All CoursesAs a GMAT aspirant, wanting to score 760 or higher is natural. If you are studying for the GMAT exam and have nearly three months of preparation time at your disposal, you need a strategic study roadmap to achieve this target. While some test-takers try completing GMAT preparation in 2 months, we highly recommend having a 3-month plan for effective preparation. Our comprehensive 3-month GMAT study plan will help you prepare for the exam and pass with flying colours.
What is a 3-Month GMAT Study Plan?
As the name suggests, a 3-month study plan is a strategic approach to guide candidates in their GMAT preparation within three months. According to the statistics of GMAC (a non-profit organisation that owns and administers the GMAT exams) and recommendations of GMAT tutors and admission counsellors, a duration of three months is the ideal preparation time for this exam.
This 3-month duration is adequate for studying the basic concepts and testing the understanding of the same in the several mock tests attempted during preparation.
Who Can Benefit from the 3-Month GMAT Study Plan?
The GMAT 3-month study plan is rewarding if you are a college student or a young professional (with a few years of work experience) and cannot afford to compromise your daily academic study or work commitments.
The rationale is that as a prospective candidate in either of these categories, you can effortlessly get back to a study regimen that you have been following for the last few years. Hence, devoting additional 2-3 hours daily as per the 3-month study plan would not be much of a hassle for you.
If you are a high-ranking and more experienced working professional, you may not be able to excuse yourself from work to add to your preparation time. The 3-month study plan for GMAT will keep your exam preparation organised, consequently reducing the chances of wasting your valuable time.
The GMAT 3-month study plan is also beneficial for those aspirants who are well-versed with the basic concepts and want to make steady headway in the intermediate and advanced concepts. It is also great for aspirants lacking preparation in a few sections and looking to strengthen them through rigorous practice. The plan helps reduce anxiety, boosts your morale and confidence, and prepares you well for the exam.
Time Management – The Ethos of the Plan
Time is of the essence in the 3-month study plan for GMAT. On average, this plan requires you to devote 250 hours to learn the basic concepts and another 100 to apply these concepts to the actual GMAT questions and solve practice questions of all levels.
Taking a bottom-up approach to exam preparation, you will need to intensively dedicate 3-4 hours every day to initially study the basic concepts thoroughly and then gradually progress to the advanced concepts.
You must understand the significance of consistent practice and efficient time management that are the key to ace the GMAT test.
The Pre-Preparation Actions
Follow the below-mentioned preliminary steps to prepare yourself for the 3-month GMAT study plan:
- Take a diagnostic test (a full-length computerised practice test) to get a ballpark figure of your targeted GMAT score and understand your current preparation level. The test score reveals your strengths and weaknesses with relevant explanations and highlights the focus areas for the next three months.
You can set specific goals for each study session with guided timelines to maximise your scores. The results of the diagnostic test set the stage to customise and design your 3-month GMAT study plan.
- The next step is to accumulate high-quality preparation materials (online and offline) that cover all the GMAT contents and syllabus. Select materials written or curated by renowned authors containing various practice questions and valuable tips to approach each section and question type.
- Lastly, set a daily study schedule, mark it on your calendar, and stick to it. You should know your daily study routine and methodology. It ensures discipline and consistency in exam preparation.
3-Month GMAT Study Schedule
Presented below is the month-wise study schedule that you can follow during the 3-month study plan for GMAT. The study plan is further segregated into the week-wise study schedules where a week comprises six days of study time and one day as a rest day.
| Month 1 (Verbal Section) | Number of Hours |
| Week 1 Go through the Official Guide Questions for all the sections of the GMAT GMAT Practice Test Sentence Correction – Concepts | 2 hours 3 hours 2 hours/day for four days |
| Week 2 Sentence Correction – Practice Questions | 3 hours/day for two days |
| Critical Reasoning – Concepts | 2 hours/day for four days |
| Week 3 Critical Reasoning – Practice Questions Reading Comprehension – Concepts | 3 hours/day for five days 2 hours/day once a week |
| Week 4 Reading Comprehension – Practice Questions Sentence Correction – Revision | 3 hours/day five days 2 hours/day once a week |
| Month 2 (Quant Section) | Number of Hours |
| Week 5 Critical Reasoning – Revision Reading Comprehension – Revision Mock Test of Verbal Section Algebra – Concepts | 3 hours/day once a week 3 hours/day once a week 1 hour 2 hours/day for three days |
| Week 6 Algebra – Practice Questions Arithmetic – Concepts | 3 hours/day for three days 2 hours/day for three days |
| Week 7 Arithmetic – Practice Questions Geometry – Concepts | 3 hours/day for two days 2 hours/day for four days |
| Week 8 Data Sufficiency – Concepts Problem Solving (Word Problems) | 2 hours/day throughout the week 3 hours/day for five days |
| Week 9 Revision of Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry and Data Sufficiency Questions Problem Solving – Practice Questions Mock Test of Quant | 2 hours/day on each section 2 hours/day for three days Two tests of 1 hour each |
| Month 3 (Integrated Reasoning + Analytical Writing) | Number of Hours |
| Week 10 IR Topics (Multi-Source Reasoning, Table Analysis, Graphics Interpretation, Two-Part Analysis) – Concepts | 2 hours/day on each topic |
| Week 11 Revision and Practice Questions of IR Topics Analytical Writing – Concepts | 3 hours/day on each topic 2 hours/day for three days |
| Week 12 Analytical Writing (Essay Writing) – Practice Questions Mock Test of Integrated Reasoning Mock Test of Analytical Writing | 2 hours/day for four days Two tests of 0.5 hours each Two tests of 0.5 hours each |
| Week 13 Revision (All Sections)Two Full-Length Mock Tests | Variable, as per preparation |
The above study plan for GMAT is flexible and exclusively for your reference. You can modify the daily study hours and topics as per the vigour of your preparation and your grasping level of the subjects.
Tips to Follow the GMAT 3-Month Study Plan
- Kick-Start with a Two-Month Study Plan
During the first two months of the GMAT study plan, spend the initial four weeks understanding the basic concepts and simultaneously familiarising yourself with the shortcuts. Uniformly dedicate your study sessions to the different sections (Analytical Writing, Integrated Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning) yet devote more time to weaker sections.
On gaining confidence in the basic concepts of Verbal and Quant sections, you can then progress to the intermediate and advanced questions. To avoid monotony, you can alternate between the different sections during your daily study time instead of studying a single topic or section throughout the week.
- Practice More in the Last Month
The last month requires you to accelerate your preparation. It is the time to practice more questions through mock tests and quizzes and cover all the topics of the preliminary sections.
Consequently, you gain the confidence to solve these questions on diverse topics for several difficulty levels. Once you reach this stage, you can progress to practising more questions under other complicated sections. The mantra is to keep challenging yourself with tough questions. The more you practice, the better is your proficiency, accuracy, and momentum to solve the section-wise questions.
- Take Regular Mock Tests
Mock Tests familiarise you with the different question types, formats, order of the sections, and the test interface. It aids in assessing your concept absorption and retention.
You can track your preparation and focus on any specific improvement or weak areas (or topics). You can then revisit your study plans and revise them to stay more focused on the weaker sections, re-do the questions faster, and correct the errors of the mock tests taken earlier. After all, it is also imperative to gauge progress to discern the improvement made and pat yourself on the back!
- Defer the Test If Unprepared
Even after taking several mock tests, you may feel that your practice test score is not good enough, and you may not be satisfied with your performance. In such cases, it is wise to postpone the test date. You can take the exam when you feel better prepared to face the challenge. You can also seek professional advice to make an informed decision.
Conclusion
As a GMAT aspirant, you must have a study plan for GMAT ready with you and dedicate the GMAT preparation time required to complete the syllabus. The 3-month GMAT study plan suggested in this article is a strategised methodology to prepare for all the sections covered under the GMAT syllabus.
The study plan offers the flexibility to make personalised modifications based on your target score, daily study hours bandwidth, and how prepared you are for different topics and sections.
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