Can I prepare for GMAT in 3 months? Yes, you definitely can. Three months is enough time to successfully prepare for GMAT and achieve a competitive score. But this is not a walk in the park. It takes hard work, commitment, consistency, and strategic studying.
This guide on preparing for the GMAT in 3 months provides not only a step-by-step process but also helpful tips and a sample of an effective study plan. If you want to know how to prepare for GMAT in 3 months, keep reading!
Step-By-Step Guide on How To Ace Your GMAT in 3 Months
Here are step-by-step instructions on how to make the most out of your 3-month study schedule.
Step 1: Understand the GMAT Focus Edition Format
Before delving into preparations for your GMAT, the very first step is to understand the GMAT Focus Edition Format. Many candidates make the mistake of ignoring this step or paying little attention to it. In the end, they fail to grasp the most important foundational information and this invariably translates to a low score.
But with a proper understanding of the GMAT syllabus and exam pattern, you know what to expect and you will be more intentional in drafting your study plan. Typically, sections and timing of GMAT are divided thus;
| Sections | No of questions | Time | Specific Skills |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 21 | 45 minutes | Assess your ability to analyze mathematical concepts and draw conclusions. |
| Verbal Reasoning | 23 | 45 minutes | Evaluates your ability to read, comprehend, and reason critically. |
| Data Insight | 20 | 45 minutes | Assesses your ability to analyze and interpret data presented in tables, graphs, and charts. |
Step 2: Conduct a GMAT Diagnostic Self-Assessment.
Next, take a full-length, realistic GMAT practice test to establish a baseline and find out how good or bad your Quantitative, Verbal, and Data Insights scores are. Note that the essence of taking a diagnostic test is not just to determine how high or low your score will be but to recognize the areas you did well in and the areas that need improvement.
Another reason you should take a GMAT practice test is to familiarize yourself with the test format and time allocation. Reviewing the different sections individually will enable you to identify the areas you need to prioritize and the areas to allocate less time to. These tips will help you ace your exams when you eventually sit for one. It would also be helpful to take the exams under conditions similar to what you will experience on the exam day.
Step 3: Set Up Your Study Schedule
When you have 3 whole months to prepare for your test, you might be tempted to procrastinate. Setting up a study schedule and sticking to it is not always as easy as it sounds, especially if you have been out of school for a while.
But you must remember that even though 3 months does seem like a long time, days slip by so fast so you must make every day count.
To set up a study schedule, the first thing you might want to do is look over your general schedule for the next 3 months. Are there any special activities that would occupy you at work?
Will you have family, school, or personal functions within this time frame? After answering these questions, you can go ahead to plan your schedule accordingly. Endeavor to study 5-6 times weekly for at least 2-3 hours. Research shows that when you study more times weekly, your brain retains more than when you try to cram a week’s worth of study in 1 to 2 days.
Step 4: Design Your Study Plan
Now you know when to study, the next question is how should you study? An effective technique is to study the GMAT book or GMAT course first to learn the contents after which you would follow up with a short practice test to evaluate how well you understood and retained the contents. Practicing right away helps to solidify your knowledge.
What should you study? Well, this depends largely on the outcome of your practice test.
For the first month of study, it would help to pay the most attention to reviving basic knowledge and to materials that you struggle with.
It would also help to start with topics that are often tested. Topics like average and median are more popular than standard deviation and percentiles.
Step 5: Practice Time Management
The GMAT is not scored the same way your regular exams are scored. Your overall score is not determined by the number of right answers you get, rather it is determined by the difficulty of questions you get right vs those you didn’t get right.
Time management is a big factor that will determine whether or not you will do well in this test. If you invest more time in the hard questions, you may not have enough time to tackle the easier ones. Rushing through the easy questions and making a mistake will cost you more than you’ll ever gain answering a difficult question correctly.
Sample of a 3-Months GMAT Study Plan
This study plan below is designed to help you prepare for your GMAT in three months. Go through it carefully and feel free to modify it to suit your specific needs.
Month 1: Lay the Groundwork
Goal: Refine fundamental knowledge of the 3 core subject areas.
Week 1: Diagnostic and Basic Skills
Time Commitment: 12 hours
| S/N | Tasks | Time | Content |
| 1 | Diagnostic Test | 2 hours | Carry out an initial diagnostic test to evaluate your level of knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses. |
| 2 | Quantitative Reasoning | 4 hours | Focus on basic concepts such as fractions, ratios, and percentages. Use GMAT resources to review these foundational topics. |
| 3 | Verbal Reasoning | 3 hours | Study basic grammar, sentence structure, verb tenses, and verb agreement. |
| 4 | Data Insights | 2 hours | Start with reading and understanding simple tables and charts. Progress to identifying trends and retrieving data. |
| 5 | Review | 1 hour | Spend the last hour reviewing the results of the test. |
Week 2: Enhance Fundamental Knowledge
Time Commitment: 14-16 hours
| S/N | Tasks | Time | Content |
| 1 | Quantitative Reasoning | 5 hours | Algebraic concepts; inequalities, linear equations, and basic word problems. Pay attention to key formulas and techniques. |
| 2 | Verbal Reasoning | 4 hours | Read comprehension passages to understand main ideas, and details, and answer questions. |
| 3 | Data Insights | 3 hours | Practice mixed graphs and how to extract data from tables, charts, and graphs. |
| 4 | Mock Test | 2–3 hours | Take a mock test, allocating 30 minutes to each section to mimic the conditions of the actual test. |
Week 3: Develop Intermediate Skills
Time Commitment: 15 hours
| S/N | Tasks | Time | Content |
| 1 | Quantitative Reasoning | 5 hours | Start working on more complex algebraic equations and word problems. |
| 2 | Verbal Reasoning | 4 hours | Concentrate on critical reasoning, understanding argument structures, and conclusions, and strengthening and weakening statements. |
| 3 | Data Insights | 4 hours | Work on problems that combine verbal and quantitative analysis. |
| 4 | Review | 2 hours | Review results of practice tests. Concentrate on the areas where you made mistakes or need more time. |
Week 4: Full-Length Practice Test
Time Commitment: 18 hours
| S/N | Tasks | Time | Content |
| 1 | Full–Length Practice Test | 4–5 hours | Take a Full-Length GMAT. Practice Test under a condition very similar to what you will experience on the actual test day. This will help you evaluate your knowledge, understanding, and retentive ability. |
| 2 | Quantitative Reasoning | 5 hours | Work on the weaknesses you identified during the practice test. Progress to more difficult word problems and algebra. |
| 3 | Verbal Reasoning | 4 hours | Practice more comprehension passages to test your comprehension skills. |
| 4 | Data Insights | 3 hours | Study questions that require interpretation of more complex data. |
Month 2: Strengthen and Refine
Goal: Work on improving correctness and speed.
Week 1: Advanced Quantitative and Verbal Topics
Time Commitment: 18 – 20 hours
| S/N | Tasks | Time | Content |
| 1 | Quantitative Reasoning | 6 hours | Introduce angles and properties of shapes, and work more on mixed problems. |
| 2 | Verbal Reasoning | 5 hours | Solve some stimulating problems, focusing on advanced grammatical concepts. |
| 3 | Data Insights | 4 hours | Practice questions that assess your ability to retrieve and interpret data in graphs and charts. |
| 4 | Mock Test | 2–3 hours | Take a full-length practice test and evaluate yourself to identify those areas you need to put more effort into. |
Week 2: Time Management and Speed
Time Commitment: 18 – 20 hours
| S/N | Tasks | Time | Content |
| 1 | Quantitative Reasoning | 5 hours | Work on a mixed problem set while focusing on speed and accuracy. |
| 2 | Verbal Reasoning | 4 hours | Practice reading and answering comprehension questions, focusing on speed and accuracy. |
| 3 | Data Insights | 3 hours | Tackle some Data Insights problems under a specified amount of time. |
| 4 | Mock Test | 2–3 hours | Take another timed practice test to assess your ability to manage time under test conditions. |
Week 3 & 4: High-Difficulty Questions and Targeted Revision
Time Commitment: 18 – 20 hours per week
| S/N | Tasks | Time | Content |
| 1 | Quantitative Reasoning | 7-8 hours | Focus on tackling high-difficulty problem sets, including complex word problems and advanced algebra. |
| 2 | Verbal Reasoning | 6-7 hours | Work on high-difficulty critical reasoning questions and problems that test advanced language skills. |
| 3 | Data Insights | 4-5 hours | Practice mixed question types and complex data analysis exercises. Work on improving your accuracy and speed. |
| 4 | Mock Test | 4 hours | Take a full-length practice test to track your improvement and put the finishing touches on your strategies. |
Month 3: Perfect and Polish
Goal: Focus on polishing your exam strategies and preparing for test day.
Week 1 & 2: Section-Specific Focus
Time Commitment: 22–24 hours per week
| S/N | Tasks | Time | Content |
| 1 | Quantitative Reasoning | 7-8 hours | Continue working on your weak areas identified from previous tests. |
| 2 | Verbal Reasoning | 6-7 hours | Read and attempt advanced comprehension and critical reasoning questions under timed conditions. |
| 3 | Data Insights | 4-5 hours | Review past tests and focus on improving your response under timed conditions. |
| 4 | Mock Test | 4 hours | Take a practice test. Review your study plan for the last week using results obtained from this last test. |
Week 3: Full-Length Practice Test
Time Commitment: 20–22 hours
| S/N | Tasks | Time | Content |
| 1 | Full-Length Practice Test | 4-5 hours | Take a final practice test. After this test, take extra care to review your mistakes, identifying the key areas you need to refine. |
| 2 | Quantitative Reasoning | 6-7 hours | Solve problems that you struggled with in the full-length tests again. This time, focus on speed and accuracy. |
| 3 | Verbal Reasoning | 6-7 hours | Review weak areas identified in the practice test, focusing on critical reasoning and comprehension questions. |
| 4 | Data Insights | 3-4 hours | Review your Data Insight mistakes and practice again. This time, focus on speed and accuracy. |
Week 4: Light Revision and Final Preparation
Time Commitment: 15–18 hours
Tasks:
- Review all the key concepts, formulas, and grammar rules. Resist the urge to stuff in new materials, the focus here should be on solidification.
- Finalize your strategy for the exam. Decide which part of the questions to answer first and which area gets more time.
- Make time to relax and manage stress. You can choose to meditate, take a deep breath, and do some light reading.
- Take one last practice test to track progress and put in some finishing touches on your strategy.
Conclusion
Knowing how to prepare for GMAT in 3 months is the first step. It just requires a lot of hard work, commitment, discipline, and a strategic approach. The key is to understand the GMAT Focus Edition Format, identify your strengths and weaknesses, set up a study schedule, and stick to a study plan.
If you are going to try this approach, do let us know how well it works for you in the comments section below.
