Biggest Help During My Prep

Quant

GregMat PrepSwift Foundation Section: I completed all foundation sections and then took the comprehensive foundation quizzes to ensure I knew the basics for arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data analysis.
Reviewing Flashcards: I reviewed all 16 GregMat quant flashcard groups once or twice a week intermittently during breaks at work, like during lunch or irrelevant meetings.
Targeted Practice: After my first GRE test, I took quant more seriously and practiced mostly out of the 5lb book, specifically focusing on the sections I struggled with, such as word problems, permutations/combinations, sequences, and functions. This helped close gaps in my foundation. However, while the 5lb book is great for logic and foundational mechanics, it was actually way too easy compared to real GRE questions.
Official Material: I did all the official ETS GRE quant material and timed all of my practice sets. I gave myself 26 minutes for 15 questions, usually scoring around 12–14 out of 15. Afterward, I focused heavily on Level 5 questions and diagnosing my logic failures on the harder problems.
Strategies: The quant strategies that helped the most were: 1) choosing a number, 2) "no math needed" (which requires a strong foundation), 3) equal/not equal, and 4) manipulating and simplifying Quantitative Comparison (QC) questions. The GregMat Strategy Class (2025) explained these concepts incredibly well.

Vocab Retention:
- The Nick's, Knack for Neologism (Spotify) podcast helped reinforce around 250 common GRE words. Listen daily during my commute to work.
- Vince’s Vocab Podcast (all 38 groups). After a month, I just reviewed all 38 groups once a week. I usually reviewed them between my lifting sets at the gym, covering 10–14 groups three times a week intermittently until I finished. I really focused on words I didn't recognize right away or those with secondary meanings.
Big Book RC/TC:
- After the first test, I noticed that I struggled with Reading Comprehension (RC) the most, so I focused on doing the short and long passages in the Big Book. The biggest game-changer was using Gemini or Claude to audit my logic and answers so I could truly understand what I missed and what to look for next time.
- Skimming the passages helped immensely compared to reading every single word for detail. Just reading the first sentence, tracking signpost words (however, yet), and asking what the author was trying to achieve helped me grasp the main idea and purpose. The GRE really tricks you if you read for minor details because those exact details will appear in the wrong answer choices. You will gravitate toward them because they look familiar, even though they are actually: 1) out of scope, 2) unsupported by evidence, or 3) contradictory.

Sleep: Get 7–8 hours of sleep for the entire week leading up to the test, or more if you are already dealing with a sleep deficit.
Exercise: Go for a short run on the morning of your test to gain mental clarity and energy.
Rest: Don’t study the day before. Just chill out and do a very light review.

Good luck to all future test-takers, and a huge shout-out to "Greg" and Vince. I can't even fathom what your voices sound like at normal speed lol!