'Stuck' at the Same Score? Look at HOW You're Studying.
Here is a pattern I see every week. Say you take a practice GRE and get a 155 in Quant. You study hard for two weeks. You do hundreds of new questions. You take another practice test. 154. You panic, so you study HARDER. Same method, more hours. Next test: 156. Then 155 again.
You think you've hit your 'ceiling.' You haven't. You've hit the ceiling of your METHOD. And here's the blunt part: doing more of the same thing will buy you more of the same score. Every single time.
The good news? A method is a lot easier to fix than a brain. And you don't need a new brain.
The wall isn't you
The GRE is a standardized test. That means it's predictable. It tests the same kinds of skills, in the same kinds of ways, on every version. Verbal and Quant are each scored from 130 to 170, and the test adapts section by section: how you do on your first Quant section decides how hard your second one will be. (You can read how the test is built on ETS's GRE General Test page.)
A predictable test can be trained for. So if your score isn't moving, the question isn't 'Am I smart enough?' The question is 'What am I DOING that keeps giving me this exact result?'
Stop reading for a second and answer that. Name ONE thing you do while studying that might be holding you back. Don't read another word until you have one.
Got it? Good. I'll bet it's on this list.
5 study habits that keep you 'stuck'
Doing MORE new questions instead of mastering old ones. If you've done 800 questions but couldn't explain how you solved 600 of them, you're an acquaintance of 800 questions. That's not the same as being the commander of 300.
INSTEAD: Redo the questions you missed, a few days later, on paper, from scratch. If you can't get it right AND explain why the wrong answers are wrong, you haven't learned it yet.
Taking a practice test every few days. A practice test is a measuring device. It tells you roughly where you are. It doesn't make you better, any more than stepping on a scale makes you lose weight.
INSTEAD: Take one full, timed practice test per week at most. ETS has free ones called POWERPREP practice tests, and they're the closest thing to the real exam. Spend the days between tests TRAINING on what the last test showed you.
Working in your head. 'I don't need to write that down.' Yes, you do. The test gives you scratch paper for a reason. Every time you skip notes, you re-read the question, you lose track of what's being asked, and you make a silly mistake on a question you KNEW how to do.
INSTEAD: Write something for every question. The facts you're given, what you're solving for, the values you test. On every practice question, not just the hard ones, so it's automatic on Test Day.
Checking the answer letter and moving on. 'I got it right, next.' But HOW did you get it right? Did it take you 4 minutes? Did you guess between two choices? A right answer reached the slow way is a wrong answer waiting to happen when the clock gets tight.
INSTEAD: Review every question that took too long, even the ones you got right. Ask: was there a faster way? Could I have tested values? Could I have tested the answer choices?
Chasing the hardest questions. Lots of people think their missing points are on the brutal, top-level questions. Go look. I'll bet the list of 'easy' questions you missed is LONGER than the list of hard ones you missed.
INSTEAD: Count your 'gettable' misses: the ones where you said 'ugh, I KNEW that.' Those are your fastest points. Fix those first.
Watch the method fail in real time
Here's a question in a format you'll see a lot on the GRE: Quantitative Comparison. You're given two quantities, A and B, and you decide how they compare. Try it before you open the answer. Take notes.
Now here's why this matters for a 'stuck' score. Say you missed that question. The old method says: 'Wrong, read the explanation, do the next one.' You'll miss the same kind of question next week, because you never changed WHAT you did.
The training method says: 'Why did I miss it? I only tested positive numbers. New rule: every time I test values, I try a positive, a negative, zero and a fraction when the question allows it.' Now you've fixed a whole family of questions, not just one.
But my scores are all over the place
Before you decide you're 'stuck,' make sure you actually are. A point or two up or down from one practice test to the next doesn't mean you got better or worse. It usually means you performed at about the same level. That's normal, and I wrote about it in why your practice scores bounce around.
But if you've taken three or four tests over a month or more, and they all land in the same small window, that's not noise. That's your method telling you it's done everything it can do.
The forced choice
So you have to decide what you want MORE: to keep studying the way that feels comfortable, or to get a higher score?
Because you can't have both. The comfortable way is the way that got you here. Writing everything down feels slow at first. Redoing old questions feels boring. Taking fewer practice tests feels like you're doing less. None of that is true, but it FEELS true, and that feeling is exactly what keeps people at the same score for months.
Think of it like a gym. If you lift the same weight, the same way, three times a week, your body stops changing. Lifting it MORE times doesn't help much. You have to change the workout. Your GRE prep works the same way.
And don't get too down on yourself if this list describes you perfectly. Most people study this way, because it's how school taught us to study. Read, do problems, check answers, repeat. The GRE isn't school. It's a skill, and skills are trained.
Your challenge for today
Pull up your most recent practice test. Not a new one. The last one you took.
Go through every Quant and Verbal question and sort it into one of three piles on a sheet of paper: Knew it, got it fast. Got it, but slow or lucky. Missed it, but it was gettable.
Next to every question in the second and third piles, write ONE sentence: what did I DO that cost me? Not 'it was hard.' Not 'I don't know.' A real reason. 'I didn't write down the units.' 'I only tested positive numbers.' 'I picked the answer that sounded good.'
Then redo five of those questions on paper, using a different method than last time.
That's it. No new questions. No new practice test. Just an honest look at HOW you work. Do it today, and I'll bet you find more points in that pile than in your next 200 new questions.
