How do I study for the GRE in 3 months?

With 3 months to prepare, you can think about dividing your study time into two parts.
During the first two month, focus on mastering the strategic approaches to each type of
question on the GRE, as well as the grammar and math content knowledge you’ll need
to get questions correct. During the third month, focus on answering questions more
quickly by doing timed practice. Also, challenge yourself with tougher questions.
Before you get started, you’ll need to gather together your study materials. Here is our
recommended list:

• Understanding the GRE

If you don’t fully understand what is tested on the GRE, check out ETS’s GRE
page. Kaplan also provides guidance on What’s Tested on the GRE.

• GRE Full Length Tests

The GRE testmaker, ETS, offers two free practice tests with its POWERPREP®
II software. Or take a free online GRE practice test with Kaplan. At the end, you’ll
receive a Smart Report that will tell you what areas that you should focus on.
Other practice tests come with GRE prep books or prep packs. Kaplan also
offers an Official Test Day Experience.

• GRE Sample Questions

Kaplan offers three different practice packages for the GRE. Each package
includes over 2,500 adaptive practice questions. Other packages include 2-4 full-
length practice tests and varying lengths of access.

• Kaplan's GRE Prep Plus 2019 Book

With Kaplan's GRE books, you not only get the printed resources that cover the
subject matter from all the test sections but also access to two full-length practice
tests online and an additional 500 practice questions.

• Online calendar

An online calendar can be a great tool for keeping track of and accessing your
personal study plan from almost any location. Plus, you can share your calendar
with others so they know your schedule and can help you stay on track.
 • Take a GRE Course

If you're daunted at the idea of studying completely on your own, as well as the
challenge of making a complete study schedule, consider taking a GRE such as
Kaplan's Instructor led GRE Prep. Six live video sessions cover the strategy and
skills needed to succeed on the Gre, and the study plan helps you determine
what you should study, when to take practice tests, and how to pull it all together
for Test Day. GRE courses include Kaplan’s Official Test Day Experience.

With these or similar resources in hand, it’s time to start studying. With three months,
you will want to focus on completing a broad overview of the test content so you can
pick up points from every section. Don’t completely neglect your strengths, but also
don’t allow yourself to focus solely on them; although it can be comforting and easier to
review material that is fresh for you, it won’t earn you as many points as going back
over content you were once strong with but haven’t reviewed in many years. Use the
following plan to guide your studies.

Week 1
• Start by taking a practice test to familiarize yourself with the GRE and establish
your baseline performance. The GRE testmaker, ETS, offers two free practice
tests with its POWERPREP® II software. Kaplan Test Prep offers free proctored
practice tests online. Try to take the diagnostic test under test-like conditions.
Block out a 3-hour time period (without essays) or a 4-hour period (with essays).
Don’t forget to plan 1.5 hours to review the test that day or the following day or
two.
• Use your initial test results to determine which content areas you need to work
on. Kaplan’s Smart Reports provide you with detailed breakdowns of your
strengths and opportunities for improvement, as well as comprehensive answer
explanations. Modifying the study plan below accordingly. For example, if you did
well on most verbal section questions, you might only study those topics briefly
and spend more time on a quantitative subject you didn’t do as well with, such as
quantitative comparison.
• Build a weekly study schedule. Proactively fill in your calendar with study blocks,
planning to study at minimum for one and a half hours per day, five days per
week. Take at least one day off from studying each week so you have time to
recharge. Put specific topics to study into each block so that you ensure that you
have sufficient prep time set aside.
• Set up a rotating schedule that works through these topics:
• Problem Solving
• Quantitative Comparison
• Text Completion
• Sentence Equivalence
• Reading Comprehension
 Start with the fundamentals of each subject area, and split your time between
different topics each day. You'll want to spend at least an hour to an hour and a half
on each topic in order to really focus. Here's a sample calendar of what your first
week of study might look like:

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Self Study Practice Verbal 1.5 Quant 1.5 Verbal 1.5

Test & hours hours hours
Review

Instructor Practice Class 2.5 Verbal 1.5 Quant 1.5

Guided Test & hours hours hours
Review

Weeks 2-8
• Devote study blocks on a rotating basis to quantitative, verbal, and integrated
reasoning.
• For test-like practice, use Kaplan’s adaptive Qbank and review questions based
on the content areas you have reviewed.
Organize your time around your existing commitments. Some days you may be able to
schedule more than one topic; on other days, you may be able to fit in only one subject.
An example week might look something like this:

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Self Study Verbal 1.5 Quant 1.5 Verbal 1.5 Practice or

hours hours hours AWA 1.5
hours

Instructor Verbal 1.5 Class 2.5 Quant 1.5 AWA 1.5

Guided hours hours hours hours

Weeks 9-11
• Devote study blocks on a rotating basis to quantitative, verbal, and integrated
reasoning.
• For test-like practice, use Kaplan’s adaptive Qbank and review questions based
on the content areas you have reviewed.
Organize your time around your existing commitments. Some days you may be able to
schedule more than one topic; on other days, you may be able to fit in only one subject.
An example week might look something like this:
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
 Self Study Practice Quant 1.5 Verbal 1.5 AWA OR
Test & hours hours Problem Area
Review 1.5 hours

Instructor Practice Quant 1.5 Verbal 1.5 AWA OR

Guided Test & hours hours Problem Area
Review 1.5 hours

Week 12
Once again, start the week by taking and reviewing your practice test, looking over
every question and using the results to modify your study plan if needed.
• Early in the week, take a GRE Practice Test either online, in a prep book, or
through Kaplan’s Official Test Day Experience. Set aside time to review the test
as well.
• For your remaining few days, spend time reviewing the content areas that were
your biggest opportunities on your last full-length test. If you’ve never truly
mastered a topic, though, now is not the time to attempt to learn it. Instead, focus
on the material that you struggled with the first time through but that you think
you can master given just a little more time.
• If you have time, travel to the testing center first to ensure you know how to get to
the correct building, where to park, and which room your test will be in. Having all
these logistics out of the way will help reduce your stress on Test Day—and
ensure you aren’t late!
• Take the day before the test completely off; your brain needs to rest before the
marathon of test-taking to come! Eat healthy, balanced meals and get a full night
of rest so you are mentally and physically prepared for Test Day. On the day of
the GRE, wake up with plenty of time to spare, and be sure to eat breakfast
before leaving to give your brain the fuel it needs.
Example Study Calendar
With this plan, you should be well on your way to success on Test Day. But remember:
if you don’t feel prepared for your test after 30 days or aren’t scoring anywhere near
where you want to be on your practice tests, then you may want to change your test
date so you don’t end up with a less-than-ideal score on your GRE application. It’s
much better in the long run to push your plans back a bit than to not do well and then
have to retest anyway.
During the last week before your test, emphasize your strengths. For example, if you
get most Reading Comprehension questions correct, then practice Reading
Comprehension several times this week to boost your confidence and ensure that you
can count on this skill.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Self Study Practice Test Final Final Final

& Review Review Review Review
 Instructor Practice Test Final Final Final
Guided & Review Review Review Review

Step 2: Set Your Study Schedule

When Test Day is 3 months away, there is a danger of procrastinating. After all, you
probably have a lot of things that need to get done today, so it can be hard to carve out
the time and energy to study for the GRE. However, the days and weeks will slip by
faster than seems possible, and before you know it, the test will be a week away—and
then tomorrow! Don’t let Test Day take you by surprise.
Studying most days of the week will improve your score more than studying one or two
days a week. Because you will be studying for 3 months, you want to set a reasonable
pace and not burn yourself out. Many students find that studying for 4 days a week in
three 30-minute segments, for an hour and a half each day, helps them make significant
progress. In addition, if vocabulary is an area you have targeted for improvement, plan
to carry flashcards (physical cards or a phone app) with you and work on GRE vocab
throughout the day.
Block out time to take six more full-length practice tests. Take a practice test after 1
month of studying, another one at the 6-week point, and then one a week for the 4
weeks leading up to the GRE. You will take your last practice test 1 week before Test
Day. Take practice tests to measure your progress, become more familiar with the test’s
timing and format, and build your mental endurance. After each test, invest at least 1.5
hours in reviewing the answer explanations.
Schedule your study time and practice tests on your calendar and then keep those
appointments with yourself. The same way you show up for class or work on time, you
are going to “show up” for GRE studying on time.
Step 3: Develop Your Study Plan
How should you study? An effective approach is to first use a resource such as a GRE
book or class to learn some strategies or content and then follow up by practicing what
you just learned with test-like questions. Applying what you learn right away to the types
of questions you’ll see on Test Day will help you solidify your knowledge so it sticks with
you. Kaplan’s Premier book includes a 500-question Quiz Bank, and the full Quiz Bank
contains over 2,500 test-like questions for GRE practice. You can use it to target
specific content areas and question types at the right difficulty level for you.
What should you study? That depends on the results of your practice test! Focus mostly
on material that is (a) difficult for you and (b) most often tested. On the Quantitative
section, for example, many questions require you to solve for the value of a variable, so
if you are uncomfortable manipulating equations and inequalities to isolate a variable,
you will have trouble throughout the section. Combinatorics questions may be tough for
you, too, but combinations and permutations do not appear on the test nearly as often
as algebraic manipulation, so you should focus on the content with the higher payoff.
During the last week before your test, emphasize your strengths. For example, if you
get most questions about geometry correct, then practice geometry questions several
times this week to boost your confidence and ensure that you can count on this skill.
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