Hey everyone, I have unlimited time to study for the GRE until the end of the year. Seeking advice to land a 167Q/165V+ with my profile.
My Profile: The Classic Lopsided “Poet”
Here’s a look at my baseline scores:
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Official GMAT Cold Mock:
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Verbal: 84 (91st percentile)
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Quant: 73 (25th percentile)
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Data Insights: 73 (39th percentile)
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Old GRE Big Book Practice:
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Verbal: Consistently high (around 9/10 correct)
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Quant: Hovering around the 50th percentile
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GregMat Verbal Practice Scores:
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Timed Verbal Practice - Medium Section 1 Sample Test #1 (10/12, 83.33%)
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Timed Verbal Practice - Easy Section 2 Sample Test #1 (14/15, 93.33%)
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Timed Verbal Practice - Hard Section 2 Sample Test #1 (12/14, 80%)
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Vocab Check Groups 1-34 18/30, skipped 6
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My Current Game Plan
I’m treating my quant prep like a full rebuild. I haven’t taken a formal math class in years, so I’m starting from the ground up.
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Quant: I’m working through GregMat’s “I’m Overwhelmed” plan, aiming for at least two modules a day. This is 65% of my focus right now. What should I do afterwards for Quant?
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Verbal: I’ve been doing the verbal portion of “I’m Overwhelmed” but I’ve seen Greg has mentioned even recently that the V for I/O isn’t great. Is my Verbal good enough at this point to continue with that and just vocab or is there something else I should be doing with a 165+ V target on the GRE?
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Timeline: My plan is to take my first official GRE in mid December, with a chance to retake before deadlines in early-to-mid January 2026. Ideally I’d score around a 166-167+ for Quant and 165+ for Verbal.
My Questions for the Community
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GMAT vs. GRE for the Lopsided Profile? With such a massive split on my GMAT mock, I’ve tentatively switched to the GRE. For those with a similar verbal-dominant profile, was the GRE the right strategic move for you? I also have 50% extended time for either exam, if that changes the calculus of things.
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Balancing Verbal and Quant Prep: How did you handle studying when one area was significantly stronger than the other? Is it a viable strategy to focus almost exclusively on quant fundamentals for the first month and essentially “trust” my high verbal baseline (aside from vocab)? Or should I be dedicating more time to verbal to maintain my edge, and if so, doing what?
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From Foundations to a High Score: For those of you who made significant gains in your quant score (e.g., 10+ points), what did your study plan look like after you finished building the foundational knowledge? I’ll have a week between completing GregMat’s “I’m Overwhelmed” quant section and the GRE. I’ll also have 20 days (ideally less) to retake the GRE if need be, after that.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any guidance, personal anecdotes, or success stories would be incredibly valuable and encouraging.