Generally speaking, it’s smart to do some GRE Verbal and some GRE Quant prep each week, so the concepts you learn for each section remain fresh in your mind. To see why, say you spent the first two weeks of your prep studying Verbal, and then you did nothing but Quant for your remaining study time. Would you feel confident that, on test day, the Verbal concepts you studied early in your prep would still be fresh in your mind?

If you’re doing some Quant and some Verbal throughout your prep, you’re more likely to stay fresh on both (assuming you need to study both). Alternating also gives you a little break from each section, so you don’t become burned out on either.

Another key benefit of alternating Quant and Verbal study, particularly when you’re on a compressed timeline, is that you’re less likely to find that you haven’t left yourself enough time to study for a section.

For instance, say you know you’re stronger in GRE Verbal than in Quant. So, you put off any Verbal prep until you’re nearing the end of your 30-day timeline. However, once you dive into Verbal, you discover that mastering Verbal concepts and strategies is more challenging than you expected. Your accuracy on Verbal practice questions is not as high as you assumed it would be. As it turns out, you need more time to study Verbal than you’ve given yourself.

Of course, depending on your baseline and goals, you may need more work in one section than the other. So, you’ll want to apportion your daily/weekly study time accordingly.

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep