Articles published in Learning Science

Top 10 GRE Vocabulary Tips

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Top 10 GRE Vocabulary Tips

You might think you know how to memorize GRE vocabulary. However, a lot of what we learned in school about memorization—and about learning—has turned out to be inefficient or outright incorrect. There are faster and easier ways to learn GRE vocabulary than just staring at flashcards or repeating the words over and over, and they aren’t all obvious! Here are our best science-based GRE vocabulary tips for speeding up your vocabulary acquisition. Read more

How to Study for the GRE

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Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - How to Study for the GRE by Chelsey Cooley

Are you just starting to study for the GRE? Already studying, but not sure whether you’re doing it right? We’ll lay out exactly how to study for the GRE, from today until test day. Read more

Can You Ace GRE Quant if You’re Bad at Math? (Part 2)

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Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - Can You Ace GRE Quant if You're Bad at Math? (Part 2) by Chelsey Cooley

You’re here because you’re bad at math, and you want to ace GRE Quant but aren’t sure how. But if you read the previous article, you know that you weren’t born without a “math organ,” and your brain is just as suitable for learning GRE Quant as anybody else’s. That doesn’t mean you don’t have challenges to overcome. But you should really be asking, How can I ace the GRE with limited math experience? Or How can I ace the GRE when I don’t know how to study math? Or even How can I get over my math anxiety and get excited about the GRE? Read more

This Simple Visualization Exercise Will Help You Beat the GRE

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Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - This Simple Visualization Exercise Will Help You Beat the GRE by Chelsey Cooley

When I’m not teaching the GRE or writing this blog, I like riding my bicycle absurdly long distances. For the last five months, I’ve been training for one of the hardest bike races of my life: the 206-mile, 14-plus-hour Dirty Kanza. And now I want to share the best piece of advice I was given while training, because it applies to GRE test day just as much as it applies to bike racing. Read more

Math and the Growth Mindset

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Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - Math and the Growth Mindset by Tom Anderson

Do you consider yourself a “math person?” Read more

Study Like an Athlete: What Rock Climbing Taught Me about the GRE

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Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - Study Like an Athlete: What Rock Climbing Taught Me about the GRE by Tom Anderson

You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? Check out our upcoming courses here.


I’ve written before about how it’s healthy to think of GRE study more like an athletic event you’re preparing for and less like run-of-the-mill studying. If you study for the GRE by memorizing formulas and glancing at written explanations, you’ll likely get very little out of your study. Read more

7 GRE Study Habits of Highly-Effective Students

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Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - 7 GRE Study Habits of Highly-Effective Students by Tom Anderson

You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? Check out our upcoming courses here.


30 minutes of highly-focused study beats 2 hours of “half-studying.”

I’d like to share with you a little study mantra. This is something I firmly and absolutely believe to be true: “30 minutes of highly-focused study is far better than 2 hours of half-studying.” As much as one might try to make up for poor GRE study habits by slogging through a multi-hour weekend marathon session, it just doesn’t work. There are so many reasons to avoid such lengthy study sessions—increasing fatigue, impaired retention, general painfulness of sitting there for so long… Read more

Take a GRE Break!

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Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - Take a GRE Break! by Cat Powell

You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Ready to take the plunge? Check out our upcoming courses here.


Around this time of year, as people recover from the holidays and contemplate winter vacations, I tend to get a lot of questions from students anxious about taking a GRE break. Will a week- or month-long vacation hurt their scores? Will they forget all the new math content they’ve learned? Should they bring their 5lb Book of GRE Problems on the plane with them?

The short answers: no, no, and you don’t need to, it’s available as an e-book. Read more

How to Study for the GRE: The First Two Weeks (Part 2)

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Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - How to Study for the GRE: The First Two Weeks (Part 2) by Chelsey Cooley

You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? Check out our upcoming courses here.


Last time, we discussed how to learn more about the GRE and how to prepare yourself to study efficiently during your first two weeks. Now, let’s look at a few more sample study sessions. How you study matters—and that can make the difference between an okay GRE score and a great one. Read more

How Many Practice Tests Should I Take Before the GRE?

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Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - How Many Practice Tests Should I Take before the GRE? by Chelsey Cooley

You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? Check out our upcoming courses here.


Practice tests are like cupcakes. Having one or two is great, but if you go through the entire batch too quickly, you’ll end up regretting it.

Before you decide how many GRE practice tests you’ll take, let’s talk about why we take practice tests. There are two good reasons to take a practice GRE: Read more