Reading Nonfiction to Improve GRE Reading Comprehension

Updated in 2024 for the new gre

How can reading help your gre score?

Don’t fall out of your chair, but here’s a shocking fact: reading can improve your GRE reading comprehension skills. Research shows that reading for at least 15 minutes a day can result in accelerated reading growth, and that just over 30 minutes of daily reading will maximize the speed at which reading comprehension improves.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that reading comprehension “gains” are cumulative, with improvement measured over the course of months or even years -- which means that reading for 100 hours straight before your test will not do much for your GRE score.

Bottom line: if you need to improve your reading comprehension level to reach your target GRE score, add at least 30 minutes of reading time into your daily schedule and be realistic about the fact that it can take months or years to become a fundamentally better reader.

What level of text should you read to improve your gre verbal skills?

The research is divided on this one. Some studies show that most reading comprehension gains are made by reading at the "frustration level" (sounds fun!), in which students understand about 85% of the words in a given text. Other studies pinpoint the "instructional level" of text -- in which students recognize 93-97% of words -- as the optimal level to improve reading comprehension.

Either way, the key is to ensure that you don’t understand every single word that you’re reading. By choosing a text outside of your comfort zone, you will both improve your vocabulary and stretch your ability to stay engaged in a difficult GRE passage.

Why you should read nonfiction to improve your gre reading comprehension

The benefit of reading nonfiction in preparation for the GRE seems obvious: GRE RC passages are nonfiction, so it just makes sense to practice with nonfiction materials. In particular, if you feel uneasy about certain subjects that appear on the GRE -- science or literature, for example -- gaining some comfort with those topics might be helpful.

Nonfiction also lends itself to the basic GRE reading comprehension strategies that we recommend in our GRE RC Guide for Beginners.

As you read, focus on the following:

Stop at the end of each paragraph and ask two questions: why did the author write this, and how does it connect to the rest of the text?
Note any words that you don’t know, but don’t look them up right away -- instead, use context clues to determine the meaning of the word, since that’s what you’ll have to do on the GRE. Then, look up the word at the end of your reading session and commit it to memory.

…but what about fiction?

Reading fiction can also improve your RC skills! Here’s everything you need to know about the unique benefits of reading fiction to improve your GRE score.

Which nonfiction books should I read?

Honestly, there’s no right or wrong answer to this, as long as the texts are at least somewhat challenging for you. But here are a few nonfiction books that we’ve enjoyed:

The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow: A breezy introduction to the various ways our intuition is often at odds with statistical reality. A genuinely fascinating read that manages to incorporate GRE quant concepts.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman: A less breezy -- but no less interesting -- look at the underpinnings of behavioral economics.

How Not to be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg: A fun primer about how mathematics can help us make sense of the world.

The Best American Science and Nature Writing: Does your heart sink when you encounter a tough, science-y GRE reading comprehension passage? This anthology of articles, with topics spanning from psychology to ecology to cosmology, will help you stretch your ability to read scientific material. And you might learn some legitimately interesting things, too.

And if you prefer to consume your nonfiction in shorter formats, here are a few of our favorites:

The Electric Typewriter: 150 articles that will make you think
The Marginalian: A collection of articles focused on art, philosophy, and literature
Scientific American: A science magazine, if that wasn't immediately apparent
The Economist: A periodical focused on business and current events