30-Day GRE Study Plan (1 Month): Daily Schedule + What to Skip

The GRE is shorter than it used to be, which changes how you should study. You’ll face five sections in about 1 hour 58 minutes: one Analytical Writing task, two Verbal sections, and two Quant sections. Verbal timing is 18 minutes for a 12‑question section and 23 minutes for a 15‑question section. Quant timing is 21 minutes for 12 questions and 26 minutes for 15 questions. There are no scheduled breaks, so building two-hour endurance is mandatory. This plan is built around high‑ROI topics, fast review loops, and clear decisions about what to skip.

Study 60–90 minutes on weekdays and 2–3 hours on weekends. Each session follows this loop: Learn a focused concept → Solve Together on a few targeted questions → Test Yourself in a short timed set → Review errors immediately. Track accuracy and speed; the goal is consistent, small wins that add up over 30 days.

Start with Exambank’s diagnostic to set a baseline and target score. Then let your AI tutor schedule daily sessions aligned to this plan’s topics and your available time. Use Learn for quick strategy lessons, Solve Together for step‑by‑step walkthroughs of the exact question types you miss, and Test Yourself for short, timed sets that mirror the new section lengths. The platform will generate level‑matched questions, adapt difficulty as you improve, and build personalized review sets from your misses. Check analytics (accuracy by topic, predicted scores) twice a week to redirect effort. The streak tracker keeps you consistent—crucial in a no‑break, two‑hour test.

Verbal 12‑question section: 18 minutes total → about 1:30 per question. Verbal 15‑question section: 23 minutes total → about 1:32 per question. Quant 12‑question section: 21 minutes total → about 1:45 per question. Quant 15‑question section: 26 minutes total → about 1:44 per question. Two‑pass strategy: first pass answer sure‑bets and medium items quickly; mark time‑sinks; second pass spend remaining minutes on the hardest. Practice seated two hours without breaks at least twice a week.

Quant: arithmetic with percents, ratios, rates/work; exponents and roots; linear equations/inequalities and absolute value; word translations; number properties (divisibility, primes, remainders); data analysis (tables/graphs, mean/median/mode, range/IQR, standard deviation basics); probability and counting fundamentals; core geometry (triangles, polygons, circles, coordinate basics). Verbal: Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence via context and connectors; Reading Comprehension main idea, purpose, tone, inference, function of a paragraph or line, evidence questions; active reading with passage maps instead of line‑by‑line summaries. AWA: one consistent Issue‑essay template with 2–3 rehearsed examples.

Quant: advanced combinatorics with many constraints, heavy 3‑D or proof‑style geometry, deep trig or logs beyond basics, exotic number theory, matrix algebra. Verbal: memorizing giant word lists without context, passage micro‑summaries, and re‑reading entire long passages for each question. AWA: practicing the retired Argument task; drafting many full essays beyond 3–4 reps. In all sections: spending more than two minutes stuck on a single item in practice; perfecting topics you already ace at speed—switch to mixed sets instead.

The schedule assumes a weekday commitment of 60–90 minutes and a longer weekend block. If one measure lags by 5+ scaled points, flip one day per week to that skill.

Exambank diagnostic (both measures). Set a realistic target (e.g., +6 to +10 scaled points overall in 30 days). Skim the test structure and timing. Build an error log (spreadsheet or Exambank’s built‑in). Light AWA: read 2 Issue prompts and outline one intro/body.

Learn: contrast/addition/causal connectors, tone shifts. Solve Together: 8 Sentence Equivalence. Test Yourself: 12‑minute mini set (SE + TC). Review: write why wrong in one sentence. Vocab: 10–15 high‑yield words in context.

Learn: part–whole and unit‑rate thinking. Solve Together: 6 word problems. Test Yourself: 12‑question Quant (timed 21 minutes). Review: spot algebra vs arithmetic solution paths; prefer the faster one.

Learn: blank‑filling via skeleton sentences; trap patterns. Solve Together: 6 multi‑blank TC. Test Yourself: 15‑minute Verbal mini. Vocab: 10 contextual cards.

Learn: isolate variables, sign charts for absolute value. Solve Together: 4 Quantitative Comparison (QC) + 4 algebra. Test Yourself: 12‑minute mixed Quant. Review your timing on QC; aim near 75–90 seconds.

Draft one full Issue essay (30 minutes). Then run a 2‑section simulation: Verbal 12‑Q (18 minutes) + Quant 12‑Q (21 minutes). Review with Exambank explanations; extract 3 takeaways to apply tomorrow.

Targeted review of your worst two topics. Create a personal “if‑then” rule list (e.g., If a TC hinge word is although, then expect reversal). Short vocab session. 30–40 minutes total to keep the streak alive.

Learn: passage maps (topic, purpose, structure). Solve Together: 3 passages, 6–8 questions. Test Yourself: 18‑minute RC‑heavy set. Review: collect killer sentence stems that signal author attitude or evidence.

Learn: reading graphs/tables fast; mean vs median moves; SD intuition. Solve Together: 2 Data Interpretation sets. Test Yourself: 26‑minute Quant 15‑Q. Review: write one sentence per miss on what the graph or wording hid.

Test Yourself: 23‑minute Verbal 15‑Q. Review: focus on trap patterns (extreme language, outside scope). Vocab: 10 words; make 2 original example sentences each.

Learn: triangles, polygons, circles, coordinate basics. Solve Together: 8 geometry items. Test Yourself: 21‑minute Quant 12‑Q. Skip deep theorems/proofs; emphasize diagrams and constraints.

Run Verbal 12‑Q + Quant 12‑Q back‑to‑back; no breaks. Add 10‑minute AWA outline sprint (not a full essay). Review pacing vs accuracy; adjust your two‑pass thresholds.

Re‑learn with Exambank lesson. Solve Together: 6 targeted items. Test Yourself: 15‑Q timed. Record a speed checkpoint: average seconds per question by type.

Re‑learn the logic for that RC/TC/SE subtype. Test Yourself: 23‑minute Verbal 15‑Q. Vocab: 15 words anchored to passages you read today.

AWA (30) → Verbal 12‑Q (18) → Verbal 15‑Q (23) → Quant 12‑Q (21) → Quant 15‑Q (26). No breaks. Mimic test conditions. Log performance and mental energy dips.

Triage misses: strategic, content, or careless. Re‑solve every missed item untimed, then once more under time. Update if‑then rules and guess strategies.

Learn: divisibility, remainders, prime structure; exponent rules and radicals. Solve Together: 8 problems. Test Yourself: 12‑Q timed. Note when plugging numbers beats algebra.

Learn: difference between inference vs assumption vs evidence. Solve Together: 2 dense humanities passages. Test Yourself: 18‑minute RC set. Review: underline the exact support line for each correct answer.

Learn: outcomes vs events, complement, permutations vs combinations. Solve Together: 6 items. Test Yourself: 15‑Q Quant. Skip multi‑constraint monsters; bank time on fundamentals.

Verbal 12‑Q (18) + Quant 12‑Q (21). Focus on two‑pass discipline and flagging time‑sinks quickly. Review: identify the one slowest question each section and plan a faster path.

Write one full Issue essay using your fixed template. Then 20–30 minutes of micro‑drills on your two weakest skills. Light vocab.

QC: compare strategically, not by computation. Data sets: read axes/units first, then the question. Run a 26‑minute 15‑Q Quant set; aim for steady pace.

Rapid connector recognition; eliminate synonyms that don’t fit tone or logic. 23‑minute Verbal set. Vocab: only from misses—context first, definition second.

Shorter sets at higher accuracy: Verbal 12‑Q at 90%+ goal; Quant 12‑Q at 90%+ goal. If accuracy drops, shorten the set further rather than rushing.

Repeat the full five‑section flow with no breaks. Compare pacing charts to Day 15. Lock in educated‑guess rules for your worst 5% of items.

Review misses. Confirm test‑day ID, appointment time, and environment. If testing at home, rehearse the check‑in; if at a test center, plan transit and arrival. Prepare scratch paper strategy.

Quant: one pass on formulas and common identities you actually use. Verbal: one pass on your connector map and RC question stems. Light AWA outline.

Two short success sets you’re likely to nail to cement timing rhythm (one Verbal 12‑Q, one Quant 12‑Q). No new heavy topics. Early night.

15–20 minute warm‑up only: 4 TC, 4 SE, 4 QC. Review your if‑then rules and guessing plan. Hydrate and rest. Prepare simple snacks if allowed; avoid caffeine changes.

15‑minute warm‑up with 3 easy problems and one short passage. Breathe, visualize the two‑pass flow, and remember there are no scheduled breaks—pace yourself like you practiced. After the test, jot down takeaways while they’re fresh.

Because Verbal and Quant are section‑adaptive, doing solid work in the first section of each measure tends to place you into a harder second section with higher scoring potential. That’s why this plan front‑loads pacing discipline, sure‑bet accuracy, and fast skipping on time‑sinks. The aim is not perfection; it’s maximizing points per minute.

Below 150: spend extra time on arithmetic, algebra basics, and RC structure; make sets shorter but more frequent. 165+: keep accuracy high on medium items, then deliberately practice a few hard questions each day to avoid late‑section surprises. Both groups should run the two full simulations.

After every set, re‑solve misses immediately, then again 24–48 hours later. Write one‑sentence error labels (e.g., missed reversal connector; misread unit; computed instead of comparing). Use Exambank’s personalized review sets to automate spacing and pull back prior misses until accuracy stabilizes.

Adding new low‑yield topics, cramming giant word lists, skipping timed practice, and ignoring endurance. Do not let perfect be the enemy of good pacing. Protect sleep and keep practice windows aligned to your actual test start time.

Two full sims done; pacing targets known; if‑then rules written; ID/docs ready; environment rehearsed; scratch strategy set; two easy warm‑ups planned; nutrition/sleep consistent. If those boxes are checked, you’re ready.

Tell your AI tutor how much time you have and which measure you want to train; it will assemble the Learn → Solve Together → Test Yourself blocks for that day, generate new GRE‑format questions at your level, and auto‑create mixed review sets from your errors. Check your accuracy and predicted scores after each simulation to decide exactly what to emphasize next session.