GMAT Preparation Time Frame

Hi DM,

A 450 isn't too bad for an initial practice CAT (the average score on the Official GMAT is right around 540-550 most years). Since you've already invested in some books and a class, you should work through those materials as planned. They might be enough to help you to achieve your goals. If not, then you can make some adjustments (either during this phase of your studies or after you've completed your Course).

When are you planning to apply to Business School? I only ask because if you need more time to study (or to take the GMAT a second time), then it's important to have that flexibility in your schedule.

The GMAT is a big Test with a lot of little 'parts' to it, but it is a consistent, predictable Exam - which means that you can CAN train to score at a high level.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

dmunna,

The time frame really depends on the individual. I have seen students take anywhere from three weeks to a year to get to their desired score. Factors such as discipline, initial baseline(foundation of quant and verbal skills), motivation, persistence, and the rate at which you can absorb concepts all come in to play in deciding how long it would take one to get to their peak performance. The best thing I can suggest is to start and reassess after one months preparation, this will give you a good sense of the actual time needed to hit your target score.

Cheers,
Dabral

Hi,
Thanks for your replies. My Target Institutions are all IIMs for Executive MBA & ISB, Hyderabad. For IIMs, the application deadline is 31st August, 2015 & for ISB it is 15th October, 2015.
Regards,
DM

Let me start with a little honesty: the kind of score improvement you're looking for is rare. It happens, but it isn't what happens for most students, regardless of their time frame.

If you truly want to get from 450 to 730 and you are working full-time, don't be surprised if you need to put in 6 months of intensive study. Even then, of course, there's no guarantee. However, you will need to take extraordinary measures. Right now I'm thinking about the most recent story of this kind that I've seen. The student in question put in a month of study on the fundamentals before taking my class. During the course, he found a study partner and worked extremely hard bringing the material together. He would frequently stay after class to ask additional questions. Then he spent a few additional months of study after the course. This is the kind of work you'll most likely need to put in to have a shot at 700+. Good luck!

Hi,

Thanks a Ton for your valuable and careful reply. In this forum, I want to utilize your experience and analyse my loopholes as well as my progress. To recapitulate, let me remind you that I started my studies on 12th March, 2015 with a time frame of 3 months. After reading your last post, I have reconsidered my set time frame of 3 months and given myself an additional 1 month of preparation. That is, I am taking 4 calendar months of time from start of serious studies and taking actual GMAT Test. I thank you for your suggestion.

In the meanwhile, I would like to share my mock test(Princeton Review Portal) scores with you:

DIAGNOSTIC TEST (Taken on 13-March-15): 450 [ Q-35, Verbal-15]

1. Test 1 (Taken on 29-March-15) : 390[Q 31, Verbal-13]
2. Test 2 (Taken on 05-April-15) : 400 [Q-36, Verbal-9]
3. Test 3 (Taken on 15-April-15) : 500 [Q-40, Verbal-20]
4. Test 4 (Taken on 18-April-15) : 570 [Q-43, Verbal-25]

My specific questions to you are:

1. How do you feel about my performance curve going?
2. Do you feel that I can boost up my Score to 700+ by another 3 months?

While answering, please keep the following points in mind:

1. Although I have a full time job, I study now a days regularly from 7 pm till 12 midnight (1 hour dinner break included) everyday X 7 days a week. I study, even when I am on business tour. On weekends I study approx 5 hours in the morning. In evening, I have Princeton Classes.


2. My Princeton Review Verbal Class has finished only SC. Few areas such as RC, CR still not started. All these, till now in test I am doing on my own without any guidance.

3. In SC, I am scoring about 14 out of 17.

4. In Quants class of Princeton Review, only Integers & Number System taught till now. Rest I am doing using my old knowledge.

5. My expected re-planned GMAT date is 11th July, 2015

Hope, I am clear enough to you with my Question. Eagerly waiting for your reply. Please be kind enough to help me with your valuable answer.

Regards,
DM

Hmm, so it looks like you dropped for a while. Did you run into timing troubles on those lower-scoring exams? After that, it's great to see that you're making consistent progress in quant and verbal, especially if you still have a lot of course material to get through. I have no idea whether you will hit 700 (no one knows that), but the kind of growth you're seeing is certainly encouraging.

Unfortunately, I can't tell from your practice scores which areas you need to focus on. I'd recommend that once you're a little further into the course, you check in with another practice exam and see what's working well and what isn't. Hopefully your instructor can help with that, too. In the meantime, however, I would cut back on the practice sets and focus on really mastering the course content. There's no value in taking a test more often than every few weeks at this point. Practice tests are a precious resource; don't waste them!

Keep us posted on your progress. Good luck!

the optimal time frame differs from student to student tremendously...

there many factors such as your target score, your diagnostic score, how fast you learn new concepts, how many hours you plan to prepare vs. how many hours you in deed prepare, and much more.

most of optimus prep's students are in the norm of 3 months though. i am convinced that a mistake many students do is to lay the GMAT test date in advance. optimally, students first prepare for the GMAT (and take as long as they need) and THEN set the test date.