Most people starting GRE prep make the same mistake: they jump straight into practice questions before they actually understand the test or know where they stand. Then they get frustrated when their first practice test feels impossible.

After years of watching people prepare for this exam, here's the sequence that consistently works for beginners.

First, take a diagnostic. You need to know the gap between where you are and where your target programs need you to be. That gap determines whether you're looking at three months of prep or six.

Second, build a simple routine you can actually stick to. One to two hours a day, five or six days a week. Quant and verbal in parallel, not one after the other. Spacing them out keeps both fresh and prevents you from losing ground on one while grinding the other. For quant, start with arithmetic and basic algebra. No one needs calculus or trig for this test. For verbal, daily vocab review matters, but only if you're also practicing how those words work in context.

Third, save your official practice exams for after you've finished learning the material. Testing yourself on topics you haven't studied yet gives you useless data. Use the last month of prep for full-length timed exams under real conditions.

Fourth, track your errors. Most people repeat the same mistakes because they never stop to figure out whether the problem was pacing, a content gap, or misreading the question.

The whole process is less complicated than it looks. A realistic plan, honest self-assessment, and consistent effort will get most people to their target score.

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep