One Week Study Plan

If you have one week to prepare for the GRE revised General Test, you will need to have realistic expectations of what you can achieve in your studying. Although one week is not enough time to learn new vocabulary words, it is enough time to review some of the math concepts that you might encounter when taking the exam. That way, you won't be surprised with the timing or the exam format.

Because you have only one week to prepare, do not be tempted to rush through practice exams. Rather, you'll want to use your time wisely. Review the exam format, and become familiar with each of the sections, including the essay, the quantitative, and the verbal sections. The tutorials explain the exam format, the scoring process, and the order of the sections. You will also find there a brief review of what you should expect at the examination center. Read these sections thoroughly. Next, you'll want to go over some of the practice questions to familiarize yourself with the types of questions that appear on the exam. And, be sure to get plenty of rest the day before the real exam.

We suggest that you spend at least 5 days preparing for the GRE revised General Test. Spend 2 hours each day, for a total of 10 hours. Here is a sample plan:

  • Day 1: Become familiar with the format of the test, as well as timing tactics. Read the relevant sections in the tutorials portion of MyGRETutor. Become familiar with the three types of Math questions (Multiple choice, Data analysis, and Qualitative Analysis), and become familiar with the three types of verbal questions (Reading comprehension, sentence equivalent, and text completion). Take a brief look at the types of questions that you'll be expected to answer. These questions are detailed in the tutorials section.
  • Day 2: Review the Math tutorials. As you are doing this, also go over several of the practice questions for the math section. Don't just memorize the questions! Understand why you make errors. Also, read the tutorial on the Issue Writing Task.
  • Day 3: Read the tutorials that are concerned with the verbal section of the GRE exam. At the same time, answer several of the verbal practice questions. Strive to understand why you make errors. Finally, for this day, read the Argument Writing Task tutorial.
  • Day 4: Complete as many practice questions as possible. Your goal should be to attempt at least every type of questions ... don't leave any surprises to test day.
  • Day 5: Complete more practice questions. And review those tutorials that pertain to the types of questions that you had trouble with.

Week Study Plan for Math Component of GRE

Become familiar with the types of math questions that you can expect to see on the exam. You will need to know and use concepts that you should have learned prior to 11th grade in high school. However, that doesn't mean that the GRE math questions are easy, especially if you haven't done mathematical calculations in a while! For the math section of the GRE, you will need to be familiar with the following:

  • Simple arithmetic such as addition, subtraction and multiplication.
  • Be able to answer simple statistics and probability questions
  • Be proficient with simple algebra, including equations and inequalities
  • Be familiar with Geometry, including solid geometry, lines and angles, parallel lines, as well as volumes.

If these concepts look easy to you, then do some practice questions to see that they can be quite tricky. If many of these concepts are not familiar to you, then you'll want to review them in detail in the tutorials. Chances are that you have in the past been exposed to all of these topics, and so a short review should suffice.

Week Study Plan for Verbal Component of GRE

Your success on the verbal section of the GRE test is heavily dependent on the breadth of your vocabulary. Unfortunately one week is not enough time to learn new vocabulary words. Studies have shown that at least 3 months of preparation are required to significantly increase your verbal score. Memorizing vocabulary words won't help, either. Besides, chances are you cannot memorize 4,000 vocabulary words in one week! Instead, become familiar with the following four question types that appear in the verbal sections of the exam.

  • Text Completion: You will be given one or a few sentence with one, two, or three blanks. If the question has only one blank, then you will be given five answer choices. If the question has two or three blanks, there will be three answer choices for each blank. You'll need to select that choice(s) for each blank so that the sentence is coherent and correct.
  • Sentence Equivalence: You will be presented with a single sentence which has one blank, along with 6 answer choices. You must select two of the answer choices, such that when either of the choices is inserted into the blank, then coherent, and SIMILAR meaning sentences, ensue.
  • Reading comprehension: There are three types of reading comprehension questions. Single answer questions require you to select a single answer from among 5 choices. Multiple answer reading comprehension questions require you to select one, two, or all three of the provided answer choices. Finally, select in passage questions require you to select, using the mouse, a sentence in the provided passage, which answers the question.

As with the math section, answer as many practice questions as possible, but don't just zip through them. Read the explanations. If you do this, you'll start to understand the structure and style of the GRE test!