Dan MahrAfter successfully completing the GRE last year, I posted my seven-week GRE study plan on the /r/GREhelp subreddit. Since that post is now locked, I’ve reproduced it here, along with a few other tips sent in direct messages.
I started studying about seven weeks before my test date, and studied in two phases. In the first phase (weeks 1-4), I mostly followed the Magoosh 1-month study plan and completed all of the associated lesson videos and practice problems, as well as 13/20 vocab flashcards decks. In the second phase (weeks 5-7), I did ETS/Manhattan/Magoosh practice problems, reviewed vocab flash cards, and took five practice tests. You can follow along with in the studying tracking spreadsheet; just Make a Copy to edit, and then enter your test date in cell D52.
Phase 1 (weeks 1-4): Topic review, video lessons, vocab flashcards, general notes
- ETS Official Guide section overviews (2nd Edition Chapters 2, 3, and 5). This content largely overlaps with the Prepare for the Test content on the ETS website. Since I hadn’t taken a standardized test in eight years, this was a good way to get back into the groove and familiarize myself with the question types.
- ETS Math Review (also in the Official Guide 2nd Edition, Chapter 7). I did this early on to refresh my memory on the different quant topics, many of which I hadn’t used in five or ten years. It’s a good place to start, but the exercises are smaller, discrete components of typical GRE quant problems. I also looked through the Math Conventions to familiarize myself.
- Magoosh video lessons. I watched every video for both quantitative and verbal following the 1-month study plan and took notes about key points and strategies that I didn’t immediately remember. Some people on this subreddit don’t like the videos or the instructors, but I thought they do a great job as a refresher and merit the $100 price. For the videos that were mostly review, I played them at 1.5x speed to save time. Those who struggle with math or speak English as a second language might need additional review for the quantitative or verbal sections, respectively.
- General notes. As I said above, I took copious notes about less-familiar topics and strategies while watching the Magoosh videos, about 20 typed pages in all. At the start of each evening practice session, I glanced through my old notes to refamiliarize myself with the key points.
- Magoosh practice problems. I did every Magoosh practice problem (n=1,131) following the 1-month study plan, i.e. in the “Custom Practice” mode. The problems are generally on the harder side compared to the actual test, but they are excellent practice. The ability to target specific topics, question types, and/or difficulties is a HUGE advantage over practice problems from books. For example, I needed to get faster at algebra and exponent quantitative comparison problems, so one day I did twenty of those for extra practice. For the harder problems, I always watched the detailed explanation video even if I got it right in order to learn shortcuts and faster problem solving approaches that save time. I ended up with about 78% correct on both quant and verbal problems after the first time through; not great, but I got better as I went along.
- Magoosh Vocabulary Flashcards. I mastered the first thirteen Magoosh vocab decks (i.e. “Common” and “Basic”) using the iOS app. I think there are diminishing returns from learning the seven “advanced” decks; in my opinion, the time and energy to learn 350 more words is better spent doing verbal multiple choice and sentence equivalence practice problems.
Phase 2 (weeks 5-7): Practice tests, practice problems, vocab review, condensed notes
- ETS Paper Test 1: 161 quant, 167 verbal (Official Guide 2nd Edition, Chapter 8). I did this practice test about three weeks before my test date after finishing the Magoosh videos/problems but before starting any of the secondary studying below. This was a great way to get more comfortable with the structure of the test and identify weak areas that needed further practice. For the problems I struggled with and/or got wrong, I watched the associated Magoosh explanation videos.
- Condensed notes. I condensed my 20 pages of general notes into a four-page summary/cheat sheet. This strategy (which I first used in college) is beneficial because the time and effort that goes into making the summary helps commit the topics to memory. Also, printing out the cheat sheet and associating certain information with a physical location on a page helps memorization using the method of loci or “memory palace” technique.
- ETS Official Guide practice problems (2nd Edition Chapters 4 and 6). I did all ten practice sets in the Official Guide. It’s important to treat ETS practice problems like gold since they are most representative of the problems that will be on the actual test. For this reason, I chose to save these until after I finished the Magoosh videos and problems, lest I “waste” a perfectly realistic practice problem by attempting it before being familiar with the material. I also completed each set of problems before looking at answers in order to better simulate real test sections where I had to deal with the anxiety of not knowing how well I was doing. For the problems I struggled with and/or got wrong, I watched the associated Magoosh explanation videos.
- Vocab flashcard review. The biggest feature lacking from the Magoosh flashcard app is the ability to reset individual decks for later review. To get around this, I converted the PDF list of words, definitions, and sentences to tab-delimited text files (download here) that I practiced in the Flashcards Deluxe iOS app. I really liked this app because I could flag tough words as I reviewed the 13 “common” and “basic” decks to quickly create a single combination deck consisting only of flagged words. The app has a steep learning curve, but the granularity of the feature set is without equal.
- ETS PowerPrep Test 1: 164 quant, 166 verbal. I did this practice test about two weeks before my test date. I did the PowerPrep practice test in order to get comfortable with the computer-based test in case there were any relevant differences I should know about; there weren’t any except the slightly shorter length versus the paper tests and the scratch paper trick (see misc tip #2 below).
- ETS Quantitative Reasoning Practice Questions. As with the Official Guide practice problems, I saved these until after Magoosh so I didn’t waste the 100% real ETS questions when I didn’t know the topics. These quant questions are definitely harder than most of the Official Guide problems, but they are excellent training for people aiming for high quant scores in the test. I also timed myself during the mixed practice sets at the end to get a sense of when I should skip a problem and come back.
- ETS Verbal Reasoning Practice Questions. Same as above, I saved these problems until after Magoosh so I didn’t waste the 100% real ETS questions when I didn’t know the topics. Again, I timed myself during the mixed practice sets at the end.
- ETS Paper Test 2: 167 quant, 166 verbal (ETS Official Guide 2nd Edition, Chapter 9). I did this practice test about eight days before my test date after finishing the practice problem sets in the three ETS books. For the problems I struggled with and/or got wrong, I watched the associated Magoosh explanation videos.
- Manhattan 5 lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems. In the last week before my test date, I did four or five chapters of quant practice problems from this book in some of my weaker topic areas. The difficulty varies from much easier than the actual test to a bit harder, so keep that in mind. Also, since I was using the first edition I kept an eye on the errata that corrects mistakes in the book.
- Manhattan Prep Free Practice Test: 166 quant, 164 verbal. I did this practice test about five days before my test date. This was definitely harder than the ETS practice tests, especially vocab/verbal, but I’m glad I did it since there were some new vocab words that I hadn’t encountered in the Magoosh problems/flashcards. I found that some of the questions were oddly worded or more ambiguous than the ETS tests, but I suppose that’s the difference between real and imitation GRE problems.
- Revisit Magoosh practice problems. I revisited all of the Magoosh problems that I flagged or got incorrect the first time. This was great practice and tremendously satisfying since I could see how far I had come in the intervening 3-6 weeks. The ability to rapidly go back to this subset of problems is another awesome and unique feature of the Magoosh online system versus books.
- ETS PowerPrep Test 2: 163 quant, 169 verbal. I did this last practice test two days before my test date. I was a little bummed at my lower quant score, but this was largely due to spending too much time on a single hard quant problem instead of marking it and going back.
Test day
I nailed my essays, the first quant section, and the first verbal section. The second quant section, right after my 10-min break, was really rough: I didn’t even finish all of the problems before running out of time. I thought this doomed me to a 155 or 160 quant score, but I didn’t panic and pressed on through another verbal and a final quant. My final scores were 170 quant and 169 verbal; that second quant section must have been the experimental section.
Miscellaneous tips
- Time is the most valuable resource. Knowing shortcuts and faster approaches saves time that can be used to check work or revisit tricky problems–this is why it’s worth watching the explanation videos even when I got the problem right. It’s also important to take advantage of the ability in the revised GRE to skip problems and come back later. This has the added benefit of seeing a problem in a new light, which may reveal information or approaches missed the first time through.
- Set up scratch paper ahead of time. For the computer-based GRE, the clock doesn’t start until after the “Instructions” screen that says whether the section is verbal or quantitative. Take this time to set up scratch paper. For quant, I jotted down “1” through “20” over four pages of scrap paper to have room for equations and drawings. For verbal, I jotted down “1” through “20” on a single page with three horizontal lines next to each to keep track when doing process of elimination with 3-6 answer choices. Although this would only take a few seconds at the start of each problem, that adds up to an extra half minute over a whole section. I also felt like this routine helped me mentally prepare for each section in a zen sort of way.
- Don’t over-study. I found that studying more than about 2 or 3 hours a day had diminishing returns since my brain could only absorb so much information per day, even with plenty of sleep. I usually did around 60 to 90 minutes of topic review (i.e. lesson videos, flashcards) and 60 to 90 minutes of practice problems, which was about as much as I could handle after an eight hour work day.
- Simulate test day faithfully. I read the ETS test day information from the start to gain familiarity with the test center rules so I could simulate that environment as closely as possible. Since I was taking the computer-based GRE, I took computer-based practice tests or stood up the book like a screen so I could practice copying equations and drawings to paper (over the course of 7 weeks, there were at least 20 or 30 quant practice problems that I got wrong simply because I incorrectly transcribed an equation or expression). I also didn’t let myself drink water or go to the bathroom during practice tests (except during the 10-minute break). Making it as close to real as as possible prevented surprises on test day.
- Seek out scholarly/scientific reading to practice comprehension. A number of test prep guides profess the importance of reading relatively difficult writing, such as the New York Times (Magazine), the New Yorker, The Atlantic, etc. While these sources can improve one’s vocabulary, I think that a larger portion of GRE reading comprehension passages focus on scholarly/scientific topics with competing theories rather than politics or current events with more straightforward narratives. For this reason, I would recommend reading more science-focused journalism such as Nautilus (e.g. check out articles on endosymbiotic theory, the Late Heavy Bombardment, the origins of meteorology, or genetic sequence space). I think this is better practice for digesting different interpretations of unfamiliar topics than the aforementioned periodicals.
FAQs
What about the writing portion?
I didn’t spend a ton of time on the writing portion because many of the grad schools to which I am applying (for computer science) don’t pay attention to that score. Even so, in Phase 1 I did watch the Magoosh videos related to the essays and wrote four practice essays which I then evaluated against the ETS rubric and the Magoosh rubric. In Phase 2 I performed a similar evaluation for the ten essays I wrote as part of the five practice exams. After reviewing each essay, I also identified instances where I could replace regular words with a more fancy vocab words and phrases. I also made sure to use lots of transitional phrases at the beginning of sentences (e.g. “despite this,” “even so,” “notwithstanding these assumptions”) since the e-rater apparently likes these.
That being said, the biggest suggestion is Misc Tip #1 from above: time is the most valuable resource. Having 3-5 mins at the end to reread, correct, and improve the essays will cut down on spelling and grammar errors that, despite great content and critical reasoning, hold back your scores. So when you practice, get comfortable writing quickly enough to have these few minutes at the end.
Why use the Magoosh “mixed practice” before having reviewed those topics?
One of the demotivating things about Magoosh is the “mixed practice” with quant where you have to try to answer questions on topics for which you have not yet watched the videos. This just requires some patience and perseverance. I actually shuffled around the order of a few videos to review some principles that I had completely forgotten so I wouldn’t be totally stumped with those Magoosh questions.
What’s the best way to stay motivated?
- Commit to a test date. It wasn’t until I picked a test date and forked over the $200 registration fee that I really felt motivated to study my butt off and do the best I can.
- Make a spreadsheet/calendar/gantt chart where you plan out what you hope to accomplish for each day of studying. “Seven weeks” sounds like a long time until you fill in the lessons and realize how short that is given the amount of material you want to cover.
- Study before beginning your work day. I started arriving at my office about 30-45 mins earlier than usual to get in some studying before the work day when I’m most alert. Studying right before bed was not effective when I was falling asleep at my desk. Morning studying was also good practice since I took my test at 8:30am.
- Block off a morning each weekend for catching up with video lessons/practice problems (in phase 1) or a practice test (in phase 2). It sucks to “work” on a weekend, but that’s prime time to get some studying in.
What should I do if I’ve hit a “plateau”?
If you’re hitting a plateau, I suggest thinking critically about why you got wrong answers for those questions. Did you make a small mistake in the algebra/computation for the math problems? Did you misunderstand a vocab word in the verbal? Did you spend too much time on a tougher question that forced you to rush through some other problems? Is there a particular kind of problem where you’re consistently struggling? There are likely to be patterns of problems where you make mistakes. Once you find these patterns, do extra practice problems from Magoosh or the Manhattan 5lb book as a “targeted study.” I had to do this with exponent problems and it helped tremendously.
Hey Dan,
I encountered your reddit post a month and a half ago and saved it, knowing it would come in handy someday. Recently, I went back to the original post and it led me here. I wanted to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to create this study plan along with some FAQs. My test date is set to mid-oct so I’ll be following your guide up to then! Once again, thank you for this!! It was really helpful. I’ll be sure to come back and let you know how it went.
Glad to know you found it useful. Good luck with the exam!
How did it go? What did you score?
I will be taking my exam in December and plan on watching all of the Magoosh videos before doing anything.
-Nick
Hi Dan,
Thanks for sharing your detailed methods!!
Did you take a practice test before you started the study plan as a diagnostic to identify problem areas? Or did you just assume where your weakest areas would be?
Thanks in advance for your reply,
Serah
Hi Serah. I did not take a practice test before starting the study plan since I knew I needed to do a thorough review of the material. But I don’t think there’s any harm in taking an early practice test to determine your baseline. Just don’t get discouraged if you get a low score! It’s easy to run out of time before answering all of the questions, which greatly hurts the final score.
Thanks for writing this Dan. Question – how did your Magoosh practice problem “percent correct” in the first few weeks of phase 1 compare to your last few weeks of phase 1? 1 week in, I’m getting about 50% correct for each Math daily practice (~10 problems) and it’s discouraging. I’m wondering 1) what kind of improvement I should expect to see, given Magoosh’s “mixed” approach. Also curious what my target should be for a GRE score comparable to yours: 80, 90, 100%?
Hi Rose, I don’t quite remember the % correct, but it probably started around 50% to 60% and then ended up above 90%. Don’t get discouraged! If there are topics you have completely forgotten, watch those Magoosh videos first so the practice problems aren’t a total waste.
Moreover, I would not dwell on this number. While % correct is a decent indicator of how much of the material you’ve covered, the test is more about working efficiently, calmness under pressure, knowing when to skip a problem and come back later, and other tactics. Thus, pay less attention to % correct and more attention to the scores of your full practice tests.
Hi Dan,
Could you tell me what DI means in your spreadsheet?
It stands for “Data Interpretation”, one of the GRE quantitative question types.
Hi Dan,
Is there any particular way you mastered the 13 vocab decks from the Magoosh app? Because I’m 6 days in and I’ve barely been able to cover the first deck and it’s really beginning to bother me. Did you work through the cards in short bursts? What technique did you use to retain all those words? Also, how many words would you cover in a day (or week) using your method?
Second, how did you manage to keep your cool while preparing? When I go through the Magoosh verbal questions I low-key have a panic attack when I come across those I have a hard time answering or take too long to answer. Really makes me question whether I’ll be able to get the score I want in my first go or not.
Hi Daniyal,
Did you get a response on this?
I agree with you on this. It is becoming a universal issue lol
Hey Dan!
Thanks for the great study plan, it really helps. I am two weeks in and I believe I’ve already achieved my math goal which is the 165-170 range (according to Magoosh anyway). I do seem to want to work way more on what I am good at (math), and less on what I actually need (verbal). I am still struggling to be solidly above the 160 mark with Verbal. You said you took personal notes on key concepts you didn’t get. Would you mind sharing those so that I could compare them with mine and see what I might have missed?
Thanks again.
All the best,
Arthur.
Hi Dan,
I have a question similar to Daniyal. I’ve been going through the 13 vocab decks from the Magoosh app and am having a hard time retaining all the words.
If you could share your study methods with the Magoosh vocab app I would really appreciate it!
Also, thank you so much for taking the time to put this guide together and share it 🙂
Hi Dan- thank you so much for sharing your awesome guide! I plan on following it over the next seven weeks before my test date. When you followed the Magoosh one month plan- how many hours on average did you spend on the totality of the tasks for the day outlined in the schedule? I work from 8-6 everyday and don’t know if I can complete all the task for one day in three hours- did you usually find that feasible?
Hey Laura, I also was working full-time when studying for the GRE and found this study schedule ambitious but feasible. Three hours should be sufficient to do the Magoosh videos and questions. If needed, there are some days off and “catch up days” built-in to the schedule that you can use to get back on track. Good luck! –Dan
I think a caveat is that this guide could work well if you have some experience and are comfortable with Quant. As someone teaching himself who struggles immensely with most math and never took anything besides college algebra and general statistics (and fluttered around the B grade in those classes), I wasn’t able to even touch my review cards almost all days with the amount of daily assigned new problems, simply due to how many questions I would miss.
Hi Dan!
Thank you for your informative sharing! I was wondering if you still keep your Flashcards Deluxe deck? I would greatly appreciate it if you can share it on the Shared Library of Flashcards Deluxe.
Thank you once again, have a nice day.
I’m not familiar with sharing decks within Flashcards Deluxe, but you can download the text files here and import them that way.
Got it! Thank you very much for your help, Dan.
After identifying mistakes, how did you keep track of them. There are quite a few bunch of them and even if you practice, you end up repeating a subset of them, the one’s that gone far away the memory lane?
And yes, not just the blog, but your responses have been very helpful too. Thank you, Dan. We appreciate it 🙂
Magoosh is nice in that you can review only questions you previously got wrong. Otherwise, I recommend keeping notes of questions and topics you struggled with for further study later on. Good luck!
Dan, I need to understand the study schedule. In the beginning of the excel sheet, you have “ETS Math Review 1” thru “ETS Math Review 6” as well as doing Magoosh work. I see only 4 chapters in ETS’s math review to work on. Where do i get the remaining 3 or what are you referring to?
Hi, Paul. The Magoosh 1-month guide divides the Math Review into six parts. They don’t correspond to chapters or anything. Good luck!
Hi Dan, many thanks for posting this! You mentioned that you had a 20page notes script on all the magoosh videos. Did you create a digital version of those that might be available to receive?
Many thanks!
Sorry, Caroline, I don’t have this anymore. As I recall, it was just general notes on the videos anyways.
Ok great, no worries! many thanks for your prompt response. May I ask one more thing, did you rely mainly on the Magoosh vocabulary or is there a specific list online that you could recommend for a very high score on the verbal section? Not sure if I should go for the Barron 3500 word list? What would you recommend?
Many thanks in advance!
I exclusively used the Magoosh “Common” and “Basic” decks, skipping the “Advanced” decks.
Hey Dan is it necessary to purchase the magoosh account or can I do it with all the other resources I have?
I have ets official guide and Manhattan 5 pounds
Dan:
Thanks for sharing your GRE test prep details, appreciate the time you took out to write this.
Is it possible for you to share your “condensed 4 page notes”?
Many many thanks Dan for this elaborate study plan. This is the best study plan and very effective study plan to me. Thanks again for support and sharing.
Hey Dan!
I was wondering, would you recommend to replace the Magoosh practice with the Manhattan 5lb problems? I have all the books and I’m considering to just use them and adjust the plan accordingly but I’m not sure if that would be self destructive. Any tips/advice would be great! Thank you 🙂
Hey,
Thanks for sharing all of this. I had a question:
Obviously Magoosh is an additional cost for GRE prep. Do you think you would have gotten a comparable benefit from sharing an account with someone? Or would that be more work than it’s worth? (As far as I know, the only limitation would be that you would not be able to come back to see what questions you had gotten wrong in the past, and you would not be able to track your scores as well)
Thanks,
Leo
Hi Dan! Thanks for the detailed study guide. I just had a question about the excel worksheet that you provided. I noticed that there were 6 ETS Math Review Parts for the first week but I only see 4 parts in the actual book. Is there a mistake or am I misunderstanding? Thank you!
The Magoosh 1-month guide divides the Math Review into six parts. They don’t correspond to chapters or anything. Good luck!
Thank you for sharing this plan for our benefits! I have 3 quick clarification questions:
1. In your study plan, are the numbers in Columns G-I and K-M the number of Magoosh practice problems in those labeled sections you took?
2. Are the videos listed in Columns F and J representative of all the Magoosh videos? You mentioned you watched all of them so was wondering if this schedule captured every one.
3. From previous questions, you clarified that the “D1-D6” don’t correspond to chapters but just parts of the 4 chapters. Is there a way you can help us understand how you split those up into 6 parts? Or should we be guided more by the Magoosh topics you list each day rather than the “Activity” name?
Thanks so much in advance!
1. Yes, the numbers in columns G, H, I, K, L, and M are the number of practice problems.
2. Yes, the videos in columns F and J are representative of all videos, as of fall 2016 when I made this guide.
3. D1 through D6 correspond to the days in the Magoosh study guide. For example, “W2 D4” corresponds to “Week 2, Day 4”.
What about the verbal part? How do I prepare myself by 1 month using this schedule in verbal part? How do cover all vocabulary in 1 month?
Hi Dan,
Thanks for such a helpful post! Did you time yourself when doing the practice Qs following the 1-month Magoosh schedule? They have estimated times next to each section in their schedule so was wondering if that’s the amount of time you should aim to finish the Qs in or if you allowed yourself to take as much time with these as you needed.
Thanks!
Sorry also, can you please point to where the Magoosh 1-month schedule mentions the ETS Math Review sections? I don’t see it on there or did it change from when you last used their schedule?
Thanks!
Hi Dan, I am also wondering this as well? I can’t seem to find it anywhere. Thanks in advance Dan!
Hmm, looks like they changed it. I’d still recommend doing the ETS Math Review sometime in the first if you have time and need to brush up on those topics.
Thanks for the clarification! Fortunately, Youtube has video solutions available (not by magoosh, but still great. Gregmat’s seems to be the most promising!) so I will definitely be doing those with the review.
Hey Dan – thanks so much for your detailed post. I am in a similar timeline as what you have laid out here, and really looking to follow your schedule as much as possible. I had a question around how you set up your scratch paper for the Verbal section. Can you please elaborate on why you picked only 3 horizontal lines while setting up your scratch paper? I have been trying to deliberate how to structure my scratch pad for this test, and I was intrigued.
I just used them as checkboxes when doing process of elimination. As I read through the choices, I would put a slash through the lines that I knew were definitely wrong. This is very much personal preference though, you can set up that scratch paper however you like. I just wanted to emphasize that you have time to do so between sections.
Hey Dan,
I thought you weren’t supposed to write anything until after the time starts (including when you’re on the instructions page). Or am I allowed to write on my paper during the instructions page?
Hi Dan, I’m in the middle of following this plan right now (test date is one month from tomorrow!) and just wanted to mention that the Flashcards Deluxe app is also available on Android, since you only mentioned iOS in the post. I downloaded it today on my Android and agree with your take on it — being able to compile a single list of tough words from multiple decks is super helpful.
General thanks also for putting this together and sharing the Google sheet schedule; having something to check off each day is really holding me accountable and keeping me motivated!
Hi Dan,
Thank you for creating such a helpful post and spreadsheet! Regarding practice problems, why do you feel it was beneficial to do mixed problems (covering all topics) rather than just doing topical focus as you were going through the videos? I’m concerned I may be stumping myself unnecessarily and also wasting good practice questions for when I actually do cover the topics. Any tips or insights from your experience would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
Lana
The “mixed practice” suggested by Magoosh is definitely demotivating. I reordered a few of the videos to review some basics that I had completely forgotten so I wouldn’t be totally stumped. But I think there is value in having to switch between different topics since it reinforces topics you learned awhile ago, aka spaced repetition. It’s ultimately your choice, though.
Hi Dan,
Thank you for your guide. I have a few questions: in the guide you have “ETS official” and “ETS practice”, I am confused about the difference between the two.
Also, you note in this blog that you reviewed the ETS Official Guide section overview in weeks 1-4, but I don’t see it not the Excel sheet for these weeks. Could you clarify please. I am wondering when/how to incorporate this. Thanks a bunch!
“ETS official” is the ETS Official Guide, while “ETS practice” is the ETS Quantitative Reasoning Practice Questions and ETS Verbal Reasoning Practice Questions.
The ETS Official Guide content is only chapters 2, 3, and 5. It’s mostly a repeat of the “Prepare for the Test”. Shouldn’t take too long to get through.
Hi Dan! Thank you for your awesome tips! Did you feel that the Magoosh questions, particularly the “Very Hard” ones for Verbal were on par with the exam Qs? I feel like I can argue for more than one answer with some of those, so not sure if that’s what it’ll be like on the exam.
Thanks in advance!
Dan,
Thanks for sharing!!!
One specific question: in the last 3 weeks you mention in the Excel file that you “practice weak topics” in the Manhattan 5 lb. book. How did you establish which were your weak topics?
Hi Gabriela, I determined my “weak” topics based on the breakdown in the Magoosh dashboard. I also had a sense of which questions I got wrong more frequently. That’s all.
Thank you!
Hi Dan,
Appreciate you sharing these resources and tips with us! But I am a bit confused about one thing on your study plan. In your week 1 schedule you have “(incl. ETS Math review)” numbered 1-6. What do these numbers mean? I took a look at the ETS Math review and there are only 4 chapters. What are ETS Math review 5 and 6?
Hi Dan,
Thank you for sharing your study plan!!
I have a longer time frame until my test to study and I’m interested in following your guide. If I have 11 weeks to study, with those 4 extra weeks should I use that time to take more practice tests or review (I’m stuck on figuring out how to allocate my time)? Do you have any tips on how to extend your guide past 7 weeks? and still allow me to follow the method you used leading up to the test date?
Or should I use your time timeline and see how I’m doing and tweak my plan based on my performance?
Thank you!
It’s great that you have a bit of extra time. My recommendation is to try following the 7-week plan for a week or two and then reassess. Some folks find the 7-week pace a bit aggressive; if you end up feeling this way, you can stretch out the material proportionally over the remaining weeks. But if the pace is okay, then you can brainstorm how to use the additional time. It’s premature to predict how you’ll feel right now – the important thing is to get started.
Dear Dan,
I am Sehyun Hong from Seoul, South Korea.
I just wanted to say thank you so much Dan!
Really! I just followed your schedule/method and I got the aimed score on GRE…! You saved my life here!
I am not an English native speaker and I’ve never lived in the States. So I was super worried about “how-to” prepare for GRE for a very long time.
And then a few months ago, I found your blog! It was very fortunate!
You gave me the direction and taught me the “know-how”. I simply followed your method and here I am!
I’ve always wanted to study a graduate program in the States since I was a little kid and now thanks to you, I am a lot closer to achieving my dream! You built a bridge for me to get to my dream!
Thank you so much again!
Wish you all the best,
Sehyun
Sehyun, thank you for sharing! I am so glad to hear that this was helpful for you. Best of luck with graduate school.