👋 Hello, my friends at GRE Prep Club!

It’s easy to think that the only thing standing between you and a solid performance on the GRE Verbal section is a timing issue. You may feel that if you just had more minutes on the clock, you could answer all the questions correctly. That line of thinking is common. However, the truth is that time pressure usually isn’t the root of the problem. More often than not, the real issue is a skills issue.

The speed you need on the GRE Verbal section doesn’t come from rushing or watching the clock. It comes from being skilled. When your verbal skills are sharp — when you can quickly spot clues in Text Completion questions, understand how two blanks relate to each other, analyze Reading Comprehension passages with focus, and break down arguments efficiently — then speed happens naturally. You don’t need to force it. It just shows up.

So, if you’re struggling to finish on time, one of the most powerful moves you can make is to take a step back and focus on building your skills. And here’s the part that surprises many students: to build skill, you need to slow down. That’s right. To get faster, you have to practice more slowly.

Why? Because developing skill requires careful thought and reflection. You need to spend time asking yourself questions like “Why is this answer right?” or “What clues led me to eliminate the others?” That kind of deep analysis doesn’t happen in 90 seconds. It takes time. And that time is where real learning happens.

Let’s say you’re working on Sentence Equivalence. If you rush through a question in 60 seconds and get it wrong, you may not learn much from the attempt. But if you take five minutes to carefully walk through the logic, consider the tone, evaluate all the answer choices, and really understand what the sentence is doing, you’re much more likely to gain a lasting insight. That insight will stick with you and help you move faster next time — not because you tried to be fast, but because your skill level improved.

Eventually, as your skills grow, you’ll find that you’re moving through questions more efficiently without even trying to speed up. That’s the result of good practice. So rather than chasing speed early in your prep, trust that speed will come as a natural byproduct of skill. Build the skill first. The speed will follow.

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

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep