Often, students work hard at mastering some GRE material and, in fact, get quite good at it. Then, they happily move on and master new material. At some point, they realize that they’ve forgotten the earlier material. Don’t let this information spoilage happen to you.

Instead, incorporate regular review sessions into your GRE study plan. Flashcards are an excellent tool for conducting this review. As you come across concepts, formulas, or strategies that you want to remember and practice, add these valuable nuggets to flashcards that you can periodically review to ensure that these key bits of information stay fresh in your mind.

For instance, you may want flashcards containing crucial math concepts such as the simple interest formula and the exponent rule. Flashcards are also fantastic for drilling GRE vocabulary words.

It’s also a good idea to take notes as you study, not only to help solidify your learning but also so you can review those notes later. For instance, when studying Geometry, you might jot down “look out for 3-4-5 and 5-12-13 right triangles!”

Another important form of review is completing practice sets of questions on past topics. For example, if it has been 3 weeks since you studied Weaken and Strengthen the Argument questions in GRE Verbal, it would be a good time to complete a practice set of those question types. Then, based on your performance, if you notice that certain skills related to those question types have become rusty, you can return to your notes or prep materials to brush up those skills.

Remember, GRE skills are perishable. Use them or lose them!

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep