You took your first practice GRE. You’re off to a good start! Your goal now is to do a general analysis of where you stand. Are you 10 points from your target GRE score? 30 points? More? The score gap will give you a sense of how much time and energy you’ll likely need to invest in GRE study to reach your goal. Although you’ll carefully review all of the questions you answered on future practice tests, now is not the time to review each question. It’s difficult to draw useful conclusions about specific areas of strength and weakness from the results of one practice test. Instead, lay out your comprehensive study strategy.

Your GRE preparation time will depend on how far your baseline score is from your score goal, your learning style, your application deadlines, and your other daily commitments. A person with a full-time job may have to spread his or her study over a greater number of weeks than someone who has those hours free to devote to GRE prep. Similarly, someone who is 10 points from his or her score goal probably will need far less time to prepare than someone striving for a 35-point increase.

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep