👋 Hello, my friends at GRE Prep Club!

Many students hit a ceiling in GRE Verbal not because they lack ability, but because of how they practice. One of the most common missteps is jumping straight into timed drills and trying to replicate test-day pacing from day one. On the surface, this strategy sounds reasonable. The GRE is timed, so practicing under time pressure feels productive. In reality, it often does the opposite, stalling improvement and increasing frustration.

Strong performance in GRE Verbal depends on having a clear, repeatable method for each question type. Take Text Completion questions, for example. Solving them well requires more than instinct. You must slow down enough to understand the sentence’s structure, identify logical relationships, recognize key transitions, and evaluate how each word choice shapes the overall meaning. These skills are learned, not automatic, and they develop only through deliberate, focused practice.

When you are still building this foundation, adding strict time limits can be counterproductive. Rushing through questions before your process is solid leads to missed clues, careless errors, and habits that are hard to unlearn. Many test takers fall into this trap. They complete large numbers of questions at test pace, yet their scores barely move because they never truly mastered the mechanics behind correct answers.

A more effective strategy is to begin without the clock. Untimed practice gives you the space to think deeply about each question. Examine sentence logic. Notice how ideas connect. Evaluate every answer choice and clearly understand why it works or fails. At this stage, speed is irrelevant. Precision and clarity matter far more. When you can reliably reach correct answers without time pressure, you have built a process you can trust.

Only then should timing enter the picture. Once accuracy is consistent, timed practice becomes valuable for improving efficiency and endurance. The sequence matters. Timing should refine an already solid process, not replace it. Speed is a byproduct of mastery, not a shortcut to it.

If you have been practicing diligently but feel stuck, the problem may not be your verbal skills at all. It may be your pacing strategy. Pull back, slow down, and allow yourself to learn properly. With that shift, accuracy improves, confidence grows, and test-day timing becomes far less intimidating.

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep