When to take GMAT

The application process will really be in full swing as of February, once June rolls around you should be in moving mode, focus primarily on the necessities you'll need if school is away and such. I'm currently in the same boat and find myself writing my GMAT in December. Round 1 for a lot of schools begins as early as November/December, but the majority of your application process as I mentioned before will take place in January-February.

I would certainly write your GMAT before the new year, the earlier the better, but obviously give yourself enough time to prepare for it!

Are you applying for MBA programs starting in 2012 or starting in 2013 ?

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. I am planning to start MBA program in 2013 and applying end of next year 2012.

you have plenty of time then!

hahaha yeah now I sound foolish, plenty of time for sure, Top tier schools will start round 1 as of October 1st (Harvard) and then on from there

Nphelan thanks for the vote of confidence. For a minute I thought I didn't planned it right. I am hoping to apply to 2 top tier then a back up school. I am planning to take GMAT end of Jan 2012. The only reason with this amount of time is because of juggling with work, community service and etc. I am also definitely taking the GMAT twice.

Definitely a great plan, a lot of people take the GMAT twice because they understand that not only does that likely improve their chances of a better score, but it battles the obstacle of your nerves. I haven't written mine yet but I'm certainly aware that people often score lower then expected the first time because of nerves

Yup I agree! Ask me - I've written it thrice...

1st time - Ignorant and over confident <<< This is the combination that will absolutely screw you up

2nd time - well informed and well prepared <<< Likely to get a good score but not the best possible score

3rd time - very well prepared and humble <<< This is the combination that brings the best in you!

@topic
Irrespective of when you decided to take the test, I'd say that three months of systematic study is required to get a good score in the GMAT. If you're relatively free now, it's better to get it over now than postpone it. If you take a test early on, you might have the time to re-take the test in case you feel the need to. If the 1st attempt is pushed too far, a re-take might not be possible.

Good Luck

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Also I forgot to mention, you should really take one thing into effect, The GMAT is going to change in June 2012. Not a complete overhaul, but a new section will be replacing one of the AWA. See my excerpt from one of my posts in a seperate topic:

"The test will be changing with the addition of a new section called 'Integrated Reasoning'. The IR section will be replacing one of the Anlytical Writing sections. At the time of publication there was no details on how it would be scored but the books suggests that Verbal and Quant will be weighed within the 200-800 range, the one AWA will be marked 0-6.0, and the IR could be weighted separately. According to the book as well, the questions could be based on some innovative past experimental questions to show up on the GMAT, such as charts, graphs, spreadsheets, and possibly even audio."

So make sure you keep this in mind!