The content in this post applies in 2025 to the new, shorter GRE!
For those who are focused and ambitious, a 30-day GRE study schedule can work really well, as long as you have the time it will demand.
However, if you feel that life will intrude in one way or another, or if you need to improve your score by hundreds of points, this schedule may not be for you. If an honest look at life’s daily demands reveals that dedicating hour upon hour to GRE study will be unlikely, ask yourself: Is pushing back your test date possible?
If you are able to register or reschedule your exam for a later date, that might be in your best interest, and then you can check out some of Magoosh’s other, longer schedule options .
But! If you are all-in on preparing for the GRE in thirty days, we’ve got you! Just remember, this is an aggressive plan. You will need, on average, 1.5-2.5 hours a day, at least six days per week, to work through this schedule.
Click here to download a PDF of the study schedule!
This schedule was designed with beginners in mind, which means that most of the assigned lessons skew toward covering the fundamentals–the basic topics, techniques, and strategies that provide a solid foundation for how to best approach the exam.
Now, there may very well be subject areas in which you are well beyond beginner status. If that’s the case, you should feel free to modify this schedule to suit your own prep needs. At any point, you can swap out the lessons and practice questions that you’re already comfortable with for ones that cover more challenging topics.
If you’re finding a lot of the beginner material pretty easy, consider checking out our 30-Day Schedule for Advanced Students.
If you are striving for a top-notch verbal score, daily review of vocab is vital. 30 days is not a lot of time; however, you can certainly memorize a few hundred (maybe more) words in that timeframe.
Make use of Magoosh’s GRE Flashcards, but don’t limit yourself to just these words. Whenever you encounter a word you don’t know, look it up, make a flashcard, and add it to your own flashcard deck. You can go the old-fashioned route with hand-written, paper cards or opt for a digital version like Quizlet.
As you work through your flashcards you’ll want to organize them into three piles/categories. One category is for words that are “new” to you and you’re just trying to absorb their definitions/usage. Another category is for words that you’ve almost mastered–maybe you still need context clues to grasp their meanings. The final category represents a “done” stack that is only rarely reviewed.
We cannot stress the importance of reading to build your reading comprehension skills, refine your understanding of grammar and usage, and expand your vocabulary. You have to challenge yourself to read material that is written at the same level as the passages you’ll encounter on test day. Check out the links below for reliable sources and advice:
Non-fiction, scholarly books , history and social science topics are preferable.
How to Practice with Recommended Sources: Scientific American , Atlantic Monthly , The New Yorker , National Geographic , The Economist , Arts and Letters Daily , or The New York Times (a Sunday subscription is a great idea!).
A notebook or digital document to keep a written record of the questions that you miss. For each question you enter into your log do the following:
Not sure how to set up your error log? Here’s a free template .
Note : ETS launched the shorter version of the GRE in 2023. So, what does that mean if you have older prep materials? Good news!! You do not need to go out and buy new ones. Because there were no changes to the content that ETS tests, there have been no real changes to the prep books that cover that content. In fact, at the time of this writing, ETS hasn’t even released a new edition of its own prep material, The Official Guide, but does provide the following note:
“The practice tests in this book are for the General Test that was administered before September 22, 2023. However, because the shorter GRE includes the same question types (except for the Analyze an Argument essay task which has been removed), this book is a great way to prepare for the shorter GRE.”
Thus, if you have older versions of prep materials, you should be all set to dive in. Just be sure to skip any content related to the Analyze an Argument part of the AWA, and be sure to review the GRE’s updated timing and structure.
Without your own Magoosh account , you won’t be able to access many of the lessons, practice questions, and practice tests that are linked in the daily tasks; however, there are a number of lessons and practice materials that are publically available, and, of course, you can also follow the daily breakdown of topics and activities using The Official Guide or any other material(s) you are using for your GRE prep.
1.) Go to ETS.org/gre , and read about the content of the GRE. Click on and read each sub-heading link.
2.) Watch the following Magoosh lesson videos:
Note : Many lessons are only available to those with a Magoosh Premium GRE subscription— sign up here for a free trial !
General Introduction
Math Section Breakdown
Verbal Section Breakdown
Computer Adaptive Testing
Skipping Questions and Pacing
Learn From Your Mistakes
Build Your Error Log
If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to be sure you have this essential document at the ready.
3.) Take a look at your week ahead and schedule about 2 hours for a full-length practice. It’s planned for Day 3 in this schedule, but you can move that around if needed. If you haven’t done so yet, this is a perfect opportunity to take Magoosh’s Free GRE Practice Test .
Here are a couple options to incorporate additional verbal practice:
1.) Arts and Letters Daily is a great resource for links to GRE-level reading material. Once per week, choose one or more articles that are around 5-20 pages long. While reading, try to identify at least fifty unfamiliar words. When you encounter words you don’t know or only sorta know, make flashcards in your app of choice or with good old pen and paper. A quick google search will yield definitions.
After you read, write a concise summary or review of one of the articles, weaving in the vocabulary words you’ve learned from not only the articles but also lessons, practice questions, reading, etc.
2.) Use the Magoosh Flashcard App and challenge yourself to learn 10 words daily. At the end of seven days (yes, seven), you’ll have encountered 70 words–not too shabby! For a deeper understanding of these words in context, refer to Vocabulary.com.
If you’re someone who needs to prioritize math, here are options for weekly supplemental activities:
1.) Check out the OG’s Math Review and work through the topics and associated exercises. There are also plenty of practice questions, organized by difficulty, that you can explore.
2.) Dig into the topics in the collaborative Math Review built by ETS and Kahn Academy.
3.) Use this week to review as many cards as possible in the first three GRE Math Flashcard decks: Algebra, Fractions, Ratios, & Percents, and Geometry.
Intro to Quantitative Comparison
Intro to Data Interpretation
Intro to Text Completion
Intro to Sentence Equivalence
Intro to Reading Comprehension
Improving Verbal Score
If you have a Magoosh Premium or Trial subscription, navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → and launch Math Quick Practice at the top of the screen (you’ll see a lightning bolt icon). Work through those 10 mixed practice problems.
Since you’re on a rather tight prep timeline, you should start focusing on the pacing piece of the GRE puzzle as soon as possible. An effective pacing and skipping strategy is a major component of success. But! Be kind to yourself: increasing your speed while maintaining your accuracy will not come overnight. It is a process.
If this feels like a lot to you, work in stages. Set achievable goals as you attempt to improve your pacing! Try to answer questions at a pace of three minutes per question. The next day, set a faster pace, like two and half minutes per question.
Do this day by day until you are answering questions at the target times:
Math ≈ 1:45 per question
Verbal ≈ 1:30 per question
Of course, those target times vary–the greater the question complexity, the longer it will take to solve it.
Ideally, you should select Adaptive difficulty. That setting will most accurately reflect the variety of questions that you’ll encounter on test day. However, you should feel free to select the difficulty that best fits your current ability level. If you are struggling with some of the basic concepts, you might opt for easy/medium until your accuracy improves. Just keep in mind that adaptive difficulty will more closely match a realistic test experience.
Please note, if you frequently only work on questions from one category of difficulty, you could exhaust that particular group, which means that you might start seeing repeat questions during custom practice or during a practice test.
Today, you are going to start making use of your error log. As you review the results of the mixed math practice set, add each incorrect question to your log and do the following:
Try to determine and make note of why you missed the question
Read any related text explanations and watch any related video explanations
Watch any recommended lesson videos (don’t worry about watching them out of order. You’ll likely be watching the videos a few times, especially those that relate to your weaker areas.)
Be aware of any trends that help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Don’t just skip over the questions you got right! Double check that you got them right for the right reasons. If you guessed or just weren’t all that sure how you arrived at the correct answer, devote time to reviewing the explanations and absorbing the underlying concepts and solution steps.
In Magoosh, take a full-length practice test!
In your Magoosh dashboard, navigate to Practice → Practice Test.
Be sure that you have around 2 hours of uninterrupted time. You want your practice test experience to be as realistic as possible. REMEMBER! There are no breaks given during the five sections of the GRE.
If this is your first full-length test, this is an important moment! Not only will you start to get a sense for how you feel taking the GRE but, at the end, you will also find out your all important baseline scores. These will be the scores (Math, Verbal, AWA) you build from as you push towards your goal, the scores you need to reach to feel confident when applying to your chosen graduate programs.
If you’ve already taken a practice or Official GRE test, that’s great! You already know where you’re at, score wise, and know how close (or far) that score is from where you need it to be.
Note : Don’t worry about reviewing your test immediately after you complete it unless you have enough gas left in the tank. You’ll kick off the next study session with a deep-dive review.
Open your error log for a deep-dive review of your practice test. Try to recall which question types you struggled with the most. Can you find any patterns? Are you making careless mistakes? If so, reflect on the reason: Working too fast? Misreading the question? Figure out where you should slow down when testing. Also consider the following:
Watch the following Magoosh lesson videos:
Mental math: GRE Estimation
If you have a Magoosh Premium or Trial subscription, navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Multiple Choice → Select All. Do 10 questions. As you work through this set, try to identify any clues that indicate you can plug in as a solution option.
As you review the results of this practice set, add each incorrect question to your log and do the following:
Double check that you got the correct ones right for the right reasons. If you guessed or just weren’t all that sure how you arrived at the correct answer, devote time to reviewing the explanations. steps.
How to Answer a GRE Question
Vocabulary in Context
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Reading Comprehension → check clear all and then only check the box for Short Passages. Do 5 questions. Don’t worry if you don’t end up doing exactly 5 questions. You might do a few more or less depending on the number of questions associated with the passages you are given.
For each question from the above practice that you missed, log the following:
Add any words from the questions that you only sorta know or don’t know to your vocabulary flashcards.
Double check that you got the correct ones right for the right reasons. If you guessed or just weren’t all that sure how you arrived at the correct answer, devote time to reviewing the explanations.
Rest, Review, Practice or Catch-up
If you’re feeling pretty good about where you’re at (both in the schedule and in your overall progress), take a break! You deserve one! But, if you are raring to keep going check out the following options:
Spend some quality time with your error log. Revisit (maybe redo a few) missed questions and review their associated lessons.
Do more practice and review in the OG or through your Magoosh Dashboard. You can set up custom practice sessions or launch timed sections.
If you are feeling a bit behind schedule, use this as an opportunity to get caught up or closer to caught up.
Break out those math and verbal flashcards!
Conversions: Fractions and Decimals
Operations with Fractions
Quiz: Arithmetic and Fractions
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All and then only check Arithmetic and Fractions. Do 5 questions.
For each question from the above practice and quiz that you missed, log the following:
Try to determine why you missed the question
Additional verbal practice options:
1.) Continue with Arts and Letters Daily or your preferred reading material. Choose one or more articles and try to identify at least fifty unfamiliar words. With those words, make flashcards in your app of choice or with good old pen and paper.
2.) Continue using the Magoosh Flashcard App and challenge yourself to learn 10 words daily. At the end of this week (if you started this last week), you’ll have encountered 140 words. For a deeper understanding of these words in context, refer to Vocabulary.com.
Additional math practice options:
1.) Continue the OG’s Math Review and dig into its practice questions.
2.) Carry on with topics in the collaborative Math Review built by ETS and Kahn Academy.
3.) Use this week to review as many cards as possible in the next three GRE Math Flashcard decks: Number Properties I, Number Properties II, and Statistics & Probability.
Working with Percents
Percent Increases and Decreases
Sequential Percent Changes
Quiz: Percents and Rates
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All and then only check Percents and Ratios. Do 10 questions.
Watch any recommended lesson videos. Don’t worry about watching them out of order or watching them again. You’ll likely be watching the videos a few times, especially those that relate to your weaker areas.
Double check that you got the correct ones right for the right reasons. If you guessed or just weren’t all that sure how you arrived at the correct answer, devote time to reviewing the explanations and absorbing the underlying concepts and solution steps.
Integer Property Strategies
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All and then only check Integer Properties. Do 10 questions.
Multiple Answer Questions
Multiple Answer Questions – Inference
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Reading Comprehension → Check Long, Medium and Short Passages. Do around 15 questions.
Double check that you got the correct ones right for the right reasons. If you guessed or just weren’t all that sure how you arrived at the correct answer, devote time to reviewing the explanations and absorbing the underlying concepts and solution steps
Elements of the Argument
Weakening the Argument
Strengthening the Argument
Assumption Questions
Wrong Answer Choices
Don’t Forget the Conclusion
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal→ Reading Comprehension → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Paragraph Arguments. Do 8 questions.
Mixed Practice Verbal and Quant
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Launch a Verbal GRE Section (look for the book icon near the top of the screen). You’ll have 23 minutes to complete the 15 questions.
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Math → Select All Math. Launch a Math Section (look for the book icon near the top of the screen). You’ll have 26 minutes to complete the 15 questions.
Did any fall into your skip or guess bucket? Did you recognize them immediately and quickly move on? It’s a good idea to train those instincts so they become second nature by test day.
1.) Watch the following Magoosh lesson videos:
Simplifying Expressions
Factoring – Quadratics
Basic Equation Solving
Two Equations, Two Unknowns
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All and then only check Algebra. Do 10 questions.
For each question from the above practice that you missed, add it to your error log and analyze what went wrong.
2.) Continue using the Magoosh Flashcard App and challenge yourself to learn 10 words daily. At the end of this week (if you started this last week), you’ll have encountered 210 words. For a deeper understanding of these words in context, refer to Vocabulary.com.
2.) Use this week to review as many cards as possible in the next three GRE Math Flashcard decks: Mixed Practice I, II, and III.
Writing Tips for the 4 Major Scoring Components
Issue Essay Task Overview
Issue Essay Brainstorming
Score your AWA Essay –use this link to analyze the Issue Essay you wrote during the practice test. It will help you better understand the process and the score your essay was given by the Magoosh AI Tutor.
Note I : Score your AWA Essay above leads you to the scoring rubric that will be used by the official readers when they evaluate your essay. Even though the essays you write in your Magoosh Dashboard will be scored and given detailed feedback on how to improve by The Magoosh AI Tutor, it’s still important for you to read through and be familiar with the scoring rubric.
Note II : There could still be out-dated content pertaining to the Argument Essay in the above lessons. You can skip/ignore any references to the now retired Argument Task.
Operations with Roots
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Powers and Roots. Do 10 questions.
Intro to Motion Questions
Intro to Sets and Venn Diagrams
Double Matrix Method
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the boxes for Word Problems. Do 8 questions.
Understanding the Sentence
Intro to Shift Sentences
Intro to Double Blank Sentences
Intro to Triple Blank Sentences
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Text Completion→ Select All. Do 10 questions.
Special Right Triangles
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Clear All→ Only check the box next to Geometry. Do 8 questions.
Circles, Arcs, and Sectors
Geometry Strategies Part III
2.) Continue using the Magoosh Flashcard App and challenge yourself to learn 10 words daily. At the end of this week (if you’ve kept up the pace), you’ll have encountered around 280 words!
3.) In your dashboard, work through additional Verbal timed sections.
3.) Use this week to review as many cards as possible in the final three GRE Math Flashcard decks: Mixed Practice VI, V, and VI.
4.) In your dashboard, work through additional Quant timed sections.
Synonymous Sentences 1
Synonymous Sentences 2
Beware of the Pseudo-Synonyms
Avoiding Pseudo-Synonyms: Practice Activities
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Sentence Equivalence → Select all categories. Do 10 questions.
Try to be sure that you have around 2 hours of uninterrupted. You want your practice test experience to be as realistic as possible. Remember that there are no breaks given during the GRE.
As Always, don’t worry about reviewing the test immediately after you finish. That’s for the next session.
Open your error log for a deep-dive review of this last practice test.
Consider the following:
As always, work through the following:
The Coordinate Plane
Slope-Intercept Form
Distance Between Two Points
Graphs of Quadratics
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Coordinate Plane. Do 8 questions.
Range and Standard Deviation
Data Interpretation Strategy
Types of DI Graphics
1. Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Math → Data Interpretation. Do 5 questions.
2. Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Math → Statistics. Do 5 questions.
You are almost at the finish line!
Pick out a few topics that you want to brush up on or questions that you want to review from your error log, or you could even re-watch a few lesson videos. Keep it light and easy! Today is not the day to overtax your brain.
Watch this final lesson: Test Day
Focus on feeling your best for test day!
Eat a large, healthy, leisurely dinner—no alcohol
Go to bed earlier than usual
ABSOLUTELY NO LAST MINUTE CRAMMING!
Eat a large breakfast, full of protein
Do relaxing, fun activities to pass time until the test
If you have any remaining time before your exam, focus on a concentrated review
For whatever days remain before your test, keep up the work on GRE math and verbal. Some suggestions for what to do:
By selecting question type and difficulty on your “Dashboard,” keep doing Magoosh problems or do problems you’ve previously attempted over again to see how you do a second time.
Keep watching Magoosh lesson videos on whatever topics you feel you need to review.
Keep reading challenging material to build vocabulary and acclimate to complex sentence structures.
Keep drilling your vocab flashcards and your math flashcards.
If you have time for more practice tests, you can check out the free and paid versions of ETS Power Prep . Another highly recommended source for practice tests are those produced by Manhattan Prep .
You have done an incredible amount of work, so be proud of what you’ve accomplished!
Do your best to follow this list, and you will improve dramatically in a very short time. Again, if you can’t commit the hours to this study plan, you may want to consider postponing your test or choosing one that works on a different timeline.
For more personalized support, you can sign up for a premium Magoosh GRE prep plan . We have affordable 1 month or 6 month subscriptions, or you can test out the material with a free 1 week trial. Happy studying!
Chris graduated from UCLA with a BA in Psychology and has 20 years of experience in the test prep industry. He’s been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including US News , GMAC , and Business Because .