Creating a GMAT Study Schedule
Written by Manhattan Prep Powered by Kaplan experts, reviewed by Stacey Koprince. Stacey Koprince is a 99th-percentile GMAT, GRE, and EA instructor and the head of Manhattan Prep’s content and curriculum department.
Studying for the GMAT is a serious time commitment. Most people looking for a competitive GMAT score study for 80 or more hours, usually spread over 3 to 6 months while working full-time. The time commitment can vary depending on several variables, including your:
- Goal score
- Starting score
- Work or school schedule
- Family or life obligations
The GMAT is not a test that you can cram for because it’s not really a “math and verbal” test (though it does test those skills). At heart, the GMAT tests your executive reasoning skills—your decision-making, your ability to logic your way through new set-ups, basically how you think.
Because the GMAT tests your critical thinking and analytical ability, it takes time and practice to push these skills to a competitive scoring level. Do yourself the favor of giving yourself at least three months to study for the GMAT.
GMAT Self Study Plan vs Prep Course – Pros and Cons
You can develop your own study plan or use a comprehensive prep course put together by a company. The tradeoff, as always, is time vs. money. In general, you’ll spend more time, but less money, putting together your own study plan. The decision is similar to taking your car to the mechanic or fixing it yourself.
| Self Study Plan | Prep Course | |
|---|---|---|
| Study materials | Determine what materials to buy and from which sources | All materials included in program |
| Overall study plan | Research and plan for yourself | Fully mapped out study plan provided |
| Daily / weekly homework | Plan for yourself at the beginning of each week | Follow the study calendar in your online platform |
| Practice exams | – Determine when to take – Analyze questions afterwards – Determine how to aggregate and analyze the data | – Take as assigned – Analyze questions afterwards – Review data analytics and insights provided by platform |
| Cost | Usually less expensive | Usually more expensive |
A comprehensive program will provide all of the resources that you need to study as well as a detailed study calendar. You really just need to log in each day, complete the assignments that your study calendar tells you to do, and, if you’re taking a live class, come to class prepared to participate. But you will likely pay more for the privilege of not having to plan any of these details yourself.
If you devise your own study plan, you’ll need to determine what materials you want to use (sometimes from different sources) and how you want to combine them into a cohesive study plan. You’ll also need to plan what you’re going to do every day for the duration of your studies. But you will also save money by doing these things yourself.
Tips for Creating a Detailed GMAT Study Schedule
First, do some research. Business schools post their average GMAT scores for admitted students, so gather some data from your target schools to get an idea of your goal score.
Next, take a week to learn the very basics about the GMAT (use free resources) and then take a free official practice exam. Now you know your starting point.
Mark specific study appointments on your calendar 4 to 5 days per week—and keep them! It’s easy to procrastinate, so find a way to stay accountable. Some ideas: a study buddy, calendar reminders, a reward after each study session.
Aim for 30 minutes to 2 hours for a single study session. On work days, you might do two 30-minute sessions (for example, morning and evening). On non-work days, you might do 1 hour in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. If you’re going to study more than 2 hours in a day, make sure to give yourself a good break—when your brain gets tired, it doesn’t learn as well.
If you are devising your own study plan, at the beginning of each week, take half an hour to decide what you want to do during each study session that week, based on your GMAT prep books and whatever official GMAT materials you’re using (we highly recommend the Official Guide and the official practice exams).
Every 3 to 4 weeks, schedule a practice test; you’ll need 2 hours 15 minutes to take it. Plan to spend about twice that amount of time reviewing it (spread this across several study sessions). Use your analysis to help prioritize your study sessions in the following weeks.
Initially, you’ll be focused on mastery of the different question types and topic areas. You’ll also want to incorporate time management and mixed practice as you get deeper into your studies.
What GMAT Topics To Focus On
The Quant and Data Insights sections test certain quant topics, many of which you’ll also need to know for business school. The major categories are Algebra, Statistics, Number Properties, and Fractions, Percents, and Ratios.
| Quant Category | Quant Topics | Frequency | Used in B-school? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Algebra | Exponents and Roots | Common | Exponents |
| Linear Equations | Common | Yes | |
| Quadratic Equations | Medium | ||
| Sequences / Formulas | Common | Yes | |
| Inequalities | Common | Yes | |
| Statistics and Stories | Average, Median, Mode, Consecutive Integers | Common | Yes |
| Weighted Average | Common | Yes | |
| Standard Deviation | Medium | Yes | |
| Correlation (Positive, Negative) | Common | Yes | |
| Rates, Work, Overlapping Sets | Common | ||
| Fractions, Percents, Ratios (aka Business Math) | Fractions | Common | Yes |
| Percents | Common | Yes | |
| Ratios | Common | Yes | |
| Digits, Decimals | Medium | Yes | |
| Number Properties | Divisibility, Prime | Common | |
| Positive/Negative, Odd/Even | Common | ||
| Probability | Medium | Yes | |
| Combinatorics/Counting | Medium |
Certain math topics tested on the GMAT are also commonly used in business school, so your GMAT studies will actually help you get ready for b-school as well, including Statistics, Fractions, Percents, Ratios, and a few algebra topics.
On the “non-math” side, you don’t have to learn specific facts or rules. Instead, for both Verbal and Data Insights non-math problems, you’ll be using a combination of analytical reasoning, logic, and comprehension skills.
For the non-verbal question types, your focus will be learning the common ways that they ask you to analyze, like inferring (drawing a conclusion), finding an assumption or specific detail, strengthening or weakening, identifying why an author included certain info or what role certain info played in the given argument or story.
How Long Does GMAT Prep Take?
Most people looking for a competitive GMAT score study for 100+ hours, usually spread over 3 to 6 months.
| Desired score increase | Study time for 8-12 hrs/wk | Study time for 3-6 hrs/wk |
|---|---|---|
| 30-50 points | 1-2 months | 2-4 months |
| 70-150+ points | 3-4 months | 6-8 months |
If you’re looking for an increase of 30 to 50 points, most people need 1 to 2 months, studying about 8 to 12 hours a week. If you’re looking for an increase of 70 to 150+ points, most people need 3 to 4 months, studying about 8 to 12 hours a week. If you can only study 6 or fewer hours in a week, add another 1-2 months if you’re looking for a 30-50 point increase and add another 3-4 months if you’re looking for a 70-150+ point increase.
Finally, if you’re already at a higher scoring level (645+) and looking for an exceptionally high score (685+), you may need as much as double the time listed in the table . The higher the score you’re trying to get, the more effort it takes. It’s the difference between going on a local hike and trying to climb a real mountain!
How To Find GMAT Study Time
“I can’t find enough time to study!” is a common problem among people getting ready for the GMAT. So one thing a GMAT prep coach might offer to help you with is how to find the study time when you need it most. For example, many test-takers make the mistake of trying to find too much time in one block.
You don’t need to study for 2+ hours in one sitting. Use the time you have! 20 minutes on the train during your morning commute? Use flashcards to drill. Have a lunch break you can spend quietly at your desk? Review approaches to tackling Critical Reasoning questions. Online GMAT prep tools give you quick practice when you have a short break or are on the go. When you have the ability to sit and write, take 30 minutes to dive into GMAT book prep. You don’t have to finish an entire chapter in one sitting.
On weekday evenings, practice with test-like online GMAT questions in whatever study time you have available. Use the Kaplan GMAT Qbank to create quizzes for whatever content, question types, and difficulty levels you need practice with. Getting used to answering test-like questions on a computer is essential, since that’s how the real test is given. It’s awkward to repeatedly look up at the problem and then down at your scratch paper. Practice makes perfect.
Take breaks while studying for the gmat
When setting up your study sessions, build in break time. If you want to study for two hours, take a 10-minute break halfway through. Stand up, walk around, and ignore your phone. Have something to eat or drink. Give your brain a true break.
Or follow the Pomodoro method: For every 30 minute block of time, you work (without stopping!) for 25 minutes and then give yourself a 5-minute break.
Schedule a gmat practice test early
Take your first practice test before you feel ready. Seriously! Take no more than a week to learn the very basics (like how each question type works) and then just dive into the practice test.
That test will give you a baseline readout on your strengths and weaknesses. You’ll also be able to see where you might be having time management issues or where you feel extra nervous vs. comfortable. This data is incredibly valuable because it will help you to prioritize your studies.
If you’re devising your own study plan, you absolutely have to have this data just to get started. But even if you’re taking a prep course, this data will help you to predict where you’re going to need to spend more vs. less time as you follow the study plan that you’ve chosen. If Fractions and Ratios are coming up on Tuesday and you already know that this area gives you a headache, you can plan to spend some extra time. And you can get that time from Thursday, which is slated for Critical Reasoning—but you already know that you feel pretty good about that question type.
Kaplan’s GMAT practice test has been consistently ranked by third-parties as the Best GMAT Practice Test.* But don’t just take our word for it, hear what education experts have to say about what makes Kaplan’s practice test stand out from the competition:
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GMAT Study Plan Tips for ESL Speakers
If English is your second language, you have to deal with an extra cognitive load when taking any test in English. There are two things you can do to help minimize this load:
- Read “academic” English for 10-15 minutes most days of the week.
- Build mental stamina during your practice sessions.
(These two steps are useful even if English is your first language!)
1. Read Academic English for 10-15 minutes a day.
In business school, you’ll be reading academic texts and case studies every day, so get a head start now. Look for dense, business- or science-oriented English publications to naturally improve reading speed, vocabulary, and familiarity with complex English sentence structures
These are good free sources:
- Scientific American
- University of Chicago Magazine (use the Topics filter to find relevant material)
These sources have some free content but require a subscription to see everything:
You may see some “lighter” content in these sources that are more enjoyable to read, but push yourself to read “university” level or more dense articles to simulate what you’ll see on the GMAT and in business school.
You don’t have to read a ton (you don’t even have to finish the whole article). Just read for 10-15 minutes most days of the week and, in 4 to 6 months, your brain will be much better equipped to handle this academic language.
2. Build mental stamina during your practice sessions.
About once a week, sit down for a 1.5 hour block of study time. Spend 5 to 10 minutes upfront putting together a plan for the entire block of time. So that you don’t run out of material earlier than you expected, plan enough content for about 2 hours’ worth of study.
When you’ve got your plan, go without stopping for 45 minutes (the length of one section of the test). Put your phone in a different room, don’t talk to anyone in your household (go to the library if needed!), don’t get up to get a snack. If you finish one activity, don’t spend time deciding what to do next—just go to the next thing on the list you already made. Pretend it’s the real test and you literally can’t stop.
Then, take a 10-minute break (and time it!). During this break, still do not pick up your phone or go online. Stand up, walk around, stretch, have something to eat. Again, pretend it’s the real test and you’re on your break.
When the 10 minutes are up, sit down again and go without stopping for another 45 minutes.
Two mini-tips for this exercise
- Do this on a non-work day or do it earlier in the day, when you’re still more mentally fresh. Make this the first mentally challenging thing you do on this day.
- If you want to study more than 1.5 hours on this same day, give yourself a substantial break (at least 2 hours) before you do any more studying. Clean the house, watch TV, go outside, run errands. Give your brain a break—it’s going to need it.
How Long Should I Study for the GMAT?
Most of us should spend about three months studying for the GMAT. However, your perfect GMAT timeline might look different.
How Long Do People Study for the GMAT?
In 2016 and 2017, the GMAC included a question about how long people study for the GMAT on their yearly test-taker survey. Here’s a page showing some results from 2016, and here’s a different view from 2017.
In 2016, just over half of all test-takers studied for 50 hours or more, and a quarter studied for more than 100 hours. The more hours a test-taker spent studying, the higher their score was likely to be. At the high end, people who scored 700+ on the GMAT studied for a median time of 90 hours before taking the test.
That information shows that the GMAT isn’t just about your natural abilities. People who get a great score on the GMAT don’t get there overnight! On average, high scorers are studying more than everyone else.
The 2017 data is segmented by location, and it shows the number of weeks or months spent studying, rather than the number of hours. In the United States, the median number of study hours was 48, and the median number of weeks spent studying was between four and six.
So the average GMAT test-taker probably studies for around 50 hours, over the course of 1 to 1.5 months. However, high scorers study more than this.
How to Have a Productive GMAT Study Week
Studying for the GMAT is an intellectually demanding activity. Regardless of how long you study for the GMAT, if you don’t feel challenged, you’re probably studying too passively. On top of that, you shouldn’t quit your job to study for the GMAT. And there’s the rest of the application process, such as writing your essays, to think about.
You’ll need to balance the intellectual challenges of studying for the GMAT with the other demands of your life. Because you’re human, you can only put in a certain amount of brain work in one day before you no longer get anything out of it. You’re also limited by your natural attention span: your brain can focus for about 90 minutes before it needs a break.
However, studying for the GMAT every day—or almost every day—is important too. Especially when you first learn a new concept, revisiting it frequently, in small chunks, is a good way to build durable memories.
To sum it up, your study week should include study sessions nearly every day, but you should avoid studying for more than a few hours in one day, and you should take a break at least every 90 minutes. How many hours can you fit in by doing that? Here’s an example study calendar. This calendar includes a couple of quick early-morning problem sessions (set your alarm half an hour earlier), an hour or two of studying most days after work, and a longer session on one weekend day.
What If Studying for the GMAT Takes More Than Three Months?
You might want to answer “how long should I study for the GMAT?” with “as long as possible!”. After all, if high scorers study more, then the more you study, the better—right?
That’s only true up to a certain point. We already discussed the challenge of staying actively engaged with your studies. More importantly, if you spend too long studying for the GMAT, you risk burning out. Studying, especially on top of a full-time job, can be exhausting. And you can’t study your way out of GMAT burnout. The only solution to burnout is to take a serious break from the GMAT and allow yourself to mentally recover. In fact, burnout may be why your score isn’t going up—and studying even harder, and for even longer, can leave you stuck in a vicious cycle of exhaustion and frustration.
If you’re well over the three-month mark and your scores aren’t improving despite consistent work, it’s time for two things: a break from the GMAT, and then a drastic change in how or what you’re studying. Don’t worry about forgetting everything you’ve already learned! You definitely won’t forget everything—and when you do forget something, learning science suggests that re-learning it will only result in stronger memories.
Be aware that your practice tests probably won’t improve linearly. If you haven’t put in at least a couple of months, be patient and trust the process. You shouldn’t plan on studying for the GMAT forever. About three months of consistent work is enough time to familiarize yourself with the material and learn how to take the test. That doesn’t mean that everybody will reach their goal score in a few months—but if you’re spending too much time on the GMAT and you’re starting to burn out, you’ll need to make some changes to reach your goal.
When Should I Take the GMAT?
You should take the GMAT before you apply to your target schools. If you’re applying during the first round, that usually means that you should take it by September or October. If you’re waiting for the second round, your deadline could be anywhere from October to March. Some schools are outliers, with very early or very late application deadlines. Make yourself a spreadsheet of deadlines early in the process to avoid nasty surprises.
The GMAT is offered year-round on every day of the week. However, testing centers have limited seats, and some centers and dates fill up quickly. Even if you don’t know exactly when you should take the test, keep an eye on the availability at your testing center.
When Should I Take the GMAT If I Don’t Have a Deadline?
If you have the luxury of not having a deadline, there are two things you can do. One is to just set a deadline for yourself. Go ahead and schedule your first GMAT about 3 months from now. Knowing that the test is coming up can be a huge motivator. The other option is to watch and wait. If you go this route, you should take a practice test every two or three weeks, regularly. Once your practice tests are consistently close to your GMAT goal score, you’re ready to register for the test. A good rule of thumb is to wait until you’ve scored within 30 points of your goal score twice in a row. And if it just doesn’t seem to be happening? It may be time for a change in your studies, such as signing up for a GMAT Course or GMAT tutoring.
Should I Quit My Job To Study for the GMAT?
No, you should not quit your job to improve your GMAT score or prepare for the GMAT. Simply put, it sends a bad message to your future employers. Also in your application, you will need to account for any time off. If you note that you quit your job to study for the GMAT, you will place yourself at a relative disadvantage to others who have proved that they can manage work, study, and possibly volunteer work simultaneously.
