How does an ideal study plan for GMAT look like? Have you ever wondered as to “how to study for GMAT efficiently” or “How can I score a 760 on the GMAT?” Many students ask us for study plans to ace the GMAT. We believe that general study plans are not efficient as every student is different and hence we believe in Personalised Study Plans. The amount of effort depends on whether you want to go from a 500 to 760 or 650 to 760. In addition to the amount of effort required you must understand that a score of 760 in GMAT corresponds to a 99 percentile. This means that only 1 percent of the students taking GMAT have scored equal to more than 760. In this article, we have provided you with two templates on GMAT Study Plan for 3 Months – Quant Driven as well as Verbal Driven.
Before you take a look at the template, watch this video that highlights 3 must known questions your GMAT Study plan should answer:
Here are a couple of success stories for you to read so as to understand what these high scorers do:
- Rhea scored a 760 on the GMAT. Read how she planned her studies to achieve this feat.
- Watch this video to learn how Anupriya scored 760 on GMAT in her first attempt.
GMAT Personalized Study Plan
The number of hours required for GMAT preparation really depend on an individual’s learning speed. However, on average, in order to properly complete the course and ensure you learn in the right manner, it takes around 250-300 hours. This includes all the three stages of learning (including the mocks and test taking strategies).
Individual time to complete each stage of GMAT preparation – GMAT Study Plan:
| Subsection | Number of hours |
| Verbal | 80 |
| Sentence Correction | 30 |
| Critical Reasoning | 30 |
| Reading Comprehension | 20 |
| Quant | 120 |
| Arithmetic | 60 |
| Algebra – Geometry | 60 |
- Foundations – 170 – 200 hours
- Cementing – 70-80 hours
- Test Readiness – 15-20 hours
Given above are templates for study plans for 150+ improvement using e-GMAT’s methodology. These plans are made keeping the following assumptions in mind:
Please note – These are only templates of the day-wise study plan that you should follow. In order to create your own custom plan, it is strongly advised to refer to the methodology advised in the next section.
If you are planning to take the GMAT, we can help you with a personalized study plan and give you access to quality online content to prepare. Write to us at acethegmat@e-gmat.com. We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on gmatclub with more than 2500+ reviews. Why don’t you take a free trial and judge it for yourself?
How to create GMAT study plan?
5 steps on how to create your GMAT study plan:
- Decide on your target Quant and Verbal Scores
- Estimate the amount of time you need
- Create the sequence of study
- Follow a structured approach to study for your target score
- Take mock tests & review your preparation
1. Decide on your target Quant and Verbal scores
You may be wondering why are we asking you to decide on target scores, isn’t it obvious that both these scores will have to be very high? The answer is yes and no both. Yes because you would need to do very well in both sections and no because you would still have the scope to leverage your strength.
This brings me to my next point – how do you leverage your strength and more importantly how would you determine what your strength is? If you are taking the GMAT for the first time you will know your relative strength by taking a Diagnostic Test. A good diagnostic test will tell you your percentile scores in each section. The section in which you have a higher percentile score and you feel more confident about is your relative strength. If you are a re-taker then you do not have to look any further than your ESR/scores in your official test.
Now once you know what your relative strength is you must decide on a target score that leverages it. What I mean by it is, if Verbal is your strength then you must plan a high score in Verbal and then score the minimum required number in Quant and if your strength is Quant then you must plan a high score in Quant, and get the minimum required number in Verbal. If you have gone through Anupriya’s success story shared above you will be able to see how she leveraged her strength, Verbal, to get to a 760. Below are some examples of how two students can leverage their different strengths to reach the same score:
If you are planning to take the GMAT, we can help you with a personalized study plan based upon your strengths and weakness. Why don’t you take a free trial and judge it for yourself? We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on gmatclub with more than 2060+ reviews.
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A high GMAT score has more value than just getting you into a top business school. Know more about the importance of GMAT and top 3 reasons of taking the GMAT
2. Estimate the amount of time you need
Why do you need to estimate the amount of time if it is a 3 months plan? Well because the daily commitment for each person will differ depending upon their starting ability. To go from a 500 something score to 760 will require much higher time than to go from a 650+ score to 760. The amount of time in months would remain the same but your daily commitment will change.
To learn how to estimate the amount of time required to reach 760 from your starting score, refer to Step 2 in our article on Personalised Study Plans. Once you have the estimate of the amount of time needed, plan that many hours in the first 2 months of your preparation.
For example, your estimate is 150 hours then you need to plan these 150 hours in the first two months i.e. at least 75 hours every month. Depending upon your work schedule you can plan these hours on weekdays or weekends. One hour on weekdays and 6 hours on weekends result in 70 hours of study in a month. On the other hand, if the estimate is 200 hours meaning 100 hours a month you would have to spend two hours on weekdays and 7 hours on weekends to complete your studies in two months.
For those of you who are wondering why I am asking you to complete your studies in 2 months, the reason is that the last month should be reserved for Mock Tests and refining, more on this later.
Watch this video to see how Carrie scored 750 in 3 months | Transcript included
Creating a sequence of study is important. It’s also important when it comes to MBA admissions. Here are 7 steps of getting into Harvard Business School
3. Create the Sequence of Study
Once you plan your study hours, you must block them off on your calendar so that you do not plan other activities then and you can keep up with your schedule. Now that you have the required amount of time set aside, you must use it wisely. We recommend starting with the section which is your relative strength. The reason being, it will be easier for you to improve and it will set a good momentum for the rest of your preparation.
For Verbal, you must start with SC. Only when you have reached your target score in SC, you must move to CR and then RC. The reason for this order is that RC requires certain skills that get developed in SC and CR. Preparing these sections would automatically improve your skills in RC to a certain level.
For Quant, you can start with Number Properties and follow it up with Word Problems, Algebra, Geometry, and Advanced Topics in this order.
If you feel you can prepare for the GMAT in less than three months, here is a 1-month study plan for you. In case you are a working professional, here is a personalized study plan for working professionals.
4. How to Plan your Preparation for GMAT 760?
GMAT tests your higher-order reasoning skills and not language or math skills. It is therefore essential that you learn the core skills that cement your reasoning process to ace GMAT. You must use a structured approach for REAL Learning (Reliable, Effective, Analytics-Driven, Logical).
You must start with a section and not move on to the next until you have reached your target score in that section. While studying a section, you must ensure that you learn the application process as well along with the concept of only knowing concepts is not enough on the GMAT.
If you are an e-GMAT student, you just need to take an ability quiz after completing a section to see if you have reached your target score. If you have, you can move on to the next section.
Take a look at a few success stories of individuals who scored 740+ on the GMAT. There is so much to learn from them.
5. Take Mock Tests and Review your GMAT Preparation
Only after you are done studying both the sections, you must take mock tests. That is the reason we have kept it for the last month of preparation. Taking mock tests would be effective only if you review them and make the most of every test that you solve. Otherwise, you can take any number of mocks and not see a significant improvement. You may follow the below steps to make the most of every mock test that you solve:
- Take the mock at the same time as your actual test i.e. if your actual test is scheduled for the morning, make sure you take the mock test in the morning. This will help your body and mind to get accustomed to being alert at that time.
- Take one mock test a week and spend the rest of the week learning from that mock.
- After taking the mock, make sure you review all the questions. For the questions that you got correct, make you got them correct for the right reasons. For the questions that you got wrong, try to see if there is some pattern i.e. particular topics. Find out if it is the concept or the application process that needs to be worked upon.
- Go back to your course and make sure you improve on the weaknesses by revising the concept, application process, and solving questions pertaining to that topic.
- Doing this should ensure that you do not repeat the same mistakes or mistakes in the same topics again in the next mock. Repeat this process every week until the test.
- e-GMAT students must take:
- Custom quizzes in Scholaranium to refine their topic level preparedness and,
- Ability quizzes to track improvement at a sectional level in between Mock tests
Planning to take the GMAT? We can help you with a personalized study plan based on your strengths and weakness. Why don’t you take a free trial and judge it for yourself? We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on gmatclub with more than 2500+ reviews.
