Advice on TC questions
Hi everyone, I genuinely need some targeted help and I think my situation might resonate with others.
My score history (Verbal only):
Feb 2025: 153 | Nov 2025: 157 | Dec 2025: 152 | March 2026: 154
As you can see, my scores are inconsistent. I peaked at 157 in November but haven't been able to replicate that. My most recent attempt in March 2026 came in at 154. I'm now on a break and building a proper study plan for my retake.
What I've already done:
- Completed Greg Mat's 1-month verbal plan (twice)
- Finished Vocab Mountain
- Supplemented with Vince's vocab app
- Worked through Big Book TC/SE questions (not all sets)
The problem:
My biggest weakness is TC and SE. When I worked through the Greg Mat strategies (math strategy, block of 4 etc.), I got reasonably comfortable with Big Book questions and could score 4–6 consistently. But these strategies don't seem to translate well to **recent GRE questions**, which feel noticeably harder and more nuanced.
I can follow the logic of a sentence well enough (I think) but I feel my issue is a combination of:
- Getting tripped up when two answer choices both *seem* plausible.
- 2 and 3 blankers. I usually quickly select and skip the 3 blanker question on the first section.
What I'm looking for:
- Are there specific resources (beyond Greg Mat) that helped you with harder TC/SE on the current test?
- Do I re-do the Greg Mat's 1-month verbal plan or work on some other plan?
- Has anyone else found that Big Book practice doesn't transfer well to the current GRE format? How did you bridge that gap?
- Any advice on error log strategies or review habits that actually moved the needle?
My target is ideally 160+ verbal. Any advice would be genuinely appreciated. Thanks in advance!