Total study time of about ~5 months. Definitely locked in more in the last 3 months though. Mainly used the Manhattan Prep math and verbal strategies book I got from a friend to study all the concepts and do practice problems.

For vocab I used the magoosh app. Took a lot of practice tests: all 3 on gregmat, magoosh, kaplan, and the 2 free powerpreps. Claude and Gemini also helped a good amount with generating practice problems.

Overall happy to be done with this, it’s rough studying for this test with a 9-5. Also it’s crazy that a 170Q only lands me in the 89th percentile.

Happy to answer any specific questions and good luck to anyone else taking it!

I scored V163 and Q170. After looking through my diagnostic report, I noticed some interesting details that I would like to share.

1.  My experience: you don’t necessarily need 27/27 to get Q170.

I got Q170, but I didn’t get every question right! I missed a difficulty-4 geometry Quantitative Comparison question in section 2. So in my case, 26/27 still gave me a 170.
If you’re also aiming for Q170, I hope this helps you relax a little. If you feel unsure about one or two questions, don’t panic. Tell yourself, “Stay calm. There’s still a chance!”

2.  SE: 6/7：using synonym pairs and checking the sentence logic.

Personally, I think SE gives the best return for the time and effort you put in. I got 6 out of 7 SE questions right, and all seven were rated difficulty 3–5.
I strongly recommend memorizing synonym pairs. Once you know them well, you can quickly spot pairs in the answer choices. SE also usually has just one sentence, so there’s less to read, and I feel more confident answering these questions.
My approach is to look at the answer choices first and find words that can form pairs. In my experience, most questions have two synonym pairs among the six choices, and sometimes there’s only one.
If I find only one pair, I put that meaning into the sentence and check whether the meaning and logic work. If they do, I choose those two words. (If I’m short on time, I just choose the pair without checking, mark the question, and come back if I have time at the end.)
If I find two pairs, the task is already simpler: now I only need to choose between two meanings, A or B. From there, it’s similar to TC. I look for logical connections and clues in the sentence to decide whether A or B fits better. (If I’m short on time and really can’t decide, I guess one pair and mark the question.)
For me, the benefit of this process is that it narrows down what I need to think about. Instead of staring at six choices and struggling to decide, I read the sentence with two specific possibilities in mind. Especially after learning the synonym pairs well, my accuracy with this approach has been really high!
Looking back, though, I was a little too cautious with SE on test day. I wasn’t as confident and decisive as I usually was during practice. I spent time checking the logic and meaning of every sentence, so I was slower than usual. If I had worked at my normal practice speed, I probably could have saved more time for reading. (I know, no point thinking about “what if” now!)

3.  Reading: 10/13, and two habits that helped me.

I got 10 out of 13 reading questions right. I mainly prepared for reading by doing practice questions. These two habits helped me a lot.
First, when reading a sentence, I try to understand not only what it says, but also why the author is telling me this here and how it connects to the previous information.
For example, is this sentence giving an example to support an earlier point, or introducing a different view? Is this the author’s own opinion, or are they explaining someone else’s opinion? Understanding these connections makes it easier to follow the passage.
One article that helped me a lot was “How to Use a Passage Map for GMAT Reading Comprehension” by Kaplan. It’s about GMAT reading, but I found the approach useful for GRE too.
Second, when reviewing mistakes, I try to figure out exactly why I chose the wrong answer.
I’ve noticed that many wrong answers follow similar patterns. Some sound reasonable but aren’t supported by the passage. Others rearrange information from the passage, such as presenting person A’s opinion as person B’s, or giving A a characteristic that actually belongs to B. You recognize the words from the passage, so it’s easy to think, “Yes, yes, the passage said this!” But when you check carefully, that isn’t what the passage actually meant.
So after getting a question wrong, I look back and ask: which sentence or word made me choose that answer? If I can’t figure it out myself, I explain my reasoning to AI and discuss it until I understand where I fell into the trap.

4.  A hard section can still have easy questions.

The GRE is section-level adaptive: the first section is medium difficulty, and the difficulty of the second section depends on your performance in the first. (You can call me a GRE rules expert now.)
I got 10/12 in my first Verbal section and all the questions right in my first Quant section. Based on the adaptive rules and the difficulty distribution in my report, I think I got the hard second section in both.
According to the report, the number of difficulty-4 and difficulty-5 questions went from 5 in Verbal section 1 to 11 in section 2. For Quant, it went from 4 in section 1 to 13 in section 2.
But even in that hard second Verbal section, there was still a difficulty-1 two-blank TC question. And, embarrassingly, I got it wrong.
So getting a hard section doesn’t mean every question in it is hard. The section is just harder overall. If you’re unsure about a question, you can mark it and move on. Answer the easier or more familiar questions first, then return to the ones you got stuck on.

5.  The difficulty rating and how a question feels to you can be very different.

In my first Quant section, the report showed that I spent 4 minutes and 12 seconds on a difficulty-4 geometry Quantitative Comparison question. But I spent only 43 seconds on a difficulty-5 data analysis Quantitative Comparison question. I got both right.
Something similar happened with SE: I spent 2 minutes and 30 seconds on a difficulty-3 question, but only 52 seconds on a difficulty-5 question. Looking only at the time spent, I almost wondered whether the difficulty ratings were the wrong way around.
So I don’t think you need to feel scared just because a practice question is rated difficulty 5. You also don’t need to start doubting yourself because you get stuck on an “easy” question. We’re all comfortable with different things, and we get stuck in different places.
The same applies on test day. If you get stuck on one question, don’t immediately think, “I’m having a bad day” or “I’m definitely going to mess up this test.” Try to stay calm. After all, I spent over four minutes on one question, got another one wrong, and was still lucky enough to get Q170.

Finally, I hope you all reach your target scores soon and don’t have to suffer through GRE prep for much longer!

I know I should read sentences in chunks, but midway through the verbal section, I start worrying about time and my brain switches to autopilot:

• I lose track of what I'm reading halfway through a sentence and have to start over multiple times for proper comprehension
• I subconsciously fall back to using first-order thinking instead of second-order thinking

I feel like I start reading significantly faster than my brain can process, which makes me reread stuff multiple times. This happens especially if I spend too much time on a few TC/SE questions, but that's not the only scenario. While I am aware of it now, I am unable to control it during the test.

Sometimes I reread even simple (yet lengthy) sentences and answer choices 2-3 times, despite being able to understand them much more quickly and effectively while practising questions or while attempting an official mock.

My Scores: 316 (Q162, V152) [Official Test] --> 321 (Q163, V158) [PPP 3] --> 305 (Q151, V154) [Official Test]

Target: 330+ (Q167+, V163+)

The frustrating part is that I know how to approach these questions, but under pressure, I subconsciously fall back to the old easy-to-execute habits, which ultimately destroy my score.

Has anyone dealt with this? How did you overcome it?

Took the test after 2-2.5 weeks of prep because I needed the scores quicklyfor one of the universities I am applying to. Thought I could at least get a 160 in quant based on my performances in mocks that I took.
Don’t know what happened during the test. Wish I never took it now and instead tried to apply in a different application cycle for the university.

I studied for months for this exam and finished with an unofficial score of 169 verbal and 170 quant, but I’m now spiraling about whether my score will be canceled and I really need some perspective.

Here’s what happened. Midway through section 3, a random number I didn’t recognize called the phone I was using as my secondary camera 4 times back to back. 4 TIMES. It came through even though I had Do Not Disturb on. By instinct, I declined the call, then immediately raised my hand and flagged it to the proctor.

I was pulled out of the test and went through a full security check again. During the second room scan, the proctor noticed that I was using an Apple Max headphones box (the white one you get when you first buy them) to prop up my secondary camera phone, and he asked me to open it. There was a charging wire inside. He asked me to swap it for a clear water bottle, which I did right away. My main computer was recording the entire time, and after the check he let me resume and complete the exam normally. I finished and received my unofficial score.

I was transparent and cooperative throughout, and I reported the issue myself. At first I was over the moon with my score and with finally ending months of studying. Then I started reading posts here, and now I’m terrified that a cancellation is likely. I’ve been having intense anxiety attacks over this, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

I’m not looking for “you can always retake it” responses. I don’t want to retake the exam. I worked so hard for this score, and it’s unfair that it might be at risk because of something completely outside my control. I’m specifically hoping to hear from people who had a proctor intervention or a phone notification during the exam, and what actually happened with their score.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? How long did it take to hear back, and would you recommend contacting support proactively or waiting to see what happens? I’m scared that because of my high score, I’ll end up getting screwed over. It’s so unfair, and my luck is so bad.

Got my scores back after studying on and off for 5 months, using GregMat's I'm Overwhelmed plan.

I've always been weaker in math so it's my own fault for not putting more energy into practicing quant problems. I plan to take it again, probably in 3-4 months.

ETS has been giving me a headache over a simple GRE refund for months now.

They said my refund was processed on August 18. It’s October 27, and I still haven’t received anything.

I’ve visited the bank multiple times, exchanged countless emails with ETS, and called them too. Same story every time. No refund, no proper answer, not even a transaction ID to track the money they claim they’ve sent.

Honestly, what kind of company operates like this? How many times does a person have to chase their own money? I have put some ss of mail

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This is my money, not a favour they’re doing me.

So I finally gave my test today after 2 months of serious prep and got a 167, 159 . It was mostly quant prep because I am applying to mba programs. I mugged up all 34 groups once 6-7 months ago while preparing (I had on and off prep for the last one year) and had fairly good retention and practiced few rc passages yesterday.
Although I am not really sure if I scored 167 in Q or V. I know it is very dumb but I really cannot recall, I was just very happy (and extremely tired) after finishing the test and just clicked next without processing it properly.
So if it’s a 159 on Q I would have to give the test again, which is at this point really funny considering I drilled myself with problems for the past 2 months to the point I hardly had any material left to practice.

Anyway, I am confused if I should be happy or not. Not a bad score though .

Same as title, basically I want to know if my target score is 165Q and 155V how many mistakes max I can make realistically, to get this score in GRE short version.

I took PPs and I found their scoring criteria to be a bit harsh.

Anyone with similar score can tell me how many questions they did wrong and still got a 165 in Quant especially.

Finished GregMat PrepSwift quant and now doing drills. The ETS 150Q book feels pretty easy but GregMat sets feel much harder. Searched the sub but couldn’t find a clear answer. My plan is to finish the 150Q book, take the PowerPrep tests, and drill weak topics on GregMat. Which one better reflects actual test difficulty, and what should I prioritize in the last week?

For context, I took the GRE last year after barely studying and got 165V/165Q/4AW. I'm applying to a program that requires 168Q. I've been studying intensely for the last three months with official materials - official guide and math guide, free PowerPreps, and all 3 paid PowerPreps. I got 167 and 168 on all of the PowerPrep tests. Yesterday I took the test again, was very confident in all of my math answers, had enough time, and got 166V/165Q. I literally have no idea what I got wrong.

I'm furious and at a loss. I understand the content very well, my problem is execution. I make stupid mistakes (like reading the question wrong, mental math issues, etc) and I have run out of time on a few of the PP tests. I have one more chance before the deadline to take the test, and if I don't get this score then I cannot apply to one of my top choice schools (not to mention it's the only school that requires the GRE, so it will have been a massive waste of time and money).

My plan is to go through all of the official GRE math material again, and skip full practice tests in favor of taking only the math sections under the time constraints. I really feel like I've plateaued, but I'll try to get an hour in each day (I was doing 2-3 hours a day previously). But I have to do this on top of applications. I can either take the test on 3 weeks or 4 weeks, trying to weigh which option would be better. I will keep an error log again.

Any advice would be welcome. Because execution is my issue, I think I need to stick with official material. Are there any other sources of official questions that I'm missing? Is there a certain strategy I should use?

I had surprisingly 4/12 questions in my quant section 1 that were 4-5 difficulty range and heaps of geometry problems, wondering if it is normal or am I just unlucky? Even during my PP+ tests, I didn't see that high of a difficulty level until the second section... that ultimately affected my actual day score because my section 1 was seemingly tougher

I've been doing not-so-dedicated but dedicated enough time and energy for gre prep since 3 months amid my college exams, placements and other things, I've doomscrolled forums for strategies, advices what not, worked on solving many examples, as I'm from engineering background thought high school maths ain't gona be tough, but after writing 5 mocks, (2 free powerprep , 3 from a tution i enrolled in) my scores are averaging around 158Q,154V, awa around 3.5, and I need a score of 320 min , and those tests are relatively easy compared to actual gre , and so this sucks big time

For quant , I've given foundational quizzes of gregmat and tried to improve areas where I scored less, but even after practising much and with my engineering background, i jus feel ashamed that I'm unable to solve high school prob, it's like I'm missing this thing which bridges solving probs and concept, altho this only for few ques and majority of my mistakes are trying to solve them in haste

For verbal, I've done 28 grps of gregmat vocab mountain using anki, tc and se are really not a prob to me, but rc and cr are, I tried many strategies on how to approach different types of ques in it, like asking 'is it stated in the para' for each opt or scanning extreme words which isn't stated, paraphrasing 2-3 sentences in head and forming a answer by myself before seeing options etc, introspected why I'm failing, came up with diff reasons , tried eradicating them, but my patchy and cursory prep on this part leaves none but myself to blame , sumtimes im literally unable to comphrend the para's and end up choosing random opt, for cr , oh man , thought jus stating assumption, premise and finding the gap is enough but the core prob is im unable to reason enough for finding the accurate answer without my brain overflowing with words, tried representing info with arrows and find opt which supports or weakens it, but nahh brain still can't get it right, istg this brain fog, big F to social media

For awa, this is the section I like most cuz, well it's interesting , worked on few examples with claude , problem is my organization of essay , instead of going deep in 1 or 2 idea I jus spam multiple ideas without much coherence, so am gona follow claim->explain why -> example-> connect back, altho awa isn't what I'm most concerned with

due to many other factors , not jus gre im burnt out and I've already postponed gre exam date 2-3 times, I can't delay it anymore, atp I jus wana get over with it, I'll be booking slot for 29th tommorow morning, I'll be writing 2 or 3 more mocks, gregamts mock test , and then revise formulaes and practise rc and cr

Ppl who are in a kinda similar boat as me, what are y'all doing?

Ah dang it, was the topper of my high school, where did it start to go wrong..

10-24-26

I am currently studying for a GRE resit (approx. Feb 2027). I scored a 160 V in my first sitting of the GRE back in September. I am applying for a maths related PhD as such the required verbal score is relatively low and I need to target a near perfect quant score.

Subsequently, my study plan is almost exclusively quant focused. I would like advice on how to maintain or slightly improve my verbal score.

Verbal Score Breakdown

Section 1 (9/12)

• TC: 2/3. Missed the 3-blank (difficulty 4).
• SE: 3/4. Missed one at difficulty 4.
• RC: 4/5. Missed one easy short-passage question (difficulty 2); one question took 5:33.

Section 2 (9/15)

• TC: 0/4. Missed all four: 3-blank (4), 2-blank (4), and two 1-blanks (both 5).
• SE: 3/3.
• RC: 6/8. Missed two difficulty-5 short-passage questions, one of them “select one or more”.

Overall: 18/27. TC 2/7 · SE 6/7 · RC 10/13

Previous Approach

Did not have any targeted approach. I'm a native speaker and I have always enjoyed reading and writing (scored a 5.0 in the AWA).

Mainly completed practice questions from the Super power pack - verbal seemed pretty consistent (really surprised at how poorly I performed in TC in the real exam, never seemed to struggle with those during my preparation. I will say the exam seemed a damn sight harder than any of the practice questions I'd done before).

Daily vocab review - I used the Leitner system - wrote all flashcards by hand using my own definitions and example sentences - Kaplan 500 words and up to group 16 of Greg's vocab mountain

I scored a 160 V in free power prep mock two weeks before the real exam. I am disappointed I was not able to improve my score in this time. This is really the main impetus for my writing this post. During that period, I trudged through countless practice questions to no avail. I do not want to repeat this pattern.

Current Plan

My current study split is 6 days quant / 1 day verbal a week. I am aware that with such limited time I am unlikely to be able to greatly improve my verbal score but for reasons of personal vanity and to stop a complete rout I intend to anyway. I have a weak self worth. One extra point would do wonders for it.

I am currently making my way through the I'm Overwhelmed study plan for quant but I've heard this is not great for verbal. I have not completed any Greg strategy videos or study plans for verbal.

My question

What Greg strategy videos, study plans or other resources do people recommend to target top verbal scores?

Just took my first GRE. I ended up with a 165V/150Q.

I had been scoring 160 Verbal on official ETS practice tests, and 158-162 on Quant. My quant goal is 160 minimum.

That first quant section was more difficult than any I had encountered previously, especially after entering the section with a high degree of confidence. I used Gregmat’s I’m overwhelmed plan to build up my foundation, and significantly improved my accuracy with official ETS material.

Where should I go from here? I have a retake scheduled for mid-November.

No concept on the test seemed totally alien, but the way some questions were asked were unlike any I had seen on ETS practice material. I’m sure I made some dumb math mistakes and suboptimal executions here and there, but this result is disappointing, to say the least.

I plan to restudy the concepts that I struggled with, as well as taking another POWEPREP plus.

Have people in this position ended up with scores they were happy with?

I remember there being a question about the sum of prime factors of some number from Kaplan Prep book.

And I assumed it was the sum of unique prime factors.

For example, if it gave 24, it's prime factors would be 2*2*2*3, which can be written as 2^3 * 3^1 when decomposed.

So then, I assumed, the sum of its prime factors would be 2+3 which is 5. Which also seems to be the convention when I looked it up elsewhere. I definitely remember the question didn't specify the sum of all or unique prime factors. It just said prime factors.

The answer for this would be 2+2+2+3=9 according to the solution on Kaplan's book.

Am I to assume GRE is asking for the sum of ALL of its prime factors if it doesn't specify? Convention seems to be the other way around so I'm frustrated.

Hello, I will share my score diagnostic for everyone interested. I know people like to compare the score and the wrong questions for research purposes.

I took the GRE yesterday at a testing center. During the second quant section the computer completely froze and I was unable to finish the section. The proctor came over and set me up at a different computer and told me I needed to finish the test and to just move on to the next section. I told him I hadn’t finished the previous section and he said I still needed to move on. While he was telling me this, the time had already started on the final verbal section and was ticking down. I was very flustered at this point but finished anyway.

I emailed ETS about what happened-has anyone had this experience and been able to get a resolution? I am hoping to get a voucher for a retake but I don’t know if that’s a common experience. I haven’t heard back from ETS and I am thinking I should just pay for the next test and eat the cost.

Hi!

I’ve got my GRE exam in 10 days. I’ve used Magoosh and Gregmat for my prep and have got mock scores ranging from 320 to 335. I’ve got a good grasp of fundamentals and vocab but find myself struggling with pacing and test taking strategies.

Any tutors you recommend who could identify gaps in my approach and help out with this last leg of prep?

Hey guys , hope you all are doing well.

I plan on giving the GRE next week but I am honestly terrified. I have already given these two shots. (315 (160q,155v) in the first 314 (161q, 153v) in the second). The last time the only thought in my mind was - yea you can't possibly get lower than your first attempt but hey here we are.

I need to get 325+ for my desired grad school.

Now I've given mocks recently from experts global (the questions seem to be lengthy and difficult so it's good) and have been consistently in the past 3 tests getting 324. I do plan on buying and giving pp 3 tomorrow since I had already given the 1,2 for my previous exams. I consistently see a fluctuation in my RCs. One time it's all correct , the next it's not - and honestly this tends to usually happen in the second section because I'm thinking whether I got the tougher section or not. It's all anxiety and I genuinely would like some tips on this. But even apart from this , what are a few videos (apart from Gregmat) that have really helped you? Gregmats vocab mountain has been extremely helpful in improving my sentence equivalence and TCs.

I am targeting 11/12 q1, 10/12 v1, 12/15 q2 and 10/15 v2.

For quant I am almost reaching these stages but for Verbal, RC is pulling me back. Are there other sources apart from the ETS book that will help in this? I just need a few crazy strategies used to get you that push.

Actually just here for a rant and a little morale boost. I have never been good at math, neither naturally or when I had tutors/ taken extra consultations. I have been preparing for 3 months and I can't remember anything from the freaking quant section. I am ok with anything I can imagine in real life like percentages, ratios, all this stuff, but algebra is completely lost on me. I learn how to do one thing, 2 days later I forget and cannot make any connection at the practice test. I do consider myself a smart and strategic person, but my work is purely humanitarian (only an occasional budget or so), and honestly it's been wearing down my self-esteem. I am also a foreigner, but where I come from the general consensus is that math is well-taught in school so... Idk I'm just crying over another practice test in quant now and feeling like a complete failure. Any advice for dummies like me to remember and understand all this stuff will be appreciated, or a bit of a pep talk

IT'S FINALLY MY TURN NOW! I started off with a diagnostic of 312. Thanks to Greg the goat, my first exam on 23rd August got me a 321. An awesome score, but my consultant advised me to score higher because he had started seeing people with much higher scores. In all my practice and mock tests, I had been unable to complete the Quant section on time. I had read Greg's intro about accommodations on the website but I did not think that I'd be needing accommodations; I got diagnosed with ADHD in my late 20s and figured since I had come this far without accommodations, how bad could it actually be. And boy was I wrong! Every single mock that I gave and even the in the real thing, I was unable to make time. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. This is despite me scoring 8-9 on Greg's foundational quiz.

Second time I decided to get accommodations. And seeing enough time on the clock meant that my ADHD wasn't giving a feedback loop to anxiety and I could keep calm and actually solve the questions and understand the RC passages. I still panicked on the last question in the hard quant section though, since I saw 1:50 left and wasn't able to solve it due to the anxiety, even though it seemed easy (albeit a multistep question).

But now I'm also worried. A few weeks ago, I saw a post of a Mexican person getting their score cancelled due to difference between 4.0 AWA and the 170V despite giving it at the test centre. I gave mine at a Prometric Test Centre too (despite it being 1.5 hours away because apparently only they are allowed to give accommodations in India), but my AWA last time was 4.0 as well, and I don't think it's going to be much better this time around. At max, I am guessing a 4.5 But I just hope its my overthinking and my score comes through.

Okay so i gave my GRE today (first and only attempt) and I’m happy with how I did. here are my scores:
quant: 163, verbal: 161, overall: 324
It’s good enough for the programs I’ll be applying to

ah but well
preparing for the GRE was an experience in itself! I started prep in the first week of Sept, but I had several other things going on which needed to be managed simultaneously, so overall i could never really dedicate ‘full-time’ to GRE even if i wanted to

I bought gregmat’s subscription and only followed the I’m overwhelmed plan and prepswift completely, apart from that I really couldn’t practice a LOT of questions but i did give a lot of mocks once i was done with the content, for mocks i gave PP1 (got q160, v150), PP2, magoosh, manhattan, princeton review’s, pretty much any ‘free mock’ i could find. i ended up scoring pretty much what i was scoring on mocks on ‘good’ days.

my quant score didn’t really show much improvement over the duration of prep, and i scored in the same range almost everytime (160-165ish), but doing vocab and practising TC/SE questions really gave my verbal score a boost, from 150 to consistently scoring around 160- 165.

Also i would say that prep and performance really depend from person to person, i used to read posts on this subreddit from time to time and it used to affect how confident/ stressed out I would feel later, for example one day i would read a post saying that the actual gre was ‘easier’ than mocks and another day the complete opposite, and since i used to be stressed about what to expect i eventually ended up removing reddit in the past week :’)

feel free to ask whatever questions you might have and i’ll try my best to answer them! all the bestt

edit: apart from gregmat’s content and questions, the only thing i completed was ETS’s official quant and verbal reasoning guides.