When should one book their GMAT slot?

You can receive your official score within a few days of taking the test, and people do often receive them within a week of taking the test. At the same time, GMAC states that you will receive your official score within 20 calendar days, and sometimes people do have to wait that long.

Depends. Had a student, for example, who reached out after they got a 700 on an exam. They took a bit of tutoring and got a 760 on a retake in about 10 days. The unofficial score when into admin review (something that's happening more frequently nowadays) and took about 2 weeks "15 Business days" to become Official.

Hi RF1010,

Many Round 1 deadlines are in September (although individual Schools/Programs might have earlier options), so if you want to have your Official results banked before you apply, then you have to work backwards from those dates. You might also consider the possibility that you might need to retake the GMAT, which would require that you give yourself even more lead-time. Beyond those details, if you want to take the Exam on a specific day of the week and at a specific time, then you will likely need to plan far in advance and book a date early-on (since Test Centers are relatively small and can only accommodate a certain number of people at a time).

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

Hi RF1010

Here are a few things to do before booking your slot -

• Build & follow a proper study plan for your GMAT prep
  
• Be clear of what to study on any given day and by when you will be finishing your prep.
  
• Have a backup of one month to work on your weak areas

Once done with prep, start taking mocks. Once you start getting your desired score consistently, you can go ahead and book your slot!

Bonus Tip: Carry out a detailed research on your target schools and work on your applications simultaneously so that you don’t rush later on.

Try to be done with GMAT at least a month or preferably 2 before your deadlines. This will allow you to focus on the applications, essays, etc. Most people who got dinged in the R1 said that was becuase they were working on their test and essays at the same time and only by R2 they were able to separate them.

About the worst case scenario:
While the admin review and all those things do happen and it does sometimes take 2-3 weeks to get the reportable official score, you do see an actual score for all aspects except the AWA at the end of the test. You get a print out at the test center or you can memorize your test scores at home (they are also visible in your account but some people mentioned not easily seeing them). Anyway, the bottom line is that you do not technically need a reportable final score to submit your application. All you need is to know what your score is and when it becomes reportable you share/send it to the program. It does not have to be reportable at 6 PM on the day of the deadline. E.g. Some people have taken the GMAT 2 days before the deadline (highly not recommended that you do that) but you can technically take the test less than 20 days before the deadline. It is a bad idea for many reasons but those are different reasons (it is a bad idea becuase you should focus on your applications and not on your test. If you are taking the test a week or two before the deadline, it is a giveaway that your application will be of poor quality).