but to practice until you can’t get questions wrong.

Now, let’s next talk about the importance of mastering foundational quant topics first.

Build a Strong Foundation

Too often, students focus their study efforts on difficult GRE Quant questions, such as those involving relatively complicated probability, combinatorics, and number properties, while neglecting the basics. This is not a sound strategy for GRE success. Mastering math, particularly the math tested on the GRE, requires that you take a linear approach to developing your knowledge and skills. If you skip to the hard stuff, it will be challenging for you to develop a strong command of the material. There are a number of reasons for this.

For one, understanding the basics, such as how to work with fractions and exponents, is necessary for solving more complicated questions. For example, if you are not well-versed in calculations involving fractions, you could miss or take too long answering a probability question. Furthermore, the key to hitting your score goal is getting all of the easy- and medium-level questions correct and getting as many difficult questions as possible correct.

Remember, the first Quant section has a mix of difficulty levels, and getting all or most of the easy- and medium-level questions correct will drive up your score in that section. This solid performance will give you the opportunity to increase your score even more in the second Quant section, in which you will encounter more challenging questions.

Conversely, missing easy or medium questions in the first section will not only negatively impact your initial quant score, but also result in your being presented with easier questions in the second section, which means that you will not even see the types of questions that could significantly improve your score. If you can’t correctly answer easy and medium questions, you are unlikely to later see score-enhancing difficult ones.

Knowledge of the basics, or the lack thereof, can make or break your GRE Quant score. Concepts such as fractions, ratios, and decimals are simple in theory, but that doesn’t mean you are skilled at solving GRE Quant questions involving those concepts. Often, test-takers don’t devote study time to the types of questions that are easy in theory, and thus test-takers often waste an inordinate amount of time answering those types of questions on the actual test. Don’t discount the possibility that to increase your GRE Quant score, you may need to get better at tackling the most basic types of concepts and questions, and then build upward from there.

TTP PRO TIP:

Become confident and fast at basic math skills, such as fractions, ratios, and percents. This will buy you the time needed for answering the more challenging questions.

So, how do you retain all of these concepts and skills as you continue to master new ones? In other words, how do you not forget what you’ve learned?

Regularly Review the Material

If you’re like most students, when preparing for the GRE, you’ll learn a great deal of new content, strategies, and techniques. If you don’t regularly review what you’ve learned, you’re likely to forget things as your focus shifts. So, you need to review old content as you go, and there are a number of ways to do this efficiently.

For starters, consider taking notes as you study. Taking notes makes you a more active participant in your learning and gives you something to review at a later date. The simple act of writing down a concept or principle in your own words can make you think more clearly about the meaning of that concept, and thus it should stick better in your mind than it would if you were to simply read about it. We’ve all been victims of mindless reading — those times when we say to ourselves, “I just read two pages and I have no memory whatsoever of what I read.” Taking notes as you read can help you avoid this wasteful activity, increasing your focus and retention.

After you’ve taken notes, consider making flashcards so you can consistently and quickly review a concept and better retain the information. The great thing about flashcards is that you can use them anywhere. If you have ten minutes on the subway, run through your flashcards. Waiting in line at Starbucks, quiz yourself using your flashcards. Some students prefer “old-fashioned” paper flashcards, while others prefer the digital version. Whichever format you choose, be sure to flip through your flashcards often. To challenge yourself even more, shuffle the deck before each use. By reordering the cards each time you review them, you make the material unpredictable. You will have to work a bit harder, but your retention of the material will increase dramatically.

As you dive deeper into your prep, the number of flashcards you’re using will grow. So, to help yourself review efficiently, separate your flashcards into piles: one pile for concepts that you’ve mastered and another pile for concepts that you haven’t mastered. Clearly, you should flip through the “not mastered” pile more frequently than the “mastered” pile. However, don’t forget to revisit the concepts you’ve mastered every so often to make sure that those skills don’t become rusty.

Additionally, as you work through categories of quant questions, include in your routine some time answering question types on which you’ve already worked. Ensuring that the concepts you’ve learned and the skills you’ve developed stay fresh is critical to driving up your GRE Quant score. You can also use this free GRE math cheat sheet to review key formulas and rules.

TTP PRO TIP:

As you study, take notes, make flash cards, use the TTP cheat sheet, and review them often.

Next, let’s discuss the importance of working on your weaknesses.

Embrace Your Weaknesses to Eliminate Them

Unfortunately, students tend to avoid working on question types that are problematic for them. However, problematic questions represent powerful opportunities for improvement. One surefire way to increase your Quant score is to figure out what question types you don’t want to see on test day and work on those types until you hope to see them. Become an expert at answering the types of Quant questions you currently dread, and watch your score increase.

Tackling your weaknesses head-on allows you to grow stronger in those areas, which means more right answers on those types of questions and, ultimately, more time to answer other types of questions, such as those requiring more calculations.

Let’s take a look at a specific skill necessary for answering many types of GRE Quant questions: algebraic translation.

Algebraic Translation: An Essential Skill for GRE Quant

We know that test-takers have to master many topics in order to attain a high GRE Quant score. However, there is one topic that pertains to questions in many categories: algebraic translation. Algebraic translation is the skill of translating the written words in a GRE Quant problem into math. Too often people neglect this skill. Don’t make that mistake.

Often, weak algebraic translation skills are the common thread running through a test-taker’s struggles with multiple types of questions. In other words, the core weakness may not be in the nuances of concepts behind interest rate questions, for example, but in the student’s ability to translate words into math and then effectively and accurately deal with that math. So, while you must master many different mathematical concepts to perform well in GRE Quant, by mastering algebraic translation, you can improve your performance in many areas. 

Let’s discuss the three levels of problem-solving proficiency that most students pass through when preparing for the Quant section of the GRE.

The Three Levels of Problem-Solving Proficiency

For each category of GRE Quant questions, you may see any or all of the following three levels of proficiency as you practice solving problems:

Level 1: You understand the logic of GRE Quant questions in a category and basically know how to answer them, but you may not answer them correctly, or at least do so consistently. This is a good start.

Level 2: You consistently answer questions in a quant category correctly, but not quickly, averaging well over two minutes per question. This level of proficiency is even better. If you can get right answers consistently, you are well on your way to hitting your GRE score goal.

Level 3: You consistently answer questions in a category correctly, taking around two minutes per question, usually less. At this level of proficiency, you are ready to see questions in this category on the test. Now it’s time to work on another question category.

To develop the third level of proficiency, you must allow yourself ample time for deliberate practice. When you first begin practicing, if you try to rush through questions, you’ll find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to progress to Level 3. Thus, in the early stages, you should practice the questions untimed. Yes, you can be aware of how much time you’re taking, but don’t focus on the time. You need to focus on finding the correct response to each question by mastering the material and learning to use higher-level thinking, rather than on answering questions in two minutes (or any other preset time constraint). The best way to gain speed is to know the material very well and develop strong skills.

As your knowledge of the material becomes more extensive and your skills get stronger, you can begin holding yourself to more stringent time constraints. For example, perhaps in the first month of your GRE prep, you don’t worry about the time at all. In the second month, maybe your goal is to answer each quant question in under three minutes. In month three, under 2:00. Then in month four, as far under 1:45 as possible.

Another mistake that students make is that they never time themselves, and thus they don’t know whether they can solve a problem in a reasonable amount of time (about 1:45, on average). Remember, on the GRE, answering questions correctly is a great start, but that will not produce a higher score unless you can reach those answers quickly enough.

As you progress through your preparation, be sure to hold yourself to increasingly stringent time constraints when you practice questions. By test day, you’ll want to be at, or close to, an average time of 1:45 per question. Check out this article for more tips on how to get faster at solving GRE Quant questions.

TTP PRO TIP:

The best way to become fast is to know the material well. Don’t move on to a new topic until you have mastered the current one.

Now, let’s discuss the importance of learning to be okay with feeling uncomfortable.

Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

Over the years, I’ve noticed that the students who went on to earn the highest GRE Quant scores were the ones who never gave up on problems during practice. Conversely, the students who gave into their discomfort after 60 seconds or 1:30 were the ones who, all else equal, saw the least improvement in their GRE Quant scores.

Even when your brain begins to hurt and you feel frustrated and tired, or you’d rather be doing anything other than studying for the GRE, you must train yourself to push through quant questions. You must learn to be okay with – and even embrace – the feeling of being uncomfortable. Consider hardship a tool for growth, and put that tool to work.

Learning perseverance is another reason to work on practice questions untimed until your skills improve. There is a psychological component to getting the correct answer to a GRE Quant question. You may look at a question and not know how to answer it at first. You may start wondering whether you have what it takes to get the answer. Generally, if you keep at it and go through the fire — the questioning yourself, the fear, the anger, the boredom, the fatigue — you will arrive at the answer, but that process may take much longer than two or three minutes. So, if you give yourself only those couple of minutes, you let yourself off the hook. You don’t learn to go through the fire and come out the other side with the answer. You can go to the explanation and learn what the answer is, but you will not have learned one of the most important things: how to persist, and hack, and do whatever you have to do to get the answers to challenging questions. Don’t underestimate the value of this skill on the GRE.

Of course, it is always better to know how to answer a question elegantly and efficiently. However, even if you don’t know exactly how to solve a question, I want you to hack, calculate, cogitate, count on your fingers, or do whatever you have to do to get a correct answer. Stay with the problem and don’t give up unless you are truly, absolutely stuck. Research indicates that when you think you’ve done all that you can, you’ve actually done about forty percent of what you’re capable of. And even if you don’t answer the question correctly, you will be teaching yourself how to be resilient and push on in the face of adversity.

Keep in mind also that when it comes to GRE questions, often “the bigger the bark, the smaller the bite.” In other words, the nastier a GRE Quant problem may look upon first glance, the easier it is to correctly answer. So, do your best not to become intimidated when first reading a question.

Work Carefully to Avoid Careless Mistakes

Careless errors will destroy your score. Obviously, they can lead to wrong answers, but a more insidious and potentially just as damaging effect is that they suck up time. For example, you may catch a careless error because the answer you come up with doesn’t show up in the answer choices, but even then, you will have to recalculate or perhaps start the question over, and this takes time that you could be using to get right answers to other questions. In some cases, you may not have time to fix a careless error, and thus you will be forced to guess and move on. Learning to be more accurate in your work can easily add five points or more to your GRE Quant score.

One way to avoid careless mistakes is to work slowly and carefully. The more you rush, the more likely you are to make a silly or sloppy error. Of course, you have to work relatively quickly in order to complete a section in the allotted time, but there is a difference between working efficiently and rushing through calculations.

You also can reduce careless errors by becoming aware of the types of errors that you tend to make. Do you typically make errors when adding? Do you forget to answer the question being asked? Do you get so excited when you’ve gotten through the difficult part of answering a question that you blow the final calculations? Learn what it is that you do that results in score-destroying, small errors, so that you can catch yourself before you do it.

Finally, consider that what seem to be careless errors may in fact be signs that you don’t fully understand how to answer certain types of questions. It’s easy to look at an explanation and think, “Oh, of course, I should have multiplied rather than divided.” However, asking yourself why you made the wrong move may reveal that you have some real work to do in order to truly understand what the right moves are in those situations. If you discover such gaps in your understanding, more topic-based training is probably in order. Check out this article on how to improve your accuracy on GRE Quant for further tips. 

Next, let’s examine the importance of not jumping between different study materials when studying for the GRE.

Use One Resource to Prep for GRE Quant

One mistake that I see students frequently make is using multiple GRE Quant prep resources. Although the content tested on the GRE is remarkably predictable, there is variability in the way GRE prep courses teach this material, and there is variability in the material that these courses cover. You don’t want the added confusion of attempting to blend multiple approaches to learning GRE Quant. Instead, you want to find a resource that provides a one-stop shop for mastering GRE Quant. Just as importantly, you want to find a course that works for you. If you are switching between courses, stop and ask yourself why. Are the materials you have not effective for your learning style? Are the explanations not clear enough? Is the plan of study not well-organized? Are you missing smart analytics that can help you more efficiently uncover your weak areas?

If the GRE course you’re using isn’t working for you, change it! You don’t have to suffer with materials that aren’t helping you make a positive impact on your score. Almost all online self-study courses offer some sort of a free or low-cost trial. Try out something new. Just be sure not to bounce haphazardly from course to course.

With that in mind, you must formulate a realistic time frame when trying to increase your GRE Quant score.

Set a Realistic Time Frame

Learning takes time, and if you’re not realistic about how long it may take you to improve your GRE Quant score, when your preparation time comes to an end, you’re likely to find yourself frustrated and far from your goal. The GRE is a tough test, and the further removed you are from math and analytical reasoning, the more time you’ll need to master the material and earn a competitive score.

If I could give you just one tip, it would be to not give up, even if the process takes longer than you expected. It’s easy to underestimate the time commitment required to master GRE Quant. Be dedicated. Be tough. Be willing to outwork your peers. See the process through and don’t expect big gains overnight.

So, if improving your score may take longer than expected, how do you know when your test date should be? Let’s look at a couple of options for scheduling your GRE.

The Time-Based Scheduling Strategy

Assume your grad school application deadline is March 31 for a fall semester start. You want to make sure that you schedule your GRE early enough so that you can take it at least twice, in case your first score isn’t close to your target. Furthermore, you need to allow some additional preparation time between the first and second exam dates. Working backward, you see that your second exam should be no later than March 20, to allow 8-10 days for your official scores to be sent by ETS. If you allow about 6 weeks of prep time for the second exam, then you should schedule your first GRE for no later than February 6. In other words, you should schedule your first GRE no later than 8 weeks before your application deadline.

With that said, you still must determine how far in advance to begin preparing for your first GRE, and every test-taker’s situation is unique. You have to consider your current skill level, your target score, and how much time you can realistically devote each week to GRE preparation and study. Then, you can build a timetable for your study plan. You are already committed to taking your GRE eight weeks before your application deadline, so you have a locked-in deadline for completing your prep. You might find that adequately preparing means starting as early as September or October.

TTP PRO TIP:

Schedule your GRE such that you could take it twice before your application deadline.

The Readiness-Based Scheduling Strategy

To help maximize your GRE Quant score, consider a readiness-based test date instead of a time-based one. As we’ve discussed, a time-based test date is one that you set in advance. For example, on May 1, you schedule your GRE for July 1. The issue with this type of scheduling is that you may not be ready to take the GRE on July 1. Then what?

With a readiness-based strategy, you’d wait until you were ready to earn your target score and then schedule your test. Of course, you must be sure that you are putting yourself in a position for success. If your graduate school or business school applications are due in September, rather than wait until June or July to begin studying, start your prep in December or January, so you have ample time to prepare.

If you use a readiness-based approach, you leave open the possibility of being ready to take the exam much earlier than anticipated. Think of the luxury of having no stress about your GRE score while you’re working on your applications, or finishing up your undergrad degree or work commitments!

TTP PRO TIP:

No matter which exam scheduling strategy you use — time-based or readiness-based — give yourself ample time so that you can prepare with a solid game plan and a flexible schedule.

To determine whether you’re ready to earn your target score, use the official practice tests provided by the ETS. As you approach the end of your GRE preparation, you can begin taking weekly full-length GRE practice tests. Once these practice tests show that you’re at or above your target GRE score, you can comfortably schedule your test, feeling confident that you’ve demonstrated the ability to reach your goal.

You can see that a readiness-based scheduling strategy will give you much more time and flexibility in preparing for your GRE. The time-based approach can result in a score that doesn’t reflect what you are fully capable of. No matter which strategy you choose, here is a great article to help you gauge how long you may need to prepare for the GRE.

Key Takeaways

To sum up this article, here are a few things to keep in mind as you prepare for GRE Quant:

• Make sure you’re familiar with the question formats found in GRE Quant.
• GRE Quant is not a simple math test: you must also use your reasoning skills.
• Completely master one topic before moving onto another.
• Work to improve your basic math skills.
• Use your Quant practice to work on the perseverance you’ll need on test day.
• Avoid careless mistakes by working carefully.
• Be honest in assessing how much time you need to prepare for the GRE.

Remember, if you study hard, study smart, and have a smart study schedule, you can increase your GRE Quant score, regardless of how far you are from your goal. You deserve a higher GRE Quant score, and you can make it happen!

What’s Next?

Get more familiar with GRE Quant question types with this article.

This article breaks down the Quant sections, question types, and content tested.

This helpful article further discusses how to use GRE practice tests as tools to increase your score and evaluate your readiness to sit for the GRE.

Wondering what an average score vs. a great score is on the GRE? Check out our article about what a good GRE score is. And for tips on earning GRE Verbal scores that will impress, our article on how to ace the GRE Verbal sections can help.

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