It is natural for students to feel anxious about the GRE’s time constraints. After all, the way you pace yourself through the exam can have a significant impact on your score. However, it is important to understand that you do not become faster by simply moving faster. The instinct to push harder against the clock often leads to rushed reasoning, careless mistakes, and incomplete understanding.

The real key to improving your timing lies in building a deeper command of the material. The best way to get faster is to start slow. Begin by investing your time in mastering the fundamentals. Study each concept carefully until it feels familiar and reliable. Work through problems methodically, ensuring that you understand not just how to get the right answer but also why each step works. As you progress, the techniques you use will become second nature. Important facts, figures, and formulas will start to come to you automatically, without hesitation.

When that level of fluency develops, your pace will naturally increase. You will find yourself moving through questions more smoothly because you are no longer pausing to recall every detail. You are recognizing patterns, anticipating traps, and applying strategies with quiet confidence. In other words, genuine speed is the byproduct of mastery, not the goal itself.

That is why I always encourage students who claim they “know the material” but “struggle with timing” to take an honest look at their foundation. In my experience, those who think their issue is timing are usually still working toward full mastery. Over more than 15 years of teaching the GRE, I can count on one hand the number of students who truly had complete command of the content yet struggled on test day because of pacing alone.

So, before you begin timing yourself or measuring speed, focus on accuracy. Train yourself to solve questions correctly and consistently, with clear reasoning and minimal errors. Once you can do that, layer in time constraints and realistic practice tests. If you know the material well, the timing will fall into place.

Improvement in the GRE is not about hurrying. It is about refining. The more thoroughly you understand what you are doing, the faster you will become without even trying.

Reach out to me with any questions about your GRE prep. Happy studying!

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep