GRE Verbal 160+: The Complete Text Completion and RC Strategy Guide

Achieving a 160+ in GRE Verbal places you in the top 15% of test-takers globally and opens doors to elite graduate programs at Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and UC Berkeley.

The Shorter GRE Verbal Breakdown: Section 1: 12 questions in 18 minutes. Section 2: 15 questions in 23 minutes. Total Verbal: 27 questions across 41 minutes.

Text Completion (TC) Heuristics: Read the entire sentence without looking at the answer choices. Identify the pivot words (however, nonetheless, although, furthermore) to determine whether the blank supports or contrasts with the surrounding clause. Formulate your own word before inspecting the options.

Sentence Equivalence (SE) Strategy: Look for synonym pairs among the 6 options first. If a word has no pair, it can almost never be the correct answer. Both selected words must produce sentences with identical logical meaning.

Reading Comprehension (RC): Focus on tone, passage thesis, and author intent rather than memorizing technical jargon. Scholarly passages are testing argument structure, not domain trivia.