GRE Test Anxiety Tutoring
Most - if not all - of our tutoring clients have at least some test anxiety. Over the years, we've learned several methods to help them mitigate the effect their anxiety has on their test-day performance. Even if you're preparing last-minute, we can probably help!
If you're worried about test anxiety hampering your ability to do your best on the GRE, a tutor can be a great sounding board for your fears. When we talk about your test anxiety, we'll inevitably find things you can change about the ways you're studying for the test, thinking about the test, and taking the test -- that will help lower your anxiety to a more manageable level.
Since the psychology of test-taking is such an important part of GRE prep, we think a discussion of test anxiety and ways to mitigate it is an important component of most GRE tutoring plans.
BTW, Vince also offers a personalized GRE study plan if you're not sure you need live tutoring.
Testimonial
"I am an older student applying for a graduate degree in psychology. I hadn't taken a standardized test in twenty years and my first GRE score reflected my long lapse in testing. In the first session, Vince knew exactly what I needed to focus on in order to achieve my targeted score. He gave specific homework that immensely helped my test scores. I had tried another tutor before Vince but it was a waste of time and money. Vince has a keen understanding of what each student needs to do in order to be successful. I highly recommend him for standardized testing and personal statements." - Kate Carter (read this review on Google Maps)
Meet GRE tutor Vince Kotchian
GRE prep is literally all I do.
I grew up in Connecticut and completed the honors program at Boston College. I moved to San Diego in 2007, and I’ve been working full-time as a test-prep tutor ever since. I've scored a perfect 170 in verbal and a 167 in quant on the GRE.
For students experiencing GRE test anxiety, I can help you realize you're not alone, give you techniques to reduce the anxiety and handle the feelings that do come up, and demystify the test so that you're over-prepared to the point where you absolutely know what's coming. Most people's prep has been pretty bad, so there are usually HUGE opportunities to increase skill and confidence.
I've co-authored GRE prep books and created GRE courses and apps, but I spend most of my days working with people one-on-one. I enjoy tutoring since it's a conversation, and discussion is actually what makes the process so valuable. It lets me follow what you're thinking and focus on what you need most, whether that's content (like understanding math concepts), strategy (like figuring out if a reading comprehension answer choice is right or wrong), timing, or even something like study skills, test anxiety, or test-taking skills. Plus, I can give you support and reassurance during what can be a stressful process.
My specialty is helping MBA applicants get their scores above the 320 mark. If you're applying to a competitive program and want to give yourself every possible chance to score well, I'm your guy. Of course, I am happy to work with anyone as well.
Vince is a true GRE specialist - he's one of the very few tutors out there who ONLY teaches GRE prep. His publications include Barron's 6 GRE Practice Tests, LinkedIn's GRE prep course, and the apps "GRE Math Knight" and "GRE Vocab Cartoons". He also teaches for GregMAT+ and is a moderator of the GRE subreddit.
Rates: You can either pay for tutoring with Vince hourly at $295 per hour, or buy a package of 10 hours for $2700.
Ready to get started? Please fill out this form to tell me about your situation.
P.S. Still need to write your personal statement? Learn more about how our admissions essay expert, Lauren Hammond, can help.
Meet GRE tutor Blake Jensen
Blake: I’m a native San Diegan, father, and an aficionado of basketball, vintage video games, pitchy karaoke, and lecturing my son on how much better Star Wars was "back in the day." I played college basketball at St. Mary’s College and Whittier College, where I earned my B.A. in Psychology in 2002.
Having been a full-time test prep coach for over 15 years, I have seen just about every type of student and tutoring situation. This allows me to give my students exactly what they need to reach their goals.
My years of experience have also led me to coach my students a little differently than most. A lot of test prep revolves around how to answer a question. While that is a necessary component, identifying what is needed to answer a question is at least as important, especially for timed tests like the GRE. I show my students how to look at the test the way I do, to the patterns and tendencies of the test to make them faster and more accurate.
GRE tutoring with Blake is $275 / hour (or $248 / hour for 15 or more hours).
He meets clients in his Carmel Valley office, or online via Zoom.
Video: 5 Thoughts About Test Anxiety: GRE Edition
P.S. We also help people write their graduate school admissions essays and statements of purpose!
GRE Test Anxiety FAQ
GRE test anxiety tutoring is help specifically for students whose scores are being dragged down by panic, freezing, rushing, second-guessing, mental blanking, or spiraling during the test. It’s different from ordinary GRE tutoring because the goal is not just to learn content, but also to perform more calmly and consistently under pressure.
Regular GRE tutoring often focuses mainly on math, verbal, timing, and strategy. GRE test anxiety tutoring also focuses on what happens in your mind during the test: racing thoughts, panic, loss of focus, perfectionism, fear of running out of time, and the tendency to unravel after a few bad questions.
Common signs include freezing on questions, panicking when time gets tight, changing right answers to wrong ones, blanking on material you normally know, doing much better untimed than timed, and having practice or official test scores that swing around more than they should.
Yes. Some students know far more than their scores show. Test anxiety can cause careless mistakes, poor pacing, second-guessing, mental fatigue, and inefficient decisions. It can also make you perform much worse on test day than you do in lower-pressure practice
Yes. In many cases, anxiety and content problems overlap. Weak foundations can make anxiety worse, and anxiety can make normal weaknesses feel much bigger. Good tutoring can help sort out which problems are caused by missing knowledge and which are caused by pressure, bad habits, or poor decisions under time constraints.
That depends on the student, but it often includes diagnosing when and why the anxiety spikes, building steadier timing habits, changing how you handle hard questions, reducing second-guessing, practicing smarter recovery after mistakes, and creating a more realistic test-day mindset and routine.
Yes. That’s common. Some students are not generally anxious test takers, but panic on GRE quant because they feel weak in math, get overwhelmed by unfamiliar-looking problems, or don’t know when to cut losses and move on. That can often be improved with a mix of better math foundations and better test behavior.
Some students mainly need better GRE strategy and a calmer system for handling the test. Others may have broader anxiety issues that go beyond GRE prep. Tutoring can help a lot when the anxiety is tightly tied to GRE performance, especially if the real problem is pressure, pacing, perfectionism, or lack of confidence in a clear plan.
Yes. That is one of the clearest signs that test anxiety or performance issues are involved. If your official or high-pressure scores keep coming in lower than what your actual skill level suggests, it makes sense to work on the performance side of the problem directly.
That is often one of the main goals. Many anxious students have an over-control problem: too much checking, too much doubt, too much mental noise, and too much energy wasted trying to feel certain before moving on.
Yes. Anxiety and pacing are often tied together. Some students rush because they panic about time. Others move too slowly because they are afraid to let go of hard questions. Better pacing usually comes from both better strategy and a calmer relationship with uncertainty.
Probably not. Many students improve a lot once they understand what is going wrong and adopt a better way of approaching the test. A few need more support because the habits are deeply ingrained or tied to larger confidence issues. It depends on how severe the problem is and how long it has been affecting your performance.
Yes. In fact, that is often when GRE test anxiety tutoring is most useful. If you have already put in serious time and your scores are still unstable, disappointing, or lower than expected, the missing piece may not be more content. It may be how you are thinking and behaving under pressure.
Not necessarily. Sometimes anxious students take too many full-length tests and just rehearse bad habits. Usually it is better to practice more strategically: build skills, work on specific triggers, and use timed work in a way that improves performance instead of just generating more stress.
Yes. Some students mainly need a better plan and a calmer structure. Others need live help because their anxiety is showing up in real time and affecting decisions, timing, and performance. A good first step is figuring out which kind of help matches the problem.
That is the goal, but not in a fake “just believe in yourself” way. The point is to help you become calmer because you know how to handle the test better: how to pace yourself, how to respond to hard questions, how to recover from mistakes, and how to trust a sound process.