![\"Manhattan](\"\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2017\/10\/when-to-stop-studying-for-the-gre-ceilidh-erickson.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Ready to take the plunge? <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/i><\/b>Studying for the GRE might be one of the hardest things that you\u2019ll ever do. It may even be harder than some of your graduate school classes!<\/span><\/p>\n So what happens when you\u2019ve spent months of your time studying for the GRE, invested money in a class or books, put your heart and soul into trying to increase your score\u2026 but you still haven\u2019t hit your target? Here\u2019s the uncomfortable truth:<\/span><\/p>\n As an educator, I\u2019m deeply invested in doing whatever I can to help all my students succeed, but I also don\u2019t believe in sugar-coating or building false hope. I know that even with months or years of hard work, not everyone is going to get above a 325. <\/span><\/p>\n Personally, I know that if I worked with the best personal trainer in the world for months, I could become <\/span>significantly<\/span><\/i> stronger and more agile. Unfortunately, no amount of hard work would turn me into an Olympic gymnast. I\u2019m just not built for exceptional (or even above-average) athleticism. At a certain point\u2014despite all the effort I could muster\u2014there would be vanishing returns on the athletic skills I could achieve.<\/span><\/p>\n The same is unfortunately true when studying for the GRE: after a certain point, everyone is likely to hit a threshold of vanishing returns, after which all the studying in the world won\u2019t yield a score increase. <\/span><\/p>\n You might be thinking, \u201cWow, this is really discouraging.\u201d (You might also be thinking, \u201cWhat is she thinking? Shouldn\u2019t she be telling me that I\u2019ll succeed if I just buy more books or resources or tutoring hours?\u201d Absolutely not! My mission is always to do what\u2019s in the best interest of my students, and I would never want anyone to spend time or money on anything that wasn\u2019t going to bring results. Every one of my colleagues would agree.) <\/span><\/p>\n But don\u2019t despair yet: here are several reasons why it\u2019s ok to stop studying for the GRE before you hit your goal score.<\/span><\/p>\n This may be surprising, but it\u2019s true. Graduate schools care about the <\/span>whole<\/span><\/i> applicant: work history, undergraduate record, hobbies and interests, etc. They want someone who is going to be an all-around asset to the school.<\/span><\/p>\n If you have a 336 GRE score, but a low GPA with a resume that shows no initiative or leadership\u2026 you\u2019re not going to get into a top school. The GRE score alone won\u2019t get you in. On the other hand, if you have a very impressive resume but a lower GRE score, it\u2019s certainly still possible to get into a top school. Schools can overlook the GRE if they have enough other data points to believe that you\u2019d be an asset.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s say that you\u2019ve been studying for the GRE for 4 months, you\u2019ve learned all the content, and your practice exam scores have gone from 308 to 315 to 319 to 321\u2026 but they\u2019re not budging from there. You\u2019ve taken the real test twice and gotten a 319, then a 320. Your goal is to get a 325-330. <\/span><\/p>\n Option 1: You could spend another 2-4 months grinding away, spending every spare hour studying, in the hopes of bringing your score up a few more points. <\/span><\/p>\n Option 2: You could spend that time doing more volunteering, perhaps taking on a leadership position in an organization. You could take an online or extended-learning class in a topic relevant to your program, demonstrating interest and academic prowess. You could help your friend build an app for her new startup. You could write an article and get it published, etc., etc. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A GRE score increase might seem more immediately necessary, because that\u2019s what will be measured directly against other candidates. But I assure you, some version of Option 2 is the much better option: that\u2019s what will make you unique and stand out among the competition! Think about the things you could put on an application that <\/span>no one else could<\/span><\/i>, then think of ways to accentuate those things. <\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a flowchart of questions to help you decide:<\/span><\/p>\n It can be disappointing to let go of a goal before you\u2019ve fully reached it. But if you\u2019ve put earnest, significant effort into your studies and gotten as far as you reasonably can, it\u2019s the prudent decision to <\/span>ignore the sunk costs<\/b> and <\/span>invest your time elsewhere<\/b>. <\/span><\/p>\n Making smart decisions about where to invest your time for maximum payoff is a skill that will serve you well in graduate school and beyond! ?<\/span><\/p>\n See that \u201cSUBSCRIBE\u201d button in the top right corner? Click on it to receive all our GRE blog updates straight to your inbox!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n 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. Studying for the GRE might be one of the hardest things that you\u2019ll ever do. It may even be harder than some of your graduate school classes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[474284,793261,921840,6,7,449765,733445],"tags":[1362479,1362478],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-10897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-studiers","category-gre-logistics","category-gre-prep-2","category-gre-strategies","category-how-to-study","category-learning-science","category-study-tips-2","tag-goal-score","tag-stop-studying-for-the-gre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10897"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10953,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10897\/revisions\/10953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10897"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=10897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nYou Might Not Hit Your Goal Score<\/b><\/h4>\n
1. The GRE is <\/b>not<\/i><\/b> the most important part of your application.<\/b><\/h4>\n
2. Your time might be better spent improving other parts of your application.<\/b><\/h4>\n
So How Do I Know <\/b>When<\/i><\/b> I Should Stop? <\/b><\/h4>\n
![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2017\/10\/gre.png\")
<\/p>\n
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\n![\"ceilidh-erickson-Manhattan-Prep-GMAT-Instructor\"](\"https:\/\/d27gmszdzgfpo3.cloudfront.net\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2016\/02\/ceilidh-erickson-150x150.png\" "\\"Ceilidh")
<\/a>C\u00e9ilidh Erickson<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Boston, MA.<\/strong>\u00a0When she tells people that her name is\u00a0pronounced \u201ckay-lee,\u201d she often gets puzzled looks.\u00a0C\u00e9ilidh is a graduate of Princeton University\u00a0and a master\u2019s candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Tutoring was always the job that brought her the greatest joy and challenge, so she decided to make it her full-time job.\u00a0Check out C\u00e9ilidh\u2019s upcoming GRE courses<\/a>\u00a0(she scored a 760, so you\u2019re in great hands).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"