More practice questions won’t raise your GRE score. Here's what will.
316 → 335 In Two Months • Non-Native Speaker
GRE 335
165 Verbal
170 Quant
316 → 335 In Two Months • Non-Native Speaker
More practice questions won't raise your GRE score. Here's what will.
More practice questions won't raise your GRE score. Here's what will.
I scored 146 on Verbal the first time I took the GRE. A 316 total. Even with a perfect 170 Quant, my Verbal was the floor. In my second attempt, with just two months of prep, I scored 165 Verbal, 335 total. English is my second language. The plan I used is below.
I scored 146 on Verbal the first time I took the GRE. A 316 total. Even with a perfect 170 Quant, my Verbal was the floor. In my second attempt, with just two months of prep, I scored 165 Verbal, 335 total. English is my second language. The plan I used is below.
99th Percentile
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40k+ YouTube Views
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165 Verbal / 170 Quant
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2 Months Prep
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Full-time Job During Prep
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Non-Native English Speaker
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99th Percentile
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40k+ YouTube Views · 165 Verbal / 170 Quant · 2 Months Prep · Full-time Job During Prep · Non-Native English Speaker · 99th Percentile ·
If any of this sounds like you...
You're not alone. This was me, two months before I scored 335.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
If any of this sounds like you...
You're not alone. This was me, two months before I scored 335.
I've been studying for weeks. My mock score barely moves.
I run out of time on every section.
My test date is closer than I'd like.
I forget vocab words faster than I learn them.
I don't know if I'm doing this right or just wasting months.
I'm scared I'll have to retake this. Again.
That was me, two months before I scored 335.
You're not stuck because you're not working hard enough. You're stuck because no one showed you what actually moves the needle.
That was me, two months before I scored 335.
You're not stuck because you're not working hard enough. You're stuck because no one showed you what actually moves the needle.
The exact plan I used to jump from 316 to 335
WHY THIS MATTERS
165 Verbal. English is my second language.
Let that sink in for a second. Verbal Reasoning is the section that destroys most non-native speakers. When I first opened a GRE practice set, there were so many words I had never even seen before. I couldn't understand what the question was asking, let alone get it right. Two months later, I scored higher on Verbal than 96% of all test takers. Including native speakers.
"When I saw the score at the end, 335, I wouldn't believe it. I almost cried. I just sat there for a couple minutes until a staff member walked over and said, 'You completed the exam. You feel free to leave now."
165
Verbal score (96th %ile)
170
Quant score (perfect)
60
Days of prep total
165 Verbal. English is my second language.
Let that sink in for a second. Verbal Reasoning is the section that destroys most non-native speakers. When I first opened a GRE practice set, there were so many words I had never even seen before. I couldn't understand what the question was asking, let alone get it right. Two months later, I scored higher on Verbal than 96% of all test takers. Including native speakers.
"When I saw the score at the end, 335, I wouldn't believe it. I almost cried. I just sat there for a couple minutes until a staff member walked over and said, 'You completed the exam. You feel free to leave now."
165
170
60
40,000+ people have watched this.
THE VIDEO TAHT STARTED IT ALL
My first ever YouTube video. I just broke down exactly what I did, step by step. No fluff. People kept asking me to teach them, so now I do.
40,000+ views • My first YouTube video
More practice ≠ more points. Here's the trap.
Almost every student does this loop. Their score doesn't move for weeks. It's not their fault. No one tells them why volume isn't the answer.
...and the loop repeats. Hundreds of questions later, the score is still where it started.
THE TRAP
More practice ≠ more points. Here's the trap.
Almost every student does this loop. Their score doesn't move for weeks. It's not their fault. No one tells them why volume isn't the answer.
...and the loop repeats. Hundreds of questions later, the score is still where it started.
01
Solve a question
02
Read explanation
03
Think “got it”
A Week Later
Same mistake. Again.
Volume doesn't fix it. Pattern recognition does.The fix isn't another 500 questions. It's reflecting on the 30 you already got wrong, finding the shape of the mistake, and never making it again.
A Week Later
Same mistake.
Again.
60-day reflection-first plan · free download
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THE METHOD
I. FOUNDATION
Learn the landscape
Weeks 1 to 2
Get familiar with the exam. No surprises on test day. Build the vocabulary base that everything else sits on.
200 vocab words a day (sounds crazy but hear me out. It's about repetition rounds, not memorizing all 200 at once)
2 full verbal sets daily, structured exactly like the real exam
10 to 20 quant problems to keep the math sharp
Start building time awareness from day one
Once I understood the trap, I built a system around it.
Here's exactly what worked. Three phases over 60 days. The reflection phase (Phase 2) is where your score actually moves. Most prep skips it entirely.
II. REFLECTION
This is where it actually happens
Weeks 3 to 6
Most people skip this. They just keep doing more questions. That's a trap. This is where your score actually moves.
Go through every single mistake from Phase 1
Identify your patterns. Vocabulary gaps vs. logic gaps.
Revisit your thought process: where exactly did you go wrong?
If your quant is already strong, switch to hard questions only
Do simple math in your head (the on-screen calculator is a time trap)
III. PEAK MODE
Sharpen & execute
Weeks 7 to 8
Final push. Writing templates, mock exams, and building the confidence to trust yourself on test day.
Build a flexible writing template that works for almost any issue topic
Prepare ~10 versatile examples you can adapt to anything
Take full mock exams under real conditions (don't make my mistake of waiting until the last week)
No new material. Only review and pattern reinforcement
Client Reviews
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"I scored 152 in GRE Quant twice. I tried different resources, studied hard and honestly started believing that maybe 152 was just my limit. Then I found Olivia. After 3 weeks working with her I scored 160. More than the score she helped me believe I was capable of doing better. She doesn't just teach Quant, she genuinely cares about her students and pushes you to see your own potential. I'll always be grateful for her guidance ❤️"
—Khushi K.
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"I really like your word-matching tip. It's been super helpful. Since I started working with you, I feel much less stressed about whether my score is moving or if I'm making mistakes. At the very least, I now know exactly which areas I'm struggling with, and I can work on fixing them through concepts or vocabulary."
—Sophie S.
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"I felt much more comfortable during the exam this time. Timing wasn't an issue at all, and the Sentence Equivalence section went especially well thanks to really knowing the synonym pairs. Your resources were incredibly valuable. I even came across a couple of Quant questions that were very similar to ones we'd practiced, and one of the Reading passages was straight from the materials you shared with me."
—Laura P.
YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD
Get the exact plan I used to score 335
60-day study plan + 150 high-frequency word pairs + the reflection framework that actually moved my score. The same materials I used. Free.
What’s inside:
Full 60-day study plan, week by week, all 3 phases
150+ sentence equivalence word pairs grouped by theme
Daily vocab targets and practice set schedule
My reflection framework and essay writing template
The mistakes I made so you don't repeat them
FOR WHEN YOU WANT MORE
Want someone who's been there to guide you personally?
The plan above is everything I did alone. It worked, but it took me two months of figuring things out the hard way. If you'd rather skip the trial-and-error and have me look at your specific mistakes, your specific weaknesses, and build a plan around your test date, I work 1-on-1 with a small number of students.
Limited 1-on-1 spots • Trial lesson available on the tutoring page