12-Week GRE Study Plan (3 Months): From Foundations to 160+ Strategy

The GRE is now a shorter, tighter exam, and that changes how you should prepare. Today’s test runs about 1 hour 58 minutes, includes one 30-minute “Analyze an Issue” essay, two Verbal sections (12 and 15 questions, 18 and 23 minutes), and two Quant sections (12 and 15 questions, 21 and 26 minutes). There’s no unscored section and no scheduled break. Scores post in roughly 8–10 days. The plan below embraces this reality so you train for accuracy first, then speed, then full-test execution—exactly the sequence that produces larger, steadier score gains.

If you’re targeting 160+ on Verbal, Quant, or both, and you can study 8–15 hours per week for three months, this plan is for you. Working full-time? Start near the low end and ramp in the later phases. Already near 160? Use Phase 1 to eliminate gaps quickly, then spend most of your time in Phases 2–4.

Begin with the Exambank diagnostic to establish your Quant and Verbal baselines. Your AI tutor will convert that into a personal path and daily sessions. In each study block, follow Learn → Solve Together → Test Yourself: take a short lesson, walk through a guided solution on a real GRE-style question, then lock it in with a short quiz. Exambank’s adaptive practice will serve 12- and 15-question sets with the exact GRE timings, and its analytics will track accuracy, time per question, and trends so you always know what to fix next.

Weeks 1–3 Foundations: learn or refresh core content and build method. Weeks 4–6 Accuracy: raise correctness, section one especially. Weeks 7–9 Speed: add timing pressure that matches the shorter sections. Weeks 10–12 Full mocks: rehearse the whole test, analyze, and polish.

Aim for five study days per week. Typical week: three concept-and-practice blocks of 90–120 minutes, one timing block of 45–60 minutes, one review-and-flashcards block of 45 minutes. Keep one light day and one full rest day to protect retention.

Tasks: take a diagnostic; learn test structure and pacing; set up an error log. Quant focus: fractions/decimals, ratios and percent, equation fundamentals, Quantitative Comparison basics. Verbal focus: sentence structure, Text Completion method, active reading for main idea and tone. Analytical Writing: learn a simple Issue template and write one practice essay in 30 minutes. Exambank: enable streak tracking and start vocab flashcards.

Quant: linear equations and inequalities, exponents and roots, averages/median/range, interpreting tables and charts. Verbal: Text Completion with two and three blanks, Sentence Equivalence logic, passage mapping for Reading Comprehension. Timing: run one Verbal 12-question/18-minute and one Quant 12-question/21-minute set. AW: outline two prompts, write one.

Quant: geometry essentials (triangles, circles, coordinate plane, slope), word problems (rates/work/mixture), intro to counting and probability. Verbal: detail and inference questions, author’s purpose, function-of-a-paragraph. Timing: add one Verbal 15-question/23-minute and one Quant 15-question/26-minute set. AW: write one full essay and self-score against a rubric. Milestone: confirm you can explain every miss from Weeks 1–3.

Goal: near-mistake-free first sections to unlock higher difficulty second sections. Quant: targeted drills on your weakest two topics from analytics; practice QC with smart cases (positive/negative, small/large, integer/fraction). Verbal: precision in meaning—prove each blank with context; in RC, justify every answer with a line citation. Timing: two untimed accuracy sets per measure, then one timed set to check transfer.

Quant: systems of equations, absolute value and piecewise, ratios of ratios, percent change/compound growth, data interpretation sets. Verbal: hard Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence; trap patterns (near-synonyms that clash with tone, answer choices that fix one clause and break the other). Vocab: add families of words (root + common derivatives). Timing: one full “half test” made of Verbal 12 + Quant 12 back to back.

Take a full-length mock in the new format. Analyze by category: accuracy before speed, but also check time per question. Build a two-week fix list with the three biggest point-leak topics per measure. AW: collect two high-quality, reusable examples and practice a crisp counterargument paragraph.

Quant: timed mixed sets emphasizing triage—circling back to harder items after securing sure points. Verbal: two-pass method for dense RC—first pass for purpose and structure, second for proof. Timing: 4–6 section-length sets this week split across Verbal and Quant. Micro-skill: estimate aggressively; compute only what changes the answer.

Lock pacing for each section. Verbal 12Q/18m: average 1:30; spend 45–60 seconds on SE/TC, bank extra time for RC. Verbal 15Q/23m: aim to reach question 10 by minute 15 with one flagged passage. Quant 12Q/21m: average 1:45; front-load clean wins, defer algebra slogs. Quant 15Q/26m: keep a 2–3 minute end buffer for a grid-in or geometry item. AW: one essay at the start of a session to simulate test-day mental shift.

Simulate the full two-hour run without stopping. Practice hydration and quick transitions between sections. If you test at a center, remember optional breaks cost time; if you test at home, assume no unscheduled breaks. Finish the week with a light accuracy day to consolidate.

Run Mock 1 under test-day conditions. Review in three passes: quick categorize (concept vs. process vs. careless), re-solve without time, then watch guided explanations only for items you still miss. Exambank: convert every error-tag into a personalized review set and schedule a retest of those items 72 hours later.

Mock early in the week; use the rest for targeted sprints. Quant sprints: 6–8 problems from one weak skill in 12–14 minutes. Verbal sprints: a mini RC set plus 4–6 SE/TC items in 10–12 minutes. AW: one essay focusing on examples and transitions. Confirm you’re staying disciplined with triage instead of wrestling time drains.

Mock 3 at the beginning of the week, then taper volume and keep skills sharp with light, high-accuracy sets. Set your test-day routine: sleep schedule, start-time warmup (5 easy Quant items, 1 SE, 1 short RC), and a quick checklist for ID, scratch paper strategy, and calculator discipline.

Prioritize certainty over style: backsolve and plug when variables are messy. For QC, compare forms before numbers; if needed, test extremes and include negatives and fractions. Master triangles, slope, and ratios—they appear often and combine well. On the calculator, compute late, not early; estimate to eliminate first.

SE/TC: lock the sentence’s logic first—contrast, cause, concession—then predict a word and only accept choices that preserve that logic. In SE, both choices must produce the same meaning, not just be synonyms. RC: read for structure and author stance; answer with proof from the passage, and distrust attractive options that add new claims.

Minute 0–3: pick a side and blueprint two reasons plus one counterpoint. Minutes 3–24: write three body paragraphs with clear topic sentences, specific examples, and one sentence that ties back to the prompt’s wording. Minutes 24–30: write a two- to three-sentence intro and a one- to two-sentence conclusion, then proof titles, names, and transitions. Aim for clarity and control over flourish.

Verbal 12Q in 18 minutes: spend 45–60 seconds on SE/TC; bank time for one short passage and one medium passage. Verbal 15Q in 23 minutes: hit question 10 by around minute 15. Quant 12Q in 21 minutes: secure 8–9 quick wins in the first 12–14 minutes; leave 2–3 minutes for a stubborn item. Quant 15Q in 26 minutes: keep a rolling buffer so you finish with a minute to check a flagged question.

Use an error log that tags cause, not just topic: concept gap, misread, trap language, algebra slip, pacing/triage. Do blind review after each timed set—re-answer without time to separate knowledge from timing. In Exambank, schedule spaced retakes of missed concepts and let the AI re-introduce previously tricky skills just before they fade.

Learn families, not isolated words: root + common derivatives + a memorable context sentence. Aim for small daily reps rather than weekly marathons. In Exambank, enable spaced repetition so difficult words resurface automatically and easy ones appear less often.

Collapse Week 3 into a single heavy foundations week, skip Mock 1, and run two high-quality mocks in Weeks 11–12 only. Focus all extra time on section-one accuracy and your top three weak skills; speed will rise once accuracy does.

Shift earlier into Phase 3. Add one extra section-length set per study day and sprinkle in “hard-only” adaptive sets. For Verbal, prioritize long-passage RC; for Quant, emphasize multi-step algebra and geometry with data interpretation.

You can retake the GRE after 21 days, up to five times in any rolling 12 months. ScoreSelect lets you send only the scores you want programs to see. Plan your test date so the 8–10 day score posting window comfortably meets application deadlines.

Your AI tutor plans sessions that match the time you have and what you most need to learn that day. It auto-generates section-length sets with the exact new timings, adapts difficulty as you improve, and turns every miss into a targeted review. Progress graphs make your gains visible—accuracy by topic, time per question, predicted score—and streaks keep you accountable.

Big scores come from boringly consistent habits layered over smart strategy. Follow the phases, treat review as seriously as practice, and simulate the real section lengths often. When the exam feels familiar, you can be decisive, fast, and accurate.