The biggest hurdles are managing time pressure (you have 30 minutes per section), building a strong vocabulary for text completion questions, and extracting key information quickly from dense reading passages. Many students also struggle with the nuance of GRE-level reading—the test rewards careful analysis of author intent and logical structure, not just surface-level comprehension. Tutors help you develop strategies to tackle each question type efficiently while avoiding common traps that test-makers build in.

Your first session typically includes a diagnostic assessment to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses across reading comprehension, text completion, and sentence equivalence. From there, Varsity Tutors connects you with a tutor who builds a customized study plan targeting your specific gaps—whether that's vocabulary building, reading speed, or question-type strategy. Subsequent sessions combine strategy instruction, practice problems with detailed explanations, and timed drills to build both accuracy and confidence.

Most test-takers benefit from 3-4 months of preparation, with 20-30 hours of total study time for the Verbal section. Meeting with a tutor 1-2 times per week for 60-90 minutes is a solid cadence that allows you to absorb strategies, practice between sessions, and make steady progress. Your tutor can adjust frequency and duration based on your timeline and how quickly you're mastering concepts—some students need more intensive prep closer to test day.

Practice tests are essential because they simulate actual test conditions—including time pressure and the adaptive nature of the GRE—so you can identify pacing issues and weak question types before test day. They also build test-taking stamina and help reduce anxiety by making the format familiar. Tutors use practice test results to guide your study plan, focusing on areas where you're losing points and reinforcing strategies that work for your learning style.

Not necessarily—while a strong vocabulary helps, the GRE tests your ability to use context clues and logical reasoning to work through unfamiliar words. That said, learning high-frequency GRE vocabulary (typically 500-1000 key words) gives you a real advantage on text completion questions. Tutors teach you efficient vocabulary-building strategies, like learning word families and common roots, so you're building usable knowledge rather than just memorizing lists.

Test anxiety often stems from uncertainty about what to expect or doubt in your abilities—both things tutoring directly addresses. By practicing strategies repeatedly and building competence through timed drills, you develop confidence that carries into test day. Tutors also teach mental strategies for managing pressure, like how to stay focused when you encounter a difficult passage and when to move on strategically rather than getting stuck.

Rather than reading for complete understanding, GRE reading comprehension rewards strategic skimming—you need to identify the main idea, author's tone, and logical structure quickly, then refer back to the passage for specific details. Many students waste time re-reading; instead, tutors teach you to annotate as you read and use question stems to guide where you focus. Practicing this approach on dozens of passages trains your brain to extract what matters in 3-4 minutes, leaving time for careful question analysis.