GRE 8 Week Plan

8 Week Plan Summary
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, and will also take several of the practice tests that are available.
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.
8 Week Study Plan, First Week
Plan for the Week
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.
In terms of vocabulary, you should utilize the vocabulary section of MyGRETutor.com every day; not
as a means to memorize many words, but as a way for you to gain exposure to the type of words
that you'll expect to see on the GRE. The vocabulary tutor in MyGRETutor.com will monitor your
progress and shows you those words that match your skill level, which is exactly what happens on
the real exam.
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:
Day 1: Become familiar with the format and features of the GRE, including timing
tactics, adaptive testing, scoring and section order. These and other relevant topics are
all discussed in the tutorials section of MyGRETutor.com. The first day is an
introduction day, where you become acquainted with the GRE. Think back to what type of
test taker you are. Do you speed through questions. Do you tend to jump around from
question to question, doing the easy ones first and then going on to the hard ones.
Whatever your style, note how the linear, computer adaptive format of the GRE does not
allow you to pick and choose the order of your questions, so you might have to make
adjustments to your test taking strategies. As with all of the days in this plan except
for those days when you take a practice test, spend the last 30 minutes of your study
time in the vocabulary section of MyGRETutor.com. Go through a handful of words to get
a feel of the difficulty level that you'll experience on the real GRE. In 30 minutes, you
should strive to view approximately 20 new vocabulary words. When viewing a vocabulary
whose definition you do not know, read the definition out loud, and use the word in a
sentence.
Day 2: Go over the Arithmetic tutorials sections, and do approximately 10 question of

the practice questions for that section. Don't do all of the practice questions quite yet,
because you'll have time in future weeks to finish most of the questions. Remember, you
want to slowly absorb the tutorial and website information, because if you rush, there is
a good chance that any new knowledge will retain in your short-term memory only, and so
that won't help you during test day. As always, spend the last 30 minutes in the
vocabulary section.
Day 3: Spend approximately 45 minutes of vocabulary practice.
Day 4: On this day, work through approximately one-half of the Algebra tutorials
section, and complete approximately 10 practice questions on that topic. Finish the day
with more vocabulary practice.
Day 5: On the fifth day of the first week, complete the text completion tutorials. Like
you've done before, complete approximately 10 of each question type in the practice
questions section. Finish with vocabulary practice.
Day 6: On day 6, complete the essay tutorials section, and become familiar with the
type and scope of the essay topics that you'll be given.
Week Study Plan for Math Component of GRE
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:
Simple arithmetic such as addition, subtraction and multiplication.
Exponents and percentages.
Be able to compute simple probabilities and execute counting problems.
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.
Week Study Plan for Verbal Component of GRE
Here are the three main question types for the verbal component of the GRE:
Text Completion: You will be presented with one or several sentences, with a single, two,
or three blanks. If the sentence that you are shown has a single blank, then you will have
five answer choices, but if the sentence has two or three blanks, you will see three
answer choices for each blank. Your task is to select that choice(s) for each blank so
that the sentence is coherent and correct.
Reading comprehension: The bulk of the questions that you will see on the verbal
sections of the GRE revised General Test will be reading comprehension questions. There
are three types: single answer,, multiple answers, and select in passage. The passages
range in length from a single paragraph, to three or more paragraphs. Most of the
reading passages are short.
Sentence Equivalence: You will be presented with a short snippet of text with a single
blank, along with six answer choices. Your task is to select TWO of the answer choices,
so that when either of them is inserted into the blank, the sentence is grammatically,
stylistically, and logically correct. Moreover, the two answer choices that you select
should generate sentences that are similar in meaning.
Week Study Plan for Essay Component of 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 if it has been a long time since you have
written anything. You can, however, learn what to expect on the exam, 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:
Issue Essay: You are given an essay topic, and you are given 30 minutes to analyze the
issues pertaining to the topic.
Argument Essay: You have no choice for the essay topic, but instead are given a topic,
and you are allotted 30 minutes to critique the effectiveness of the provided statement.
8 Week Study Plan, Second Week
Plan for the Week
In week 2, you'll finish the tutorials, do more practice questions, and you'll take your first practice
test. 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:
Day 1: Complete the Algebra tutorials section, and complete approximately 10 practice
questions on that topic. Finish the day with more vocabulary practice.
Day 2: Go over the reading comprehension tutorials section, and do the first 10 practice
reading comprehension questions. Finish with more vocabulary practice.
Day 3: Start and finish the data analysis and quantitative analysis tutorials section, and
do approximately 10 practice data analysis questions.
Day 4: Take the first simulation exam. Take it under real test conditions, meaning that
you should do the entire practice test in one sitting. This is how it is going to be when
you take the actual GRE, so you should practice under realistic testing conditions.
Day 5: Review the questions that you saw on the first simulation exam. If time permits,
quickly brush up on some of the topics that you had trouble with during the course of
the two weeks. Don't skip the review of the practice test. Don't just look at the
answers, but try to understand why it is that you got a question wrong. What went
wrong? Were you confused? Learn from your mistakes!
Day 6: This is a vocabulary day! Take 2 hours going over vocabulary words, both new and
ones that you have seen.
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:
If at any time you find that you are doing a lengthy calculation, then STOP! The GRE will
never require you to do long math problems. Instead, look for a shortcut. Can you simply
the problem?
Often-times, you can estimate the answer to eliminate several of the possible choices.
This is an especially good tactic when you are running out of time. View the tutorials
section on more information on how to estimate and, if necessary, how to guess.
Learn how to use the provided scratch paper that you'll get during the exam. Don't
scribble, and write legibly. Practice using only one or two pieces of paper when doing the
math problems, and this should mimic real test conditions.
For the Quantitative Analysis questions, learn how to spot tricks or how to know when
NOT to choose choice E: The relationship cannot be determined. Review the tutorials
section on quantitative analysis if you need to.
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:
Practice active reading -- you can do this outside of your daily two hour study session.
When you are reading a newspaper, try to imagine that you are taking the GRE. Can you
summarize the article that you have just read? What's the main idea? What is the
author's tone? Such active thinking will help you to focus your thoughts.
By now you have seen many vocabulary words, and you'll see many more. But, be sure to
review those words that you have seen, and try to master as many words as you possibly
can. Utilize the mastered and "not mastered" lists that are available in the vocabulary
section. This list is populated with those words that you've seen and mastered and with
those words that you've seen and have not yet mastered.
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.
8 Week Study Plan, Third Week
Plan for the Week
Week three is for practice questions and your second practice test. 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:
Day 1: Do approximately 10 of the practice questions in the Arithmetic and Algebra

sections of the practice questions part of MyGRETutor.com. Twenty questions is quite a
few, but be sure not to rush. Spend time to understand the reasoning behind the
explanation for each question. Don't just check if you get the question right or wrong,
but try to understand WHY it is that you may have gotten it wrong. Spend approximately
30 minutes in the vocabulary section.
Day 2: Spend approximately 30 minutes in the vocabulary section.
Day 3: Do approximately 10 of the practice questions in the Geometry and Data Analysis
sections of the practice questions part of MyGRETutor.com. Spend time to understand
the reasoning behind the explanation for each question. Don't just check if you get the
question right or wrong, but try to understand WHY it is that you may have gotten it
wrong. Spend approximately 30 minutes in the vocabulary section.
Day 4: Do approximately 20 of the practice questions in the Geometry and Data

Analysis sections of the practice questions part of MyGRETutor.com. Spend time to
understand the reasoning behind the explanation for each question. Don't just check if
you get the question right or wrong, but try to understand WHY it is that you may have
gotten it wrong. Spend approximately 30 minutes in the vocabulary section.
Day 5: Again practice brainstorming for the essays sections, and go over some of the
essay topics in the pool of topics that are available on the GRE website.
Day 6: Take the second practice test. Do the WHOLE test, including the essays. You'll
be required to do the essays during the real test, so it's best that you get used to the
actual test format.
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. During each day that you are preparing for
the vocabulary section, access the vocabulary page and select to view those words that you have
mastered and words that you have not mastered. Those lists will be populated with words that you
have seen, and so those lists are a great way to review all of the words that you have seen.
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.
8 Week Study Plan, Fourth Week
Plan for the Week
Week 4 is for practice questions and your third 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:
Day 1: Go over the simulation exam that you took on the last day of week 3. Don't just
look at the scores, but actually look at the questions. Was there a trick that you missed?
Truly study the test.
Day 2: Do approximately 10 of the practice questions in the Arithmetic and Algebra

sections of the practice questions part of MyGRETutor.com. Twenty questions is quite a
few, but be sure not to rush. Spend time to understand the reasoning behind the
explanation for each question. Don't just check if you get the question right or wrong,
but try to understand WHY it is that you may have gotten it wrong. Spend approximately
30 minutes in the vocabulary section.
Day 3: Spend approximately 30 minutes in the vocabulary section.
Day 4: Do approximately 10 of the practice questions in the Geometry and Data Analysis
sections of the practice questions part of MyGRETutor.com. Spend time to understand
the reasoning behind the explanation for each question. Don't just check if you get the
question right or wrong, but try to understand WHY it is that you may have gotten it
wrong. Spend approximately 30 minutes in the vocabulary section.
Day 5: Do approximately 20 of the practice questions in the Geometry and Data

Analysis sections of the practice questions part of MyGRETutor.com. Spend time to
understand the reasoning behind the explanation for each question. Don't just check if
you get the question right or wrong, but try to understand WHY it is that you may have
gotten it wrong. Spend approximately 30 minutes in the vocabulary section.
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 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, access the vocabulary page and
select to view those words that you have mastered and words that you have not mastered. Those
lists will be populated with words that you have seen, and so those lists are a great way to review all
of the words that you have seen.
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.
8 Week Study Plan, Fifth Week
Plan for the Week
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:
Days 1-4: Practice with practice questions! Vary them from different categories. By
now you should be nearing completion of the practice questions!
Day 6: Take the next practice test. By now you should be familiar with the format, and
so during this test, focus on spotting tricks and shortcuts in the math section, and when
guessing on a verbal question, be sure that you eliminate at least some of the choices --
that's exactly what you'll want to do on the real test.
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
8 Week Study Plan, Sixth Week
Plan for the Week
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:
Days 1-4: Practice with practice questions! Vary them from different categories!
Day 6: Go over all of your previous practice tests. Yes. REDO all of the questions. Do
you see where you made silly mistakes? Learn from your mistakes.
review the list each day. Are you confident that you'll be able to spot such tricks right away when
brainstorm with some ideas. What would be the main point of an essay if you were given such a
8 Week Study Plan, Seventh Week
Plan for the Week
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:
Days 1-4: Practice with practice questions! Vary them from different categories. By
now you should be nearing completion of the practice questions!
Day 6: Take the next practice test. By now you should be familiar with the format, and
so during this test, focus on spotting tricks and shortcuts in the math section, and when
guessing on a verbal question, be sure that you eliminate at least some of the choices --
that's exactly what you'll want to do on the real test.
review the list each day. Are you confided that you'll be able to spot such tricks right away when
brainstorm with some ideas. What would be the main point of an essay if were you were given such a
8 Week Study Plan, Eighth Week
Plan for the Week
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:
Day 1: Review the last simulation exam that you took at the end of week #5. Really try
to understand why you may have gotten some of the questions wrong.
Days 2-4: Continue to do practice questions from ALL of the available sections. Spend
upwards of 90 minutes each day doing problems, and be sure to analyze and study the
explanations as well as provided hints for each practice questions. You'll notice that the
provided hints are meant to show you how you might want to approach a problem. There
is usually more than one way to arrive at a right answer, so your method might be good,
too, but be sure that you are comfortable with quickly understanding each question and
knowing if you have to guess or if you can eliminate any of the choices. Most
importantly, briefly review all of the practice questions that you have done up to
this point -- you should be pleasantly surprised that some of the questions that you
did early and which you thought were difficult are straight-forward by this time.
If this is the case, then you have most likely followed the format of this plan and
you should be well prepared for the GRE.
Day 5: Almost done! This really is the last day when you should be going over vocabulary
words and reviewing any of the tutorials that you may have struggled with.
Day 6: Ideally, you should try and drive or otherwise visit the test center just to make
sure you know how long it takes to get there. It would be unfortunate if you were to find
out on test day that the test center is 2 hours away as opposed to what you thought was
1 hour, in which case you'd add unnecessary stress on the test day. Also, briefly review
any of the tutorials sections that you have had most trouble with, and review those
questions that you've seen in those sections.
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 six 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.

GRE 8 Week Plan

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

GRE 8 Week Plan

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

8 Week Plan Summary

8 Week Study Plan, First Week

Plan for the Week

Day 2: Go over the Arithmetic tutorials sections, and do approximately 10 question of

Day 3: Spend approximately 45 minutes of vocabulary practice.

Week Study Plan for Math Component of GRE

Simple arithmetic such as addition, subtraction and multiplication.

Exponents and percentages.

Be able to compute simple probabilities and execute counting problems.

Be proficient with simple algebra, including equations and inequalities.

Week Study Plan for Verbal Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Essay Component of GRE

Plan for the Week

Week Study Plan for Math Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Verbal Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Essay Component of GRE

Plan for the Week

Day 1: Do approximately 10 of the practice questions in the Arithmetic and Algebra

Day 2: Spend approximately 30 minutes in the vocabulary section.

Day 4: Do approximately 20 of the practice questions in the Geometry and Data

Week Study Plan for Math Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Verbal Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Essay Component of GRE

Plan for the Week

Day 2: Do approximately 10 of the practice questions in the Arithmetic and Algebra

Day 3: Spend approximately 30 minutes in the vocabulary section.

Day 5: Do approximately 20 of the practice questions in the Geometry and Data

Week Study Plan for Math Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Verbal Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Essay Component of GRE

Plan for the Week

Week Study Plan for Math Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Verbal Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Essay Component of GRE

Plan for the Week

Week Study Plan for Math Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Verbal Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Essay Component of GRE

Plan for the Week

Week Study Plan for Math Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Verbal Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Essay Component of GRE

Plan for the Week

Week Study Plan for Math Component of GRE

Week Study Plan for Verbal Component of GRE

You might also like