The content in this post applies in 2025 to the new, shorter GRE!
The Magoosh 6 month study plan moves at a relaxed pace that should still be followed diligently, lest procrastination leads to things getting out of hand. It’s designed to expose you to everything that the GRE might throw at you on test day as well as equip you with strategies and techniques to help you achieve your dream score.
Click here to download a PDF of the study schedule!
Students should assume each session will take somewhere between 1.5-2.5 hours. Earlier in the schedule, most of the work is assigned across 4 days, with days 5-6 used in whatever way will best suit your prep needs. Day 7 is a rest day. Later in the schedule, Day 5 is allocated to verbal practice. Why does verbal get its own day? Well, based on the number of concepts tested, math topics far outweigh verbal topics. Therefore, to ensure that verbal doesn’t slip by the wayside once its lessons are complete, starting in the second half of the schedule, you’ll see dedicated time for verbal practice.
Now, how you approach the schedule is really up to you. You can opt for a Monday-Saturday routine. You can combine days if you want more study-free days during the week. You can work two, long weekend days to free up time on the weekdays. Feel free to make any changes that best suit the unique demands of your daily life. One of our goals was to make this schedule easy to modify because we know that balancing responsibilities is tough and a study schedule is rarely “one-size fits all.”
Another thing to note, this schedule was designed for those who have the time to become GRE experts in mind. This means that the lessons cover everything from test-taking fundamentals to the most advanced, rarely tested content.
If you find that you are already comfortable with a lot of the introductory material, you can always make changes to suit your unique prep needs. Once you have a sense of your personal strengths and weaknesses, you can swap out lesson material that you’re well-versed in for more advanced concepts, and set up custom practice sessions that focus on your individual priorities.
Curious about other study plan options or how to best modify a schedule depending on your situation? Check out this post: GRE Study Plans and Guides .
Feeling like just getting started is a challenge? Check out how other students were able to balance the demands of work, life, and GRE preparation in our post How to Study for the GRE .
Essential Material Optional Material About the Material Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Takeaways
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.
Go to ETS.org/gre , and learn about the content of the GRE. Click on and read all the information under each sub-heading link.
Note: Many lessons are only available to those with a Magoosh Premium GRE subscription— sign up here for a free trial !
Intro – General Introduction
Intro – What’s on the GRE?
Intro – Computer Adaptive Testing
Intro – Skipping Questions and Pacing
Intro – Stress Management
Math Section Breakdown
Verbal Section Breakdown
Take Magoosh’s Free GRE Practice Test. When you are done, note your score, then check your answers. Don’t worry about reviewing your work just yet. Save that for tomorrow.
Here’s the reasoning: How you interact with the GRE is unique to you. It’s incredibly important to know, sooner rather than later, where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Empowered with that knowledge from the outset, you’ll know how to prioritize your study. With your first practice test under your belt, you’ll start to get a sense for how you feel taking the GRE, have context for overarching strategies and techniques, and have those all important baseline scores squared away. These will be the scores (Math, Verbal, AWA) that you’ll build from as you push towards your goal: The scores you need to feel confident when applying to your chosen graduate programs.
If you haven’t done so already, build your error log and add questions from the diagnostic you took yesterday. You’ll be using your error log throughout this study plan. Today, you are going to do your first in-depth review. For each question you entered into your log do the following:
Try to determine and make note of why you missed the question
Read the related text explanations and watch the 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.)
Add any words from the questions that you only sorta know or don’t know to your vocabulary flashcards.
Be aware of any trends that help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Note: You might find some of the content in Magoosh videos super easy or incredibly challenging. Some folks will find the verbal information obvious and the math hard-going; other folks will have the reverse experience. If the material is relatively easy for you, feel free to click to the end and simply read the summary. If the material is new to you, take notes on what you are learning, and if possible, watch that video a second time.
There are A LOT of lesson videos in the Magoosh library, and this 6-Month schedule includes all of them. But! That doesn’t mean you have to include all of them in your study. Use your knowledge of your strengths, weaknesses, and priorities to choose which lessons (if any) to forego.
Mental Math: GRE Estimation
Mental Math: Dividing by Five
Mental Math: Doubling and Halving
Mental Math: Squaring Shortcuts
The Use and Abuse of Formulas
Learn From Your Mistakes
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. For now, do not fret about how long you’re spending on the questions. Let’s focus on accuracy first. We’ll bring speed into the equation later on.
NOTE II: In the above Quick Practice, you’ll be encountering all topics from the get-go, whether you’ve already studied them or not. This means that you will make mistakes at the beginning. That’s fine! That’s a good thing even. Mistakes tell you what you still have left to learn. This schedule will provide you with opportunities for both targeted and mixed practice. The former will give you some control over difficulty, the latter is really meant to prepare you for what you’ll encounter on the GRE. You are only truly GRE-ready when you can solve problems as they arise in mixed-topic practice: Cold and with no particular preparation on that topic. That’s what the test will demand, so it’s important to prepare to be constantly on your toes.
*You should devote at least 15-30 minutes each day to flashcard review.
In Magoosh’s GRE Math Flashcards
Take 15 minutes to review the cards in the first deck, Algebra. If you are 100% confident that you know the concepts therein, awesome! If not, be sure to devote time to memorizing any that you don’t have down pat. Feel free to explore other decks ahead of where they appear in this schedule. You might find it helpful to be exposed to concepts before diving into lessons that will explore them more fully.
Days 5-6 for most of the weeks in this schedule will be of the choose-your-own-adventure variety. There is a lot of content to get through in days 1-4, so you can use days 5-6 to catch up. If you don’t need to use them to complete the rest of the week’s activities, you can use them for other supplemental study.
Here are some ideas:
1.) If you have a paper or digital copy of ETS’s Official Guide for the GRE (and you really should), you can use it to supplement your practice. For example, if you are feeling challenged by basic math concepts, check out the OG’s Math Review and work through the topics and associated exercises. There are also plenty of practice questions for both math and verbal, organized by difficulty, that you can dive into.
2.) Another resource to check out if you discover that you’re struggling with fundamental math concepts are the lessons that ETS and Kahn Academy partnered to make.
3.) Read to Build Essential GRE Verbal Skills
Read a few articles or a chapter (or more) from your material(s) of choice. As you read, note grammatical structures that prove challenging, and try to rephrase them in simpler terms. Also, be sure to look up and write down any words you don’t know–they should be added to your flashcards.
If you haven’t chosen something to read yet, check out Arts and Letters Daily . This is a great resource for links to GRE-level reading material.
4.) If you weren’t able to incorporate the recommended daily study of your flashcards (math or verbal), now’s the time to do so.
5.) Dig into Magoosh’s GRE Blog for all kinds of advice from focused study tips to general advice about the admissions process.
Rest – It’s an essential part of the process
Take a break! You deserve one!
Intro to Quantitative Comparison
QC Strategies: Estimation
QC Strategies: Matching Operations
If you have a Magoosh Premium or Trial subscription, navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Quantitative Comparison. Do 10 QC questions. For now, do not fret about how long you’re spending on the questions. Let’s focus on accuracy first. We’ll bring speed into the equation later on.
Which difficulty should I choose?
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 setting 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. However, by, or before, the ½ way point, you should switch to adaptive difficulty.
If you feel very comfortable with a specific topic or are a more advanced student who wants to focus on higher-level concepts, you might select Hard/Very Hard.
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.
For each question from QC practice that you missed, enter it into your log and do the following:
Read any related text explanations and watch any related video explanations
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.
Additional Practice (at least 15-30 minutes)
Continue to review the cards in the first deck, Algebra.
Plugging In Overview
Plugging In for Integer Properties
Plugging In for Percents
Plugging In for Word Problems
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.
Reminder: for the first ½ of this study plan do not worry about timing. Of course, if you have a high rate of accuracy, then shift to a focus on pacing sooner versus later. You have an average of about 1 minute and 45 seconds per math question.
If you’re opting to ignore the amount of time you’re spending on each question for now, that’s fine! Keep that up. We’ll let you know when pacing must become a focus in your practice.
For each question from the above practice that you missed, log the following:
Vocabulary in Questions
Improving Verbal Score
If you haven’t yet, in the Magoosh blog, read: GRE Reading Comprehension Practice
Download the Magoosh GRE Vocabulary Word List PDF
Read carefully the section “Making Words Stick,” about learning vocabulary, and the section “Vocabulary in Context: Articles from Magazines and Newspapers.” Skim the rest of the book to get a sense of the layout and style. As you build vocab through this plan, periodically go back to this book to verify your understanding and to make connections to other words. The more ways you have to remember a word, the more likely you are to remember it!
In Magoosh’s GRE Vocabulary Flashcards
Work on studying at least 10 words from the first deck, Common Words I. Of course, if you already know most of the 51 words in this deck, feel free to check out the other decks in any of the categories: Common, Basic, and Advanced. If you already have a vocabulary that would rival those of most literature professors, then you will most likely need to rely on your personal reading and curated lists of the most esoteric GRE words (a quick Internet search will produce quite a few list options) to push your vocabulary to new heights.
We’ll remind you to try to memorize 10-20 words each day; however, where those words come from will be driven by you and finding the words you don’t know in the flashcard decks and adding words you don’t know from your reading.
Intro to Reading Comprehension
Intro to Text Completions
Intro to Sentence Equivalences
If you have a Magoosh Premium or Trial subscription, navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → and launch Verbal Quick Practice at the top of the screen (you’ll see a lightning bolt icon). Work through those 10 mixed practice problems.
As you review the results of the mixed verbal 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 explanation steps.
Work on mastering 10-20 more cards from the Magoosh flashcard decks or your own flashcards/wordlists.
How you might spend this time:
1.) Supplemental review of content or practice in the OG or Manhattan’s 5lb.
2.) Review fundamental math concepts in the lessons that ETS and Kahn Academy partnered to make.
Read 1-3 articles or a chapter (or more) from your material(s) of choice. As you read, note grammatical structures that prove challenging, and try to rephrase them in simpler terms. Also, be sure to look up and write down any words you don’t know–they should be added to your flashcards.
Again, if you haven’t chosen something to read yet, check out Arts and Letters Daily .
Properties of Real Numbers
Positive and Negative Numbers I
Mental Math, Addition, and Subtraction
Positive and Negative Numbers II
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All and then only check Arithmetic and Fractions. Do 10 questions.
Watch any recommended lesson videos.
Begin to review the cards in the second deck, Fractions, Ratios, and Percents. Continue to review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous deck.
Conversions: Fractions and Decimals
Double check that you got the correct ones right for the right reasons.
Continue to review the cards in the second deck, Fractions, Ratios, and Percents. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous deck.
Fraction Properties I
Comparing Fractions I
Comparing Fractions II (Adv.)
Operations with Fractions
Fraction Properties II
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Math → All Math → check clear all and then only check the box for Arithmetic and Fractions. Do 10 questions.
How to Answer a GRE Question
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 10 questions. Don’t worry if you don’t end up doing exactly 10 questions. You might do a few more or less depending on the number of questions associated with the passages you are given.
Mixed Numbers and Improper Fractions
Operations with Proportions
Word Problems with Fractions
Quiz: Arithmetic and Fractions
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Math → All Math → check clear all and then only check the box for Arithmetic and Fractions. Do 5 questions.
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 last 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.
Verbal Drill: 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.
Working with Percents
Number Sense and Percents
Percent Increases and Decreases
Sequential Percent Changes
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All and then only check Percents and Ratios. Do 10 questions.
Simple and Compound Interest
Quiz: Percents and Ratios
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All and then only check Percents and Ratios. Do 5 questions.
For each question from the above practice and quiz that you missed, log the following:
In Magoosh, watch the following videos
Vocabulary-In-Context
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Reading Comprehension → Check Long, Medium and Short Passages. Do 12 questions (or around 12, depending on the passages and their associated questions).
Error log analysis of today’s practice questions.
Begin to review the cards in the third deck, Geometry. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All and then only check Integer Properties. Do 10 questions.
Continue to review the cards in the third deck, Geometry. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Counting Factors of Large Numbers
Greatest Common Factor
Least Common Multiple
Even and Odd Integers
Multiple Answer Questions
Multiple Answer Questions – Inference
Advanced Question Types
Quiz: Reading Comprehension
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Reading Comprehension → Check Long, Medium and Short Passages. Do 10 questions (or around 10, depending on the passages and their associated questions).
In Magoosh, take a full-length practice test!
Be sure that you have around 2 hours of uninterrupted focus time. You want your practice test experience to be as realistic as possible. Remember that there are no breaks given during the GRE.
In your Magoosh dashboard, navigate to Practice → Practice Test.
Again, don’t worry about reviewing the test immediately after you finish. That will kick off the next session.
As you review your 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.
Open your error log for a deep-dive review of your practice test
Integer Properties Strategies
Quiz: Integer Properties
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All and then only check Integer Properties. Do 5 questions.
Understanding the Sentence
Simplifying Complex Sentences
Testing the Answer Choices
Quiz: Text Completions – Overview
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Text Completion→ Select All. Do 15 questions.
Simplifying Expressions
Multiplying Expressions
Factoring: Difference of two Squares
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All and then only check Algebra. Do 10 questions.
Begin to review the cards in the fourth deck, Number Properties I. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Factoring: Quadratics
Advanced Numerical Factoring
Factoring: Rational Expressions
Basic Equation Solving
Continue to review the cards in the fourth deck, Number Properties I. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Eliminating Fractions
Two Equations, Two Unknowns I
Two Equations, Two Unknowns II
System – Number of Solutions
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.
Elements of the Argument
Weakening the Argument
Strengthening the Argument
Assumption Questions
Wrong Answer Choices
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal→ Reading Comprehension → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Paragraph Arguments. Do 8 questions.
Intro to No Shift Sentences
Elaboration Sentences
Quiz: Text Completion – No Shifts
Three Equations, Three Unknowns
Absolute Value Equations
Absolute Value Inequalities
Simplifying with Substitutions
Quiz: Algebra, Equations, and Inequalities
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All and then only check Algebra. Do 5 questions.
Pacing Note: This week you are near the ½ way point of the schedule. If you haven’t started to do so already, you should start focusing on the pacing piece of the GRE puzzle. An effective pacing and skipping strategy is a major component of success.
Thus far, we’ve suggested doing the practice sessions in accordance with your comfort level with the material. Starting this week, we suggest that you transition from accuracy to speed. This might be a bit frustrating at first. Increasing your speed while maintaining your accuracy will not come overnight. It is a process. So, take your time with it. Imagine that you’re training to be a world class swimmer: technique (or accuracy in this case) will eventually equate to speed. Regardless of how quickly you are answering questions, you should maintain the technique (the accuracy) that you developed before you began working on maximizing your pace.
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.
Difficulty: At this point, we also suggest that you switch to Adaptive Difficulty, if you haven’t already. Of course, that’s ultimately up to you, where you’re at in your studies, and how you’ve chosen to modify this schedule. However, it is a good idea for your practice to mimic, as much as possible, what you’ll encounter on test day.
Intro to Sentence Equivalence
Synonymous Sentences – I
Synonymous Sentences – II
Beware of the pseudo-synonyms
Avoiding Pseudo-synonyms: Practice Activities
“Perfect answer”- but no matching pair 3:02
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Sentence Equivalence → Select all categories. Do 15 questions.
Begin to review the cards in the fifth deck, Number Properties II. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Feeling like you’d benefit from mixing up the way you approach vocabulary? If you haven’t already, check out the Vocabulary Games lesson .
More than One Pair of Synonyms in the Answer Choices
SE Questions With Only Two Synonyms
Opposite-of-Correct Synonym Pairs
Difficult Words in Sentence Equivalence
Quiz: Sentence Equivalence
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Sentence Equivalence → Select all categories. Do 10 questions.
Continue to review the cards in the fifth deck, Number Properties II. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Intro to Word Problems
Intro to Motion Questions
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the boxes for Word Problems. Do 10 questions. Remember that timing needs to be a focus of your practice form here on out.
6.) Through your dashboard, launch custom practice sessions to focus on your weaker subject areas/question types or launch quantitative or verbal practice sections for more timed practice with various question types.
Don’t worry about reviewing the test immediately after you finish. That will kick off the next session.
Open your error log for a deep-dive review of your practice test. For this and the remaining practice tests, pacing should be a priority.
Consider the following:
Which question types are still giving you the most trouble in terms of timing?
Are you able to identify question types that you should skip in order to improve your overall pacing? If not, doing so should become a priority in your practice and review.
Can you identify questions on which you should have spent MORE time?
As always, work through the following:
Determine why you missed the question
Watch any recommended lesson videos. Don’t worry about watching them out of order or watching them again.
Be aware of any trends (especially regarding pacing) that help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Multiple Traveler Question
Shrinking and Expanding Gaps
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the boxes for Word Problems. Do 10 questions.
Intro to Sets and Venn Diagrams
Double Matrix Method
Three Criteria Venn Diagrams
Arithmetic Sequences
Consecutive Integers
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the boxes for Word Problems. Do 5 questions.
Begin to review the cards in the sixth deck, Statistics & Probability. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Intro to Sentence Shifts
Shifts in Perception
Deviating from the Norm
Quiz: Text Completion – Sentence Shifts
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Text Completion→ Select All. Do 10 questions.
Continue to review the cards in the sixth deck, Statistics & Probability. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Law of Exponents – I
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Powers and Roots. Do 10 questions.
Law of Exponents – II
Units Digit Questions
Operations with Roots
Equations with Square Roots
Fractional Exponents
Exponential Equations
Working with Formulas
Quiz: Powers and Roots
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Powers and Roots. Do 5 questions.
The Paradox Argument
Bold-faced Arguments
Don’t Forget the Conclusion
Eliminating All the Answers
Numbers vs. Percents
Quiz: Paragraph Argument
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal→ Reading Comprehension → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Paragraph Arguments. Do 5 questions.
Intro to Double Blank Sentences
Relationship between Blanks
Other Blank is the Clue
Advanced Double Blanks
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Verbal → Text Completion→ Clear All → Check the box Double Blanks. Do 10 questions.
Assumptions and Estimation
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Clear All→ Only check the box next to Geometry. Do 10 questions.
Begin to review the cards in the seventh deck, Mixed Practice I. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Special Right Triangles
Continue to review the cards in the seventh deck, Mixed Practice I. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Area of Quadrilaterals
Circles, Arcs, and Sectors
Volume and Surface Area
Scale Factor and Scaling
Units of Measurement
Geometry Strategies – Part II
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Clear All→ Only check the box next to Geometry. Do 5 questions.
The Coordinate Plane
Vertical and Horizontal Lines
Slope-Intercept Form
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Coordinate Plane. Do 10 questions.
Writing Equations of Lines
Distance Between Two Points
Reflections in the x-y Plane
Graphs of Quadratics
Quiz: Coordinate Geometry
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Coordinate Plane. Do 5 questions.
More on Mean and Median
Weighted Averages II (Advanced)
Range and Standard Deviation
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Statistics. Do 8 questions.
Intro to Triple Blank Sentences
Long Triple Blank Sentences
Beware of Counter Intuitive Choices
One Sentence Triple Blank
Advanced Triple Blanks
Multiple Word Answers
Quiz: Text Completion – Triple Blanks
More Standard Deviation
Quartiles and Boxplots
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Statistics. Do 5 questions.
Begin to review the cards in the eighth deck, Mixed Practice II. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Introduction to Counting
Fundamental Counting Principle
FCP with Restrictions
Counting What You Don’t Want
Counting with Identical Items
Eliminating Repetition
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Counting. Do 5 questions.
Continue to review the cards in the eighth deck, Mixed Practice II. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
When to Use Combinations
Calculating Combinations
Permutations and Combinations
Counting Strategies 3:17
Quiz: Counting 5 questions
Intro to Probability
Complementary Events and Simple Rules
Probability of Event A OR Event B
Examples of the OR Rule
Examples of the AND Rule
Generalized AND Rule
Examples of Generalized AND Rule
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → All Math → Select Clear All→ Check the box for Probability. Do 5 questions.
The “At Least” Scenario
Using Counting Techniques
Listing vs Counting vs Probability Rules
General Probability Strategies
Intro to Data Interpretation
Data Interpretation Strategy
Types of DI Graphics
Unconventional Graphs
Quiz: Data Interpretation
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Math → Data Interpretation. Do 5 questions.
Note: As with some of the Reading Comprehension questions, the Data Interpretation questions come in batches, typically 2 or 3 questions, pertaining to the same graph or chart. You should do all the questions in a set at once, which means you may do a few more or less than 5 DI questions.
QC Questions & Inequalities
QC Strategies – Picking Numbers
QC Questions & Algebra
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Quantitative Comparison → Select All. Do 10 questions.
QC Questions & Geometry
QC Questions & Integer Properties
Summary of QC Strategies
Quiz: Advanced QC Strategies
Navigate to your dashboard and select Practice → Custom Practice → Quantitative Comparison → Select All. Do 5 questions.
Congratulations! 🥳 At this point, you should have seen all of the Magoosh lessons at least once. Now the focus is going to be on a whole lot of practice and applying everything that you’ve learned from the lesson videos. But! You aren’t done with the lesson videos.
They are a resource you should return to, maybe even multiple times. For example, if there are areas in which you are still weak, you should rewatch those videos. When you miss questions during practice, you should rewatch the video(s) that covers that topic and any related videos that are recommended on the question review screen. Remember that full comprehension comes in several stages: always push yourself to reach a deeper understanding with each and every topic.
If you have exhausted or are near to exhausting Magoosh’s GRE question bank, you should feel free to supplement your practice with questions from the OG or Manhattan’s 5lb book of practice questions.
**Note on daily vs. weekly: Starting with the fifth month, this schedule will switch from daily to weekly tasks. This is because at this point in your study journey, we’re switching away from daily tasks for learning to weekly thematic drilling and review that will repeat at the daily level. As always, you should feel at liberty to modify this schedule to suit your needs in terms of topic prioritization and life demands.
Focus on mixed practice and review: During this week, you should do two rounds of the verbal and two rounds of the quantitative practice sessions listed below, and the daily additional practice described at the end.
Verbal Error Log Deep Dive: Analyze the entirety of your verbal error log to determine whether there is a particular type of passage or type of question that most challenges you. If so, in terms of pacing, consider whether to leave that passage type for the end, or whether skipping/guessing is appropriate for the question types that you consistently miss. If you don’t identify any weaknesses, great!
If you are completing the verbal sections on time, keep doing what you’re doing. If not, consider the questions that are taking you a long time to slog through–those are questions that should be marked, skipped, and returned to after you’ve answered all the questions that are easier for you to navigate.
Once you’ve identified your weak points in the verbal section. rather than practice more of these questions, go back and review the lessons associated with them and then reattempt a few questions that you missed in previous practice sessions.
Quantitative Error Log Deep Dive: Analyze the entirety of your quant error log to determine whether there are particular subject areas or question types that most challenge you. If so, in terms of pacing, consider whether skipping/guessing is appropriate for the question types that you consistently miss. If you don’t identify any weaknesses, great! If you are completing the quantitative sections on time, keep doing what you’re doing. If not, consider the questions that are taking you a long time to slog through–those are questions that should be marked, skipped, and returned to after you’ve answered all the questions that are easier for you to navigate.
Once you’ve identified your weak points in the quantitative section. rather than practice more of these questions, go back and review the lessons associated with them and then reattempt a few questions that you missed in previous practice sessions.
Begin to review the cards in the ninth deck, Mixed Practice III. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Error log analysis of any questions you’ve missed this week.
Continue to review the cards in the ninth deck, Mixed Practice III. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Official Practice Test and Review
Through ETS , take PowerPrep Test 1!
Practice Test Review
Open your error log for a deep-dive review of your practice test. Remember that pacing should be a priority during this review.
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.
Begin to review the cards in the tenth deck, Mixed Practice IV. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
You earned it! Spend the time you would have spent studying for the GRE doing something enjoyable! Or if you can’t help yourself, spend some time reviewing your error log or working through targeted practice drills and review through your Magoosh dashboard or supplementary materials.
But….you should still incorporate:
Flashcard Review: (at least 15-30 minutes/day)
Continue to review the cards in the tenth deck, Mixed Practice IV. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Begin to review the cards in the eleventh deck, Mixed Practice V. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Continue to review the cards in the eleventh deck, Mixed Practice V. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Last Verbal Error Log Deep Dive: Analyze the entirety of your verbal error log to determine whether there is a particular type of passage or type of question that most challenges you. If so, in terms of pacing, consider whether to leave that passage type for the end, or whether skipping/guessing is appropriate for the question types that you consistently miss. If you don’t identify any weaknesses, great!
Last Quantitative Error Log Deep Dive: Analyze the entirety of your quant error log to determine whether there are particular subject areas or question types that most challenge you. If so, in terms of pacing, consider whether skipping/guessing is appropriate for the question types that you consistently miss. If you don’t identify any weaknesses, great!
If you are completing the quantitative sections on time, keep doing what you’re doing. If not, consider the questions that are taking you a long time to slog through–those are questions that should be marked, skipped, and returned to after you’ve answered all the questions that are easier for you to navigate.
Begin to review the cards in the last deck, Mixed Practice VI. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Focus on mixed practice and review: During the first few days, you should do two rounds of the verbal and two rounds of the quantitative practice sessions listed below, and the daily additional practice described at the end.
Continue to review the cards in the last deck, Mixed Practice VI. Also, review any cards you haven’t mastered in the previous decks.
Through ETS , take PowerPrep Test 2! Be sure that you have around 2 hours of uninterrupted focus time. You want your practice test experience to be as realistic as possible. Remember that there are no breaks given during the GRE.
Final Practice Test Review
Open your error log for a deep-dive review of your final (maybe) practice test.
Reflect on the testing process: Are you satisfied with your performance? Do you feel ready to take the GRE?
If yes, try to articulate the pacing choices etc. that helped you navigate this practice test successfully.
If no, try to determine what went wrong? Did you spend too long on a question that you should have skipped or guessed? Were you feeling tired or feeling frustrated by distractors?
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 over time. 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!
Mike holds an A.B. in Physics (graduating magna cum laude ) and an M.T.S. in Religions of the World, both from Harvard. Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. Learn more about the GMAT through Mike’s Youtube video explanations.
After graduating from CU Boulder with degrees in Literature and Women’s Studies, Linnea stumbled into the world of test prep and admissions consulting and never looked back. Over the years, she has worked with students in the U.S. and abroad, trained new teachers for the classroom, and written curricula for various test types. Her experience includes teaching the GRE, ACT, SAT, LSAT, and GMAT for The Princeton Review and working as the Director of Instruction Management for The Princeton Review Taipei. Looking for a way to help more students, especially those who were unable to afford access to expensive test prep programs, Linnea joined Magoosh in 2019. She is a content creator who connects with students as a blog contributor and through various lessons and practice on the Magoosh platform.