People planning to take the GRE General Test (GRE) to apply to graduate school typically spend a few months preparing. However, if you’re reading this article, you likely have some reason why you’re wondering how to improve your GRE Verbal score in about a week. So, let's discuss 5 steps for maximizing your GRE Verbal score in a relatively short time.

👉 Step 1: Take a Practice GRE
Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the types of Verbal questions that appear on the GRE, if you haven’t already taken a GRE practice test, your next move is to take an official practice GRE. By taking a practice test, you’ll see where your GRE Verbal skills stand. Also, you’ll get a clearer sense of what you’re preparing for.

To take an official practice test, go to ets.org, the website of the maker of the GRE, and create an account. Then, take one of the free PowerPrep practice tests. For best results, take the entire test, including the Analytical Writing section. Also, mimic GRE test conditions by not pausing the test or taking breaks other than those that will be allowed when you take the actual GRE.

👉 Step 2: Analyze Your Practice Test Results
At this point, you’ve seen GRE verbal questions in action on an official GRE practice test. You now have your practice test results, which indicate not only how you’d score on the Verbal section of the GRE right now, but also which types of questions you should focus on as you prepare. The two Verbal sections of the practice test, like the actual GRE, include a total of about 12 Text Completion questions, 8 Sentence Equivalence questions, and 20 Reading Comprehension questions. Using the Review function, you can analyze your performance on each question type. Calculate your percentage correct for each question type by counting the number of questions of that type you got correct and dividing by the total number of questions of that type.

The information you get by doing these calculations is very useful. It will tell you whether you should focus your GRE Verbal prep primarily on certain types of questions or you should work on the entire Verbal section in a balanced way. For example, if you get 85 percent of the Text Completion, 70 percent of the Sentence Equivalence, and 50 percent of the Reading Comprehension questions correct, then you know to focus mainly on RC. Alternatively, it may be clear from your test results that you should work on all types of questions equally.

👉 Step 3: Do a Mix of Learning and Practicing
If you study for GRE Verbal for only about a week, you won’t have time to learn a huge number of GRE Verbal concepts and strategies. However, learning some high-value concepts and strategies will help you maximize the results of your week of GRE preparation. Accordingly, your daily GRE prep routine could involve spending some time learning concepts and strategies and the rest practicing. For instance, using the TTP GRE Course, in a day, you could work on one-blank TC questions and Function questions. For each one, you’d first learn the basics of answering that type of question. Then, you would practice answering questions of that type.

👉 Step 4: Improve Your Execution
In total, there are about 17 different types of GRE Verbal questions. At the same time, we’re talking about how to improve on GRE Verbal in about a week. So, you won’t have time to learn a lot about each of those question types. However, there is something you can work on that applies to answering Verbal questions of all types correctly: good execution. In fact, one of the best GRE Verbal improvement tips is to improve execution. By improving your execution, you’ll improve your performance on all types of GRE Verbal questions.

The best way to improve your execution is to answer GRE Verbal practice questions untimed and focus on accuracy. By answering practice questions in this way, you can repeatedly go through the motions that lead to success. A key factor here is that the same basic things that lead to success in answering one type of GRE Verbal question lead to success in answering the other types.

👉 Step 5: Do Timed Practice to Get Into GRE Mode
Whether you prepare for the GRE for a week or for months, most of your practice should be untimed, so that you have time to learn and improve your execution. However, toward the end of your preparation, you should start practicing timed to get into GRE mode.

Your timed practice could involve simply doing sets of practice questions with a timer going and giving yourself an average of 1:30 per Verbal question, as the GRE will. However, you could also take another practice test as part of your timed practice. Keep in mind that it’s not a good idea to take a practice test the day before you take the actual GRE. You could, however, take a test two or three days before.

By taking these 5 steps to prepare for the Verbal section of the GRE, you can increase your GRE Verbal score, and you may be able to hit your GRE score goal in about a week

Warmest regards,
Scott