The eight-week study plan will provide you with ample preparation for the GRE. Even if you are not familiar with the test format or if you have never taken the GRE before, 8 weeks is ample time for preparation. During the course of the 8-week study plan, you'll become acquainted with the format of the test; you'll study the verbal, math, and essay components of the exam. Eight weeks is enough to review hundreds of words and to learn approximately 300 new words. You'll be utilizing the vocabulary tutor on a daily basis as part of your studies.
The eight-week study plan will provide you with ample preparation for the GRE. Even if you are not familiar with the test format or if you have never taken the GRE before, 8 weeks is ample time for preparation. During the course of the 8-week study plan, you'll become acquainted with the format of the test; you'll study the verbal, math, and essay components of the exam. Eight weeks is enough to review hundreds of words and to learn approximately 300 new words. You'll be utilizing the vocabulary tutor on a daily basis as part of your studies. During the course of the eight weeks, you'll go over most of the practice questions that are available on MyGRETutor.com. Expect to spend up to 2 hours each day, 6 days each week, for 8 whole weeks, for a total of 96 hours of study time.
During the first week of the 8-week study plan, you will become familiar with the majority of the components of the GRE test. You should take your time and thoroughly understand the content of the tutorials and you should emphasize to try and fully understand each of the practice questions. Do not try to memorize many words, but instead try to gain exposure to the type of words that you'll expect to see on the GRE.
You'll need to spend at least 6 days in preparing for the GRE, spending 2 hours each day, for a total of 12 hours. Here is a sample plan:
During the course of the week, you'll have ample time to go over all of the tutorial sections that pertain to arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. While you are doing this, not that most of the math content is the type of math that you'd expect in 8th or 9th grade, at the most. Although you may experience tricky equations, there are no questions from trigonometry, calculus, or any similar high level math. But be warned, because that doesn't mean that the GRE math questions are easy. For the math component of the GRE, you will need to know or at least be familiar with the following:
Here are the three main question types for the verbal component of the GRE:
Essay writing is one of those things that takes years of practice, and so do not expect to learn how to write well over the course of four weeks, especially it has been a long time since you have written anything. You can, however, learn what to expect on test day, and if you know the format and the grader expectations of the your essays, then you should do just fine. If you haven't written in a long time, then we recommend that you glance over the different essay topics that you'll find on the GRE website. All of the topics for both the issue and argument essay are listed on the GRE website, but because there are so many of them, it is not feasible to prepare and memorize an essay for each topic. However, just glancing at the list should give you an idea of what the topics are like. Look at these topics, and brainstorm on ideas and themes that you could write about if you were given those topics. There are two essays that you'll be asked to write:
In the second week, you'll finish the tutorials, do more practice questions, and you'll take your first practice exam. You'll need to spend at least 6 days in preparing for the GRE, spending upwards of 2 hours each day, for a total of 12 hours. Here is a sample week plan:
When doing the math practice questions, be sure to notice the format of the questions. After having read the tutorials section, and while you are doing the practice questions, keep these ideas in mind:
Again, as is the case with the math section, really try to understand the practice questions. Don't try to memorize the problems, but just try to get a sense for the type of problems that you should expect on the verbal section of the GRE. Here are two additional tips:
Remember that because you only have a short time during which you can compose your essays, so try to write using simple, straight-forward English. Simple is better, especially if you are stressed and under a time limit! Again view the essay topic pool that is available on the GRE website, and for several of the topics, brainstorm on ideas and also try to come up with possible paragraphs that you would write if you were given that topic. Try to come up with paragraphs that are convincing, concise, and which help to further you main hypothesis.
Week three is for more practice questions. You'll need to spend at least 6 days in preparing for the GRE, spending upwards of 2 hours each day, for a total of 12 hours. Here is a sample week plan:
During week #3, you'll just be doing as many practice questions as possible. At this time, you may be approaching some of the more difficult math questions. Try to notice how the difficult questions often require you to have a firm understanding of relatively easy concepts. Also, note that some of the harder math questions will require you to perform a series of steps, each of which in themselves is easy. It is knowing which steps to carry out and which information you should use that makes such questions difficult.
By now you will have noticed that your success on the verbal part of the GRE is based primarily on one thing: your depth and breadth of your vocabulary. By now you should have reviewed hundreds of words, and hopefully you have learned many new ones.
Simply as was the case in week #2, you'll want to practice on brainstorming and on writing sample paragraphs. There is only one way for you to prepare for the essay sections, and that is to practice, Practice, and PRACTICE. Writing is something that takes a very long time to perfect, and so get as much practice as possible. Luckily, the types of essays that are deserving of high scores are not necessarily complicated; instead good academic essays are brief, to the point, and precise.
Week 4 is for even more practice questions. You'll need to spend at least 6 days in preparing for the GRE, spending upwards of 2 hours each day, for a total of 12 hours. Here is a sample week plan:
During week 4, try to make a list of the "tricks" that you are expected to know. For example, one commonly-used trick on the GRE is that a negative number squared will give you a positive number, and thus for the equation x2=4, x is 2 OR -2. You have to remember this tricks that the test takes will throw at you. When doing the various practice questions, think of these tricks and be sure that you can spot such tricks right away.
During each day that you are preparing for the vocabulary section, do a round of vocab exercises.
Practice writing short, concise statements, and again continue to look over the pool of essay topic questions that are available on the GRE website. Pick a few of the topics and brainstorm with some ideas. What would be the main point of an essay if were you were given such a topic? What proof or examples would you use? These types of questions are the questions that you'll need to answer right away when taking the real test, so prepare yourself now by getting used to such reasoning processes. Writing is something that takes a very long time to perfect, and so get as much practice as possible. Luckily, the types of essays that are deserving of high scores are not necessarily complicated; instead good academic essays are brief, to the point, and precise.
Week 5; more than half way done. You'll need to spend at least 6 days in preparing for the GRE, spending upwards of 2 hours each day, for a total of 12 hours. Here is a sample week plan:
During week 5, continue to add to the list of "tricks" that you are expected to know. And, also review the list each day. Are you confided that you'll be able to spot such tricks right away when confronted with such questions?
Again, pick sample essay topics from the pool of available essay questions on the GRE website and brainstorm with some ideas. What would be the main point of an essay if were you were given such a topic? What proof or examples would you use? These types of questions are the questions that you'll need to answer right away when taking the real test, so prepare yourself now by getting used to such reasoning processes. Writing is something that takes a very long time to perfect, and so get as much practice as possible. Luckily, the types of essays that are deserving of high scores are not necessarily complicated; instead good academic essays are brief, to the point, and precise.
Week 6; You'll need to spend at least 6 days in preparing for the GRE, spending upwards of 2 hours each day, for a total of 12 hours. Here is a sample week plan:
During week 6, continue to add to the list of "tricks" that you are expected to know. And, also review the list each day. Are you confided that you'll be able to spot such tricks right away when confronted with such questions?
Again, pick sample essay topics from the pool of available essay questions on the GRE website and brainstorm with some ideas. What would be the main point of an essay if were you were given such a topic? What proof or examples would you use? These types of questions are the questions that you'll need to answer right away when taking the real test, so prepare yourself now by getting used to such reasoning processes. Writing is something that takes a very long time to perfect, and so get as much practice as possible. Luckily, the types of essays that are deserving of high scores are not necessarily complicated; instead good academic essays are brief, to the point, and precise.
Week 7; almost done -- one more week after this. You'll need to spend at least 6 days in preparing for the GRE, spending upwards of 2 hours each day, for a total of 12 hours. Here is a sample week plan:
During week 7, continue to add to the list of "tricks" that you are expected to know. And, also review the list each day. Are you confided that you'll be able to spot such tricks right away when confronted with such questions?
Again, pick sample essay topics from the pool of available essay questions on the GRE website and brainstorm with some ideas. What would be the main point of an essay if were you were given such a topic? What proof or examples would you use? These types of questions are the questions that you'll need to answer right away when taking the real test, so prepare yourself now by getting used to such reasoning processes. Writing is something that takes a very long time to perfect, and so get as much practice as possible. Luckily, the types of essays that are deserving of high scores are not necessarily complicated; instead good academic essays are brief, to the point, and precise.
During week 8, you will finish your preparation for the GRE. You'll review the last practice exam that you took, and, more importantly, you'll do more practice questions and then REVIEW all of the practice questions that you have seen. You'll need to spend at least 6 days in preparing for the GRE, spending upwards of 2 hours each day, for a total of 12 hours. Here is a sample week plan:
There really are no new topics that you'll learn this week; instead your week will be spent doing practice questions. By now you should have realized that the math part of the GRE is not about testing you and whether you have memorized formulas. Although simple formulas are required, the main part of the math component of the GRE tests your ability to dissect and analyze a problem. There is no way for you to guess what questions you'll see on test day, but by now you should be confident enough to know that you can tackle a math problem with ease.
As with the math study plan for the GRE, the verbal study plan for the last week does not require you to learn any new topics or ideas; instead you'll be doing plenty of practice questions.
Like we've been saying all along, you can't learn how to write well in just eight weeks, but you CAN prepare for the type of essay that will be expected of you. Remember to write short, clear sentences. The more complicated your writing, the more difficult it is to decipher, and the bigger the chance that one of your essay readers will be confused and will be forced to give you a low score. Remember; simple is better.