Last Updated on November 23, 2023
If you’re planning to take the GMAT to apply to business schools, you’re likely aware that getting a good GMAT score for your target MBA programs will take some preparation. In fact, the GMAT preparation strategy you use can make or break your test day success. So, in this article, I’ll provide a comprehensive GMAT preparation guide with which you can optimize your GMAT studying and achieve the results you want on test day.
Here are the topics we’ll cover:
- GMAT Preparation: 5 First Steps
- The Most Effective GMAT Study Plan: 3 Steps for Success
- Study Data Insights Last
- Keep an Error Log
- Review Regularly to Retain Knowledge and Skills
- Wrap Up Your Learning With Global Review and Practice
- The Practice Test Phase
- Scheduling Your GMAT
- The Final Week
- Key Takeaways: What Are the Best GMAT Preparation Strategies?
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- What’s Next?
Let’s begin by discussing how to get started with your GMAT prep.
GMAT Preparation: 5 First Steps
There are 5 key steps you should take at the beginning of your GMAT test prep:
- Familiarize yourself with the GMAT format.
- Familiarize yourself with the GMAT question types.
- Get your baseline with a practice test.
- Project a preparation timeline.
- Select preparation resources.
Let’s discuss each.
#1: Familiarize Yourself With the GMAT Format
When you begin your GMAT prep, the first step to take is to get to know the test. After all, you’ll plan your GMAT preparation and study for the GMAT most effectively if you’re clear about what you’re dealing with.
So, take a little time to familiarize yourself with the test format by reading our post on the format of the standard GMAT or our post on the GMAT Focus Edition.
TTP PRO TIP:
The first step in your GMAT prep should be to familiarize yourself with the test format.
#2: Familiarize Yourself With the GMAT Question Types
Step 2 in starting your GMAT prep is to develop a basic understanding of the GMAT question types. To do so, find a reputable source of GMAT practice questions. One source you could use is the Starter Kit available on mba.com. Another source is the Target Test Prep GMAT course, which you can use for this purpose by signing up for the 5-day trial, which is only $1.
Once you have a source of practice questions, answer a handful of questions of each type. As you answer them, observe their structure and think about what might be good ways to find correct answers to them.
Also, if you use the Target Test Prep course, you can read introductory chapters such as Introduction to the Quantitative Section and Introduction to Critical Reasoning to get some basic information on how to answer each type of question.
The process of familiarizing yourself with the GMAT format and question types could take around 10 to 20 hours, depending on how much you want to do before you take your first practice test. Just don’t go overboard! You haven’t created your study plan yet, so now is not the time to really start studying.
TTP PRO TIP:
Analyze and answer a few of each type of GMAT question to gain a basic familiarity with what you’ll be studying.
#3: Get Your Baseline With a Practice Test
Step 3 is to take a practice test in order to see what challenges you’ll face on test day. Doing so is super valuable because it will enable you to prepare effectively, since you’ll understand what you’re preparing for.
Most importantly, by taking a practice test, you’ll get a baseline score. Having a baseline score is helpful because the score indicates your current level of preparedness for the GMAT. So, you can use the difference between your baseline and target scores to get a sense of how much you’ll need to do to achieve your target score, and thus you can be realistic about how you plan your GMAT preparation.
The best practice test to use for this purpose is one of the two free official GMAT practice tests in the Starter Kit available on mba.com.
TTP PRO TIP:
Once you have basic familiarity with the GMAT format and question types, take a full-length, official practice to get your baseline score.
#4: Create a Preparation Timeline
Having taken a baseline test, you can now estimate how long it will take to achieve your score goal. While you won’t know exactly how long your prep will take, you can at least get a rough idea.
It normally takes GMAT students around 100 to 150 hours of study time to achieve a 100-point score increase, though some students need significantly less or more time.
Additional score improvements often take longer. So, another 100 points might take 150 to 200 hours more. A third 100 points could take 200 to 300 hours more.
Now, these are rough figures. You may need more or less time to achieve such increases. However, you can use these figures to at least get a starting sense of how much time you’ll need.
A typical study schedule is to study for about 2 hours each weekday and 4 to 5 hours each weekend day. If you use that schedule, you’ll get in about 18 to 20 hours of GMAT study per week.
To determine how long it may take to achieve your goal, you can divide your total expected preparation time by the number of hours you can prepare each week. For example, say you want to achieve a 100-point increase, you think you’ll need 150 hours to do so, and you can study for 18 hours a week. In that case, divide 150 by 18 to get 8.33 weeks, or around two months to achieve your goal.
TTP PRO TIP:
To determine how long you may need to achieve your score goal, divide your total expected preparation time by the number of hours you can prepare each week.
#5: Select Preparation Resources
At this point, you’ll be familiar with the GMAT and have a sense of how much studying you’ll need to do to achieve your goal. So, you’ll be ready to select appropriate GMAT preparation resources.
If your practice test score is within 30 points of your target score, you probably don’t need more than some official practice questions to tune up your skills. In that case, the Official Guide e-book and its associated online question bank, plus the remaining official practice tests, may be all you need. If you have much further than 30 points to go, then you’ll likely need more comprehensive study materials to support your preparation.
One great resource is the Target Test Prep self-study course, which covers in-depth everything you need to know for the GMAT. If you’re interested in learning about other preparation options and how self-study compares with them, check out our guide to online coaching for the GMAT.
TTP PRO TIP:
Choose a comprehensive study resource if you need to increase your GMAT score by more than 30 points.
Having taken these first steps, you’re now ready to master the GMAT. So, let’s discuss how to do so.
The Most Effective GMAT Study Plan: 3 Steps for Success
Regardless of what GMAT prep materials you use or what your target score is, the best GMAT study plans all involve basically the same approach. That approach is to focus on one GMAT topic at a time. By working on one topic at a time, you methodically develop your skills and increase your score until, eventually, you master the entire test.
So, let’s discuss the 3 key steps for working on one GMAT topic at a time.
#1: Start by Learning the Concepts and Strategies for a Topic
Every GMAT topic involves some concepts. Also, for most GMAT topics, there are specific strategies you can use to answer questions involving the topic. So, the first step in mastering a GMAT topic is to learn concepts and strategies involved in the topic.
When you learn the concepts and strategies, you’ll do best if you learn the logic underlying them rather than just memorize them. By understanding the underlying logic, you’ll be better able to apply what you learn, and concepts and strategies will be easier to remember.
By understanding the underlying logic, you’ll be better able to apply what you learn, and concepts and strategies will be easier to remember.
#2: Do Practice Questions on the Topic Untimed
Once you’ve learned the relevant concepts and strategies, your next step in mastering a topic is to answer practice questions involving the topic untimed. In other words, at this stage, your goal is to do whatever it takes to get questions correct, including taking all the time you need.
GMAT test-takers often skip this step, thinking that they need to practice with a timer to learn to answer questions quickly. That idea is incorrect. In fact, you’ll end up answering questions faster later if you practice untimed at first because by practicing untimed, you’ll develop strong skills. Skill is what makes you accurate and fast.
So, one of the best GMAT preparation tips I can provide is, to master each GMAT topic, do dozens of practice questions on the topic untimed and shoot for high accuracy.
TTP PRO TIP:
Untimed topic-focused practice is key to mastery of the GMAT.
#3: Work on Speeding Up
The final step in mastering a GMAT topic is to work on speed. In other words, once you’re consistently getting questions on a topic correct, you can work on answering them faster.
Since you’ve been practicing untimed, you have a good sense of some of the best ways of answering the questions. At this stage, you can refine your approaches and start imposing time constraints. Don’t begin at test pace, however. Gradually decrease the amount of time you allot for each question, so that you can maintain accuracy while working toward test pace. (If you’re a TTP course user, the course will recommend pacing times to you at strategic points in your study plan.)
Once you’re answering questions on a topic at test pace, you can move on to the next topic and use the same 3-step approach to master it. Each time you master a topic, you will have driven your expected GMAT score higher. So, you can celebrate the mastery of a topic as a win in your GMAT prep game.
For more on answering GMAT questions faster, see our post on how to get faster at GMAT Quant and our post on how to get faster at GMAT Verbal.
You can celebrate the mastery of a topic as a win in your GMAT prep game.
Let’s now discuss the best order in which to study GMAT topics.
Study Data Insights Last
The best order in which to study GMAT topics is to work on the Quantitative and Verbal sections first. You can study these two sections side by side, perhaps on alternating days. Then, once you’ve mastered Quant and Verbal, move on to studying Data Insights.
This order works best because knowledge and skills you develop in Quant and Verbal apply to Data Insights, too. For instance, a Quantitative section strategy used for answering percent change questions can be useful for answering Graphics Interpretation or Table Analysis questions. Or a Verbal section strategy for finding information in a passage can help you answer Multi-Source Reasoning questions.
The one exception to this guideline is Data Sufficiency (DS). Although on the GMAT Focus Edition, DS questions appear in the Data Insights section, it makes sense to study DS along with Quant. The reason is that concepts and skills used in answering DS questions are basically the same as those used in answering certain types of Quant questions.
If you’re using the TTP course, you don’t have to worry about planning when to work in DS study and Data Insights study. Your study plan will include these lessons at the appropriate points.
TTP PRO TIP:
Other than Data Sufficiency questions, Data Insights questions should be studied after Quant and Verbal.
Let’s now discuss a key part of any effective GMAT study plan, keeping an error log.
Keep an Error Log
A key aspect of GMAT success is reducing the number of mistakes you make and thus increasing the percentage of questions you get correct. A key tool that can help you accomplish these tasks is an error log.
An error log is basically a list that contains the following information:
- the practice questions you missed
- the errors you made on those questions
- the reasons for those errors
- strategies for avoiding making those errors again
For example, let’s say you just did a set of 10 Critical Reasoning questions, and you missed 2 questions. You would analyze the missed questions and add the above types of information about those questions to your error log.
The goal of keeping an error log is to help yourself make the positive changes in behavior you need to make to get more questions correct and achieve your goal. So, use the information you collect to identify patterns to the reasons you miss questions. Then, address those reasons to improve your performance.
Just remember not to get so involved in your error log that it starts taking up too much of your time. Of course, if you’re using the TTP course, you have access to a built-in error log that makes logging and analyzing your mistakes quick and easy.
For more detail on how to create and use an error log, you can read our post on keeping a GMAT error log.
TTP PRO TIP:
A GMAT error log can help you identify the mistakes you’re making and why you’re making them.
Let’s now discuss another key aspect of effective GMAT preparation, regularly reviewing what you’ve learned.
Review Regularly to Retain Knowledge and Skills
We’ve talked about the effectiveness of topical learning and practice for mastering the GMAT. However, as you get further along in your GMAT prep and master new topics, retaining everything you’ve learned and having it ready for quick recall may become challenging. Thus, it becomes crucial to integrate review into your study routine. So, you can start reviewing past topics weekly. There are a couple of effective ways to do so.
For one, you can use flashcards. You can create your own flashcards and/or use premade ones, such as those included in the TTP course. Digital flashcards are great because you can easily access them on your phone for quick-hit studying when you’re on the go.
Another good approach is to do sets of mixed questions on topics you studied previously. Perhaps it has been weeks since you last studied roots and exponents or percent change. Doing a mixed set of questions involving those topics is a great way to keep your skills sharp. Also, your results on the practice set will indicate any knowledge or skill gaps you may have in the topics, and thus highlight subjects that warrant further study or review.
TTP PRO TIP:
To retain knowledge and skills as you prepare for the GMAT, review previously studied topics by using flashcards or doing mixed sets of practice questions.
Let’s now discuss the final steps you can take to wrap up your preparation and achieve your GMAT goal.
Wrap Up Your Learning With Global Review and Practice
Once you’ve covered every GMAT topic, or at least as many as you need to cover to achieve your goal, you can complete your study by doing a global review of topics and completing mixed practice.
So, you can review concepts, rules, formulas, and strategies for answering GMAT questions. Also, you can do mixed practice sets and answer questions of every Quant, Verbal, and Data Insights question type. This review and practice will bring your skills to peak levels and allow you to discover any knowledge or skill gaps you may still have, so you can address them before test day.
TTP PRO TIP:
To complete your GMAT prep, do a global review and mixed practice of all GMAT topics.
After you’ve completed your study and review of GMAT topics, it’s time to move on to the practice test phase of your preparation. Let’s discuss that now.
The Practice Test Phase
While you’re studying GMAT topics, it generally doesn’t make sense to take practice tests. After all, there are a limited number of high-quality GMAT practice tests, and taking one in the middle of your prep will just tell you what you already know: that you haven’t covered all the topics yet.
So, it makes sense to take your practice tests, at least most of them, at the end of your preparation. Then, you can use them to assess your readiness to achieve your goal and practice test-taking strategies and time-management.
The best practice tests to use toward the end of your preparation are the official practice tests from mba.com. If you took one as a baseline test early in your prep, you’ll have 5 of the 6 tests remaining.
Generally, it makes sense to take a practice test every 5 to 10 days during this phase of your preparation. Between tests, you can review your results on the latest test, and then review study material in accordance with what your performance on that test indicates about your strengths and weaknesses.
Ideally, during the practice test phase of your preparation, your score will increase from one test to the next. However, if it doesn’t, don’t panic! GMAT students’ practice exam scores often fluctuate or plateau before they increase. As long as things are moving in the right direction once you’re a few tests in, you should be fine.
For more information on the practice test phase, see our post on GMAT practice test strategy.
TTP PRO TIP:
To complete your preparation and to practice handling the test overall, take full-length practice tests and use your test performance as an indicator of where to brush up.
A final and exciting step of your GMAT journey is to schedule your test.
Scheduling Your GMAT
The most strategic way to schedule your GMAT is to wait to schedule your test until you’ve achieved your target score on two or more practice tests. Alternatively, you could schedule your test about a month from the beginning of the practice test phase of your prep.
In some cases, however, there is a reason to schedule your test further in advance. For example, perhaps there is only one test center near you, and it doesn’t have many slots available. In such a case, after preparing for your GMAT for a while, you can estimate when you’ll be ready for your test. Use the pace at which you’ve covered GMAT topics as evidence to determine how long you’ll need to cover enough topics to achieve your goal. Then, add another month or so to your timeline, for the practice test phase.
If possible, schedule your test for a time of day when you’ll be well-rested and alert. Then, take any remaining practice tests at the same time of day as your scheduled GMAT.
TTP PRO TIP:
The most strategic way to schedule your GMAT is to wait to schedule your test until you’ve achieved your target score on two or more practice tests.
The Final Week
During the week before your test, continue preparing, but don’t wear yourself out. Also, it’s best not to take more than 2 practice tests, maximum, during this week, and to have at least 2 days between your final practice test and your actual GMAT.
On the day before your GMAT, taper off your preparation. Keep practicing some to stay in GMAT mode, and review key concepts and formulas, but don’t try to cram new information.
On test day, warm up before the GMAT by doing a few easy or medium practice questions of various types. That way, you’ll already be in the game when you see the first question on the test. Once you start the test, focus on the question in front of you and let your score take care of itself. It’s time to play the game you’ve prepared for. If you’ve prepared effectively, achieving your target score will be the natural outcome!
TTP PRO TIP:
To be game ready when you see the first question on your GMAT, practice at least a little the day before, and warm up before the test by doing a few practice questions.
Key Takeaways: What Are the Best GMAT Preparation Strategies?
Here is what we’ve seen are the components of an effective study plan:
- Begin by familiarizing yourself with the GMAT format and questions types.
- Take an official practice test to get a baseline score and understand what you’re preparing for.
- Create a preparation timeline.
- Select preparation resources that fit what you need to accomplish to achieve your GMAT target score.
- Master the GMAT one topic at a time by first learning concepts and strategies, and then practicing.
- Study Quant and Verbal before Data Insights.
- Keep an error log to identify patterns in your mistakes and make changes in behavior so that you get more questions correct.
- Regularly review past topics to retain your knowledge and skills.
- Complete your preparation by taking full-length practice tests and studying in between to improve your performance from one test to the next.
Effective preparation works! By following a solid study plan, you can achieve your GMAT goal.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Let’s answer some common questions about GMAT preparation.
How Long Does It Take to Prepare for the GMAT?
The amount of time it takes to prepare for the GMAT varies from person to person. After all, GMAT students have different starting points and score goals. So, someone whose starting point is 500 and target score is 730 will typically take significantly longer to prepare than someone whose starting point is 640 and score goal is 690.
That said, GMAT students typically prepare for 2 to 4 months, or for 150 to 300 hours, to achieve their target scores.
Is 3 Months Enough for GMAT Preparation?
For a large proportion of GMAT aspirants, 3 months is enough time to prepare for the GMAT sufficiently to achieve their target scores. That said, a significant proportion of GMAT aspirants prepare for more than 3 months.
How Hard Is It to Get 700 on GMAT?
Roughly 15 to 20 percent of GMAT test-takers score 700 or higher on the GMAT. However, to score 700, GMAT aspirants typically prepare for about 300 hours. So, we can see that scoring 700 on the GMAT is challenging but doable with effective preparation.
For a more detailed answer to this question, see our post about how hard it is to score 700 on the GMAT.
What’s Next?
For some GMAT preparation tips for mastering Quant, see this GMAT Quant study guide.
Also, our post on how to score high on GMAT Verbal could be just what you need to take your score to the next level.
