How to Prepare for the GMAT (Current Format)

Most people preparing for the GMAT are doing it around a job, and that changes the whole approach. You can't study six hours a day, so the hours you do have need to go to the right places. A lot of older advice doesn't help either. The classic GMAT, with its essay, Sentence Correction and geometry, was retired in early 2024. The version that replaced it launched as the GMAT Focus Edition, and GMAC now simply calls it the GMAT.

The scale changed too. Scores now run from 205 to 805, so an old score of 700 doesn't mean the same thing as a 705 today.

What's on the GMAT now

• Length: 2 hours 15 minutes, with one optional 10-minute break after the first or second section.
• Section order: you choose it.
• Question Review & Edit: you can bookmark questions, review as many as you like at the end of a section, and change up to three answers. You only get the review screen if you finish the section with time left.
• Scoring: each section is scored from 60 to 90 and all three count equally toward a total between 205 and 805.
• Score sending: you choose which schools receive your score after you've seen it, and a detailed score report usually follows within three to five days.

How scoring works, and what changed in 2026

The GMAT is computer-adaptive, question by question. As you answer, the test adjusts the difficulty of what comes next, and your score depends on both how many questions you get right and how hard they were. Two practical things follow. Don't burn eight minutes on one early question, because steady accuracy across the section matters more. And pace yourself to finish, since unanswered questions at the end of a section cost you.

In 2026, GMAC added GMAT Superscore. It automatically combines your best Quantitative, Verbal and Data Insights scores from your valid attempts into a single total, at no extra cost. That makes a retake less of a gamble: if only one section improves, your Superscore can still go up. Schools decide how they use it, so check each program's policy.

You can take the GMAT up to five times in any rolling 12-month period, with at least 16 days between attempts.

How long should you prepare for the GMAT?

GMAC has surveyed test takers about how long they prepared. People who reported scores below 500 on the previous version had a median of 50 hours of preparation, while those who reported 700 or higher had a median of 100 hours. GMAC is careful to point out that this isn't cause and effect, and 90 hours won't guarantee any particular score. But the pattern holds: people who start earlier put in more hours, and people who put in more hours tend to score higher.

These are our planning estimates. Your target should come from your schools: look up the median or middle-80% GMAT range in each program's latest class profile. For weekly schedules and how to count back from your deadline, see how many hours to study for the GMAT.

Step 1: take an official practice exam

The free GMAT Official Starter Kit on mba.com includes two full official practice exams. Take the first one before you study anything, under real conditions: timed, no pausing, and in the section order you plan to use. The total matters less than the breakdown. You want to know which section is weakest and which question types eat the most time.

Save the second free exam for the middle of your preparation. If you can, buy a few more official practice exams for the final weeks, because they're the closest thing to the real test.

Section by section

Quantitative Reasoning: no calculator, no geometry

• It's all arithmetic and algebra: number properties, ratios, percentages, rates and work, statistics, and turning word problems into equations.
• You get just over two minutes a question without a calculator, so mental math and estimation are worth drilling.
• Look for the shortcut. If a solution is taking half a page of working, there's usually a faster way.
• Know the core rules cold: divisibility, exponents, remainders, and odd and even numbers come up again and again.

Verbal Reasoning: arguments and passages

• Critical Reasoning gives you a short argument and asks you to strengthen it, weaken it, find its assumption or draw a conclusion from it. Find the conclusion first, then work out what it depends on.
• In Reading Comprehension, the answer is always supported by the passage. Bringing in outside knowledge is one of the most common ways to pick a wrong answer.
• Read something dense every day. Long-form business, economics and science writing builds the reading stamina that practice questions alone don't.
• You have a little under two minutes a question, so reading speed matters as much as accuracy.

Data Insights: the section most people underestimate

• It counts as much as the other two, and it's the least familiar section for most people.
• Data Sufficiency asks whether you have enough information to answer a question, not what the answer is. The five answer choices never change, so memorise them and stop solving as soon as you know whether the data is enough.
• The other formats reward familiarity. Multi-Source Reasoning spreads information across tabs, Table Analysis gives you a table you can sort, Graphics Interpretation uses charts with drop-down answers, and Two-Part Analysis asks for two linked answers. Practise each until the interface feels normal.
• Multi-part questions need every part right to earn credit, so check each one before you move on.
• The on-screen calculator is slow. Use it for awkward arithmetic, not for everything.

Timing and test-day strategy

• Budget about two minutes a question, and check your pace every five questions or so.
• Let hard questions go. If one passes three minutes and you're not close, make your best guess, bookmark it and move on.
• Treat Question Review & Edit as a safety net. Three edits per section is enough to fix a couple of careless errors, not to redo the section.
• Test your section order. Try a couple of orders in practice exams and keep the one that works best for you.
• Take the break. Ten minutes away from the screen helps more than it costs.

A 10-week GMAT plan for working professionals

This assumes about 10 hours a week: an hour on most weekday evenings plus a longer block at the weekend. That's roughly 100 hours in total, around the median GMAC reported for high scorers.

If your job has long or unpredictable hours, stretch the same plan over 14 or 15 weeks rather than squeezing it.

Mistakes that waste GMAT prep time

• Studying for the old GMAT. Sentence Correction, geometry and the essay are gone, so check that your books and courses cover the current format.
• Relying on unofficial questions. Third-party questions can help, but official ones show you how the test really works.
• Doing questions without reviewing them. Your error log is where the improvement comes from.
• Leaving Data Insights until last. It's a third of your score and the least familiar section for most people.
• Practising untimed right up to test day. Timing is part of the skill.
• Booking too close to your deadline. With 16 days required between attempts, leave room for a retake.

Keep your prep honest

Ten hours a week sounds manageable until a deadline at work eats three evenings in a row. The people who hit their target usually aren't the ones with the most free time. They're the ones who notice a lost week quickly and make it up.

Start a timer when you begin real practice, stop it when you drift, and tag each session as Quant, Verbal or Data Insights. That's what Group Study Timer is for. It logs focused hours by subject, keeps a streak, and lets you study alongside other people preparing at the same time. If your programs also ask for an English test, see our guide on how to prepare for IELTS.

Frequently asked questions

Sources we checked in September 2026: GMAC on the GMAT exam structure, how long to study for the GMAT, GMAT Superscore and retake policies. The hour ranges in our table are our own planning estimates, and GMAC's survey figures refer to the previous 200 to 800 scale.