This post was updated in 2024 for the new GMAT.
If you’re starting your GMAT preparation more or less from scratch, and have three months to prepare, this GMAT study guide will help you get organized. The Magoosh 3-month study plan covers the full range of Magoosh lessons on all topics, from the format of the GMAT to advanced concepts. Your GMAT score is one of the most important factors in MBA admissions. Be sure to give yourself sufficient time to study.
You should dedicate 1.5–2.5 hours a day, 5-6 days a week to study over the next three months. Not feeling like 3 months is the right fit for your timeline? Check out Magoosh’s other GMAT study schedule options.
This plan contains a tremendous amount of instructional material and hundreds of high quality practice questions! As you follow the schedule, you will be working through a large portion of the questions available to you in the Magoosh product. However, this schedule is not designed for you to complete all the questions in the Magoosh GMAT pool. Here’s why:
- The schedule already includes enough practice questions for you to be adequately prepared for anything that the GMAT might throw at you on test day.
- There is a finite number of questions available in the product, and we want to be sure that there are enough “new” questions available for full-length practice tests.
But what if you want to do more practice in Magoosh than is assigned each week? That’s definitely doable! Just be aware that the fewer “new” questions remaining in the Magoosh pool, the higher the chance of getting a repeat question on a practice test. And if you exhaust the entire Magoosh pool, then only repeat questions will be available even in Custom Practice. The upside though is that working through questions more than once is a highly effective study strategy.
If you follow this schedule to the letter, after you reach the end of 3-months, you will have the option to continue working through the remaining Magoosh questions.
If you’re really keen to do extra work, but don’t want to exhaust Magoosh practice questions before you reach the end of the schedule, we recommend using the O.G. question bank for practice beyond each week’s assignments.
What you can do if you find that this schedule is too much or not enough for your individual study needs:
Advanced Students
If you are already feeling pretty confident in your knowledge of the format, concepts, and question types that you will encounter on the GMAT exam and feel that you will not need a lot of the foundational lessons and practice built into this schedule, check out our advice on Modifying a Schedule for Advanced Students.
Non-Native English Speakers
The GMAT is a tough exam even for those who grew up immersed in an English-speaking environment. For many non-native speakers or ELL students, the level of vocabulary and sentence complexity of the GMAT poses an even greater challenge. For advice on how to alter or supplement this schedule, especially if you are struggling with the Verbal Section, check out our post, GMAT for Non-Native English Speakers.
Table of Contents
- How to Use This 3 Month GMAT Study Plan
- Essential Study Materials
- Abbreviations
- The 3-Month GMAT Study Schedule
Getting Started
How to Use This 3 Month GMAT Study Plan
Notice, this is a twelve-week plan—but you’ll use it to find out how to study for the GMAT in 3 months. Three calendar months are typically closer to 13 weeks, so if you actually have three calendar months to prepare, that’s great. If you have a wedding or a camping trip or something in the middle, you could just skip a week, and do it later. Alternately, following the plan straight through would leave you more time for review at the end.
Know that you are empowered to rearrange this schedule as best suits your needs. Even though the plan is laid out for you week-by-week, with suggestions for how to break up your days of study. These are just suggestions! You can move more work to the weekends to free up some weeknight evenings! You can squeeze everything into a few long days of work during the week! Feel free to rearrange the week’s work in whatever way makes the most sense for you.
Now, you can just dive into this plan! However, you’ll find it more effective if you use it methodically. To get the most out of this GMAT study plan, approach it with as follows:
- Go over your calendar for the next three months and plan exactly which days correspond to which days in the plan. For example, if you’re going on vacation next week, that won’t be Week 2 for you—Week 2 will start when you come back
- Make sure you have all the essential materials.
- Maintain your motivation. Writing down why you want a particular score on the GMAT—and reviewing your reasons often—can be a powerful reminder to keep you going!
- Maintain your physical health. Eat well and get physical activity as much as you can!
- Sleep for eight hours! Get enough sleep during this three month period. REM sleep plays an important role in encoding long term memory!
- In an eight hour period of sleep, the last hour has the most REM.
- Avoid artificial crutches: Caffeine and energy drinks will keep you feeling awake if you don’t get enough sleep, but they don’t do bupkis to replace the lost opportunity to encode more information into long term memory.
- Bring it all together for test day! Review Magoosh’s tips at the end of this post for how to make sure you do your best when it (officially) counts.
Essential Study Materials
Here are our recommendations for resources that will provide you with test-like practice:
A Premium subscription to Magoosh
Magoosh’s Complete GMAT Guide: This comprehensive web-based guide gives you a quick and useful overview. You’ll see how the GMAT is designed and scored, what skills it tests, how to find and use the best GMAT prep, and how to study for each test section.
GMAC’s GMAT Official Guide (OG)–The newest edition of the e-book and online question bank is here: OG 2023-2024. If you are going to buy a new guide, get that one. Want a paper copy? Check out this link.
Word to the wise: Don’t write in the official guide or any prep books. Do all your work on separate paper or on a computer. You will want to keep the books clean, so that later, if you need to look at a problem again, it is still fresh and unmarked.
The OG Verbal Review 2023-2024, the OG Quantitative Review 2023-2024, and the OG Data Insights Review 2023-2024. These links will take you to the e-book and online question banks available from the Exam Prep section of mba.com. You cannot go wrong if you use materials produced by the folks who write the exam.
GMAT’s additional official practice exams, which are now entirely digital.
The Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards. If you happen to see a deck for plane geometry concepts, remember to skip those since those concepts are no longer tested on the GMAT.
If you’ve exhausted the OG and Magoosh materials, another credible option is Manhattan’s All the GMAT book set. It is an excellent prep source. (Don’t write in these books either!)
An Error Log. Not sure what’s up with an error log. The link at the beginning of this sentence will walk you through the benefits and provide you with access to a Free template.
Note: The GMAT underwent major changes in 2023. So, you might be wondering what to do if you have prep materials that were produced for older versions of the GMAT. Good news! You can absolutely keep and use those older materials; however, there are a few topics and subject areas that you should skip if you do choose to use older materials. Here’s what you should leave out:
- Lessons/practice for Sentence Corrections
- Lessons/practice for the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)
- Lessons/practice for quantitative questions that test plane geometry concepts
- Lessons/practice that use the Data Sufficiency (DS) question type to test purely algebraic or numeric property concepts. DS questions now all either test verbal reasoning skills or math in a real-world context (aka) word problems based on realistic scenarios.
Optional Materials
The Magoosh mobile app for your iPhone or Android
The two online forums:
These are great places to ask questions about anything GMAT related, or simply to check out the discussions and see how others are preparing.
Outside reading material: You may already have a habit of reading. But if you do not, it would be good to make it a regular practice. While you don’t need to be an expert in all world affairs, it’s important for the GMAT to have a general sense of the business world. If you are a non-native English speaker, it is absolutely crucial that you develop a habit of reading. For a non-native speaker struggling with the Verbal section, we strongly recommend reading for at least an hour a day every day, an hour over and above any GMAT-specific preparation.
Read the Wall Street Journal and/or the business section of respected newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post. Force yourself to read articles discussing topics with which you are unfamiliar. Read periodicals, such as the Economist and Bloomberg Businessweek; the Economist is a particularly sophisticated source and it would be good to read this at least a few times a week.
These business sources are often also a good place to practice reading graphs.
Of course, if you already are in the habit of doing challenging reading on your own, then by all means, continue reading what you want.
Abbreviations
OG = the GMAC Official Guide
QR = Quantitative Reasoning, the multiple-choice math questions
VR = Verbal Reasoning, which is broken down into the following two question types:
RC = Reading Comprehension verbal question
CR = Critical Reasoning verbal question
DI = Data Insights questions
DS = Data Sufficiency, which is a type of DI question
The 3-Month GMAT Study schedule
*Most of the lessons included in this schedule are only available to Magoosh students—sign up here for a free trial!
Week One
Day 1: Diagnostic Test and Review
- Take Magoosh’s Free GMAT Diagnostic. When you are done, note your score, then check your answers.
- If you haven’t done so already, build your error log and add questions from the diagnostic you just took. You’ll be using your error log throughout this study plan. Today, you are going to do your first in-depth review. For each question you entered into your log do the following:
- Try to determine and make note of why you missed the question
- Read any related text explanations and watch any related video explanations
- Watch any recommended lesson videos (don’t worry about watching them out of order. You’ll likely be watching the videos a few times, especially those that relate to your weaker areas.)
- Be aware of any trends that help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Day 2: GMAT Basics
Go to the test-maker’s website, and read all about the GMAT. Click on each of the Quick Links on the sidebar of that page to explore the exam structure, content, and to check out a few sample questions.
In Magoosh, watch the following videos:
GMAT Focus Introduction: all seven videos in this section
GMAT Focus Intro: Quantitative Section
GMAT Focus Intro: Verbal Section
GMAT Focus Intro: Data Insights Section
Pacing, Skipping, and Guessing
Day 3: Quantitative Reasoning Basics
NOTE: The content in Magoosh videos may feel super easy or very challenging. Some folks will find the verbal information obvious and the math hard-going; other folks will have the reverse experience. If the material is relatively easy for you, feel free to click to the end and simply read the summary. If the material is new to you, take notes on what you are learning, and if possible, watch that video a second time.
Watch the following videos:
In Quantitative Reasoning (QR), watch the following General Math Strategies videos and complete any associated practice quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Mental Math: Doubling and Halving
Mental Math: Squaring Shortcuts
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
NOTE: Whenever a video contains sample questions, make sure to pause and complete the questions thoroughly as the videos instruct.
NOTE II: After most Magoosh questions is a text and/or video explanation. If you got the question right, just skim the text summary of the video to verify you understand it. If you got the question wrong, watch the video explanation right away. If you don’t understand a question after reviewing the text and video explanations, email us at Magoosh.com. Due to a high volume of questions, please allow up to 48-hours for a response.
Getting questions wrong at the beginning may be frustrating, but remember that you are playing a “longer game”: the point is not instant success at the beginning, but building deeper understanding overtime. Remember to add all incorrect questions to your error log!
Day 4: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following videos under Arithmetic and Fractions and complete any associated practice quizzes:
Quiz: Positive and Negative Numbers
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Mental Math: Addition and Subtraction
Positive and Negative Numbers II
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 5: Verbal Reasoning
In VR, watch the following four videos under Critical Reasoning:
Magoosh Custom Practice:
- 5 VR Critical Reasoning questions
Day 6: Review
Review
If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted this week.
Remember to add any that you missed to your error log, and be sure that for each question you do the following:
- Try to determine and make note of why you missed the question
- Read any related text explanations and watch any related video explanations
- Watch any recommended lesson videos (don’t worry about watching them out of order. You’ll likely be watching the videos a few times, especially those that relate to your weaker areas.)
- Be aware of any trends that help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
In Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards:
Review the cards in the Algebra deck. Spend about 5-10 minutes a day each day with these cards.
3 month GMAT Study Plan: Week Two
Week Two
Day 1: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following videos under Arithmetic and Fractions and complete any associated practice quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Quiz: More on Scientific Notation
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 2: Verbal Reasoning
In Verbal Reasoning (VR), watch the following videos under Reading Comprehension:
Intro to Reading Comprehension
Magoosh Custom Practice:
- 3 VR reading comprehension passages and associated questions
Day 3: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following nine videos under Arithmetic and Fractions and complete the associated quizzes:
Conversions with Fractions and Decimals
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 4: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following videos under Arithmetic and Fractions and complete the associated quizzes:
Quiz: Arithmetic and Fractions
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Percent Increases and Decreases
Quiz: Percent Increases and Decreases
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 5: Verbal Reasoning
In VR, watch the following videos under Critical Reasoning:
Day 6: Mixed Practice & Review
Let’s talk about using the GMAT’s OG Online Question Bank for practice
If you’ve purchased access to the OG’s online question bank, you’ll also be able to set up custom practice sessions. Although, in its current form, you don’t have a ton of options; you can choose the question/section type and level of difficulty etc…
This is what you’ll see:
Feel free to set up these practice sessions in whatever way is most appropriate for your prep. However, we recommend using OG practice to expose you to a random mix of topics within the different test sections. Doing so is based on the philosophy that you want your practice to prepare you for the random mix of topics that you will experience on test day–you want to get used to that!
By the way, purchasing a paper copy of the OG will still grant you access to the online question bank.
OG Mixed Practice:
- 5 QR questions
- 5 VR questions
- 10 DI questions
NOTE: As soon as you do a batch of OG questions, correct them right away and review any available explanations. If you got the question right, you need only skim the explanation to verify that you got it right for the right reason. If you got the question wrong, read the explanation and take notes in your error log on what concepts or what aspect of the question you need to understand better.
Review:
If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted this week.
Remember to add any that you missed to your error log. Be sure to note why you missed the question: misread it, careless error, didn’t know the content, etc…
In Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards:
Review the cards in the Fraction, Ratios, and Percents deck. Spend about 5-10 minutes a day each day with the cards from this deck and the previous deck (Algebra).
As a reminder, be sure to incorporate Outside Reading:
Do half an hour of sophisticated reading of your own choosing each day. Keep in mind the recommendations made above. If you are a non-native English speaker who is considerably weaker in Verbal, we strongly suggest reading for an hour each day.
3 month GMAT Study Plan: Week Three
Week Three
Day 1: Data Insights (DI)
In DI, watch the following videos under Integrated Reasoning:
NOTE: Prior to November 2023, there was no Data Insights section. There was an Integrated Reasoning section that was scored separately from the Quantitative and Verbal sections. So, when you see Integrated Reasoning in this schedule, it is to refer to the old IR question types. All those old Integrated Reasoning questions have been combined with Data Sufficiency questions (which used to be in the Quant section) to form the Data Insights Section. The Data Insight section is on equal footing with Quant and Verbal and counts for ⅓ of your total GMAT score.
Day 2: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following following videos under Arithmetic and Fractions and Percents and Ratios:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 3: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following videos under Integer Properties and complete the associated practice quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 4: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following videos under Integer Properties and complete the associated practice quizzes:
Counting Factors of Large Numbers
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 5: Verbal Reasoning
In VR, watch the following videos under Reading Comprehension:
RC Example, Passage 1, Path Dependence
RC Example, Passage 2, Office Organization
Magoosh Custom Practice:
- 3 VR reading comprehension passages and associated questions
Day 6: Mixed Practice & Review
OG Mixed Practice:
- 5 QR questions
- 5 VR questions
- 10 DI questions
Review:
If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted this week.
Remember to add any that you missed to your error log. Be sure to note why you missed the question: misread it, careless error, didn’t know the content, etc…
In Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards:
Review the cards in the Number Properties I deck. Spend about 10 minutes a day each day reviewing these cards and cards from the previous decks that you haven’t mastered.
3 month GMAT Study Plan: Week Four
Week Four
Day 1: Data Insights
In DI, watch the following videos and complete the associated quizzes:
Fundamentals of Data Sufficiency
Word Problems, summarizing info
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 2: Verbal Reasoning
In VR, watch the following eight videos under Critical Reasoning
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 3: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following videos under the Integer Properties and under the Algebra, Equations, and Inequalities and complete the associated practice quizzes:
Quiz: Integer Properties Strategies
Error Log Review of the above Quizzes
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 4: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following videos under Algebra, Equations, and Inequalities and complete the associated quizzes:
Factoring – Difference of Squares
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Factoring- Rational Expressions
Quiz: Factoring- Rational Expressions
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 5-6: Flex Day(s)
Rest, Review, Practice or Catch-up: Already you have likely done a lot of work! And because all that work requires time for absorption and review, you might need a flex day. Use this time in whatever capacity best suits where you are in your prep journey. Consider these options:
- If you’re feeling pretty good about where you’re at (both in the schedule and in your overall progress), take a break! You deserve one! But, if you are raring to keep going check out the following options for:
- Spend some quality time with your error log. Revisit (maybe redo a few) missed questions and review their associated lessons.
- Do more practice and review in the OG online question bank
- Break out your flashcards and review
- If you are feeling a bit behind schedule, use this as an opportunity to get caught up or closer to caught up.
Additional practice option:
OG Diagnostic Test
If you don’t need both of these flex days to get caught up, navigate to the OG online question bank. Go to Practice Exams on the sidebar. Take all three diagnostic practice exams.
Go through the answers after you are done, taking notes on anything you got wrong.
3 month GMAT Study Plan: Week Five
Week Five
Day 1: Data Insights
In DI, watch the following videos:
Numerical Flowchart (Practice)
Day 2: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following videos under Algebra, Equations, and Inequalities and complete the associated quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Three Equations, Three Unknowns
Quiz: Three Equations, Three Unknowns
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 3: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following videos under Algebra, Equations, and Inequalities and complete the associated quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Quiz: Algebra, Equations, and Inequalities
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 4: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Word Problem videos and complete the associated quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 5: Verbal Reasoning
Magoosh Custom Practice:
- 10 VR questions
Day 6: Mixed Practice & Review
OG Mixed Practice:
- 10 DI questions
Review:
If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted this week.
Remember to add any that you missed to your error log. Be sure to note why you missed the question: misread it, careless error, didn’t know the content, etc…
In Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards:
Review the cards in the Number Properties II deck. Spend about 10 minutes a day each day reviewing these cards and cards from the previous decks that you haven’t mastered.
3 month GMAT Study Plan: Week Six
Week six
Day 1: Data Insights
In DI, watch the following videos:
Highway to HIllsborough (Practice)
Day 2: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Word Problem videos and complete the associated quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 3: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Word Problem videos and complete the associated quizzes:
Intro to sets and venn diagrams
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 4: Flex Day
Rest, Review, Practice or Catch-up: Already you have likely done a lot of work! And because all that work requires time for absorption and review, you might need a flex day. Use this time in whatever capacity best suits where you are in your prep journey. Consider these options:
- If you’re feeling pretty good about where you’re at (both in the schedule and in your overall progress), take a break! You deserve one! But, if you are raring to keep going check out the following options for:
- Spend some quality time with your error log. Revisit (maybe redo a few) missed questions and review their associated lessons.
- Do more practice and review in the OG online question bank
- Break out your flashcards and review
- If you are feeling a bit behind schedule, use this as an opportunity to get caught up or closer to caught up.
Day 5: Practice Test
In Magoosh, take a full-length practice test!
In your dashboard, navigate to Practice → Practice Test, choose the order in which you want to take the sections, and then start your practice test.
This will be your first experience of sitting for a full formal GMAT. As much as possible, try to mimic the GMAT conditions. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. You can review your test immediately after completion or save it for tomorrow since that is the focus of this week’s day two.
Day 6: Practice Test & General Review
Open your error log for a deep-dive review of yesterday’s practice test. During this session with your error log, spend time to reflect on your pacing strategy.
As you review your test, determine which question types you are currently struggling with the most in regards to timing. If running out of time is not an issue for you, review your error log to find the questions where you should have spent MORE time. Can you find any patterns? Where do you make careless mistakes? Figure out where you should slow down when testing.
Review:
If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted this week.
Remember to add any that you missed to your error log. Be sure to note why you missed the question: misread it, careless error, didn’t know the content, etc…
In Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards:
Review the cards in the Statistics & Probability deck. Spend about 10 minutes a day each day reviewing these cards and cards from the previous decks that you haven’t mastered.
3 month GMAT Study Plan: Week Seven
Week Seven
Day 1: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Word Problem videos and complete all quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quizzes
Day 2: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Problem and Roots videos and complete all quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 3: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Problem and Roots videos and complete all quizzes:
Quiz: Equations with Square Roots
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quizzes
Day 4: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Statistics videos and complete all quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 5: Continue Working on the Above
There were quite a few Quantitative Reasoning lessons and quizzes this week. Devote whatever time you have left in your study week to completing all those activities.
Day 6: Mixed Practice & Review
OG Mixed Practice:
- 10 DI questions
- 10 VR questions
Review
If not already done, break out your error log to analyze any questions you’ve missed during this week’s practice.
In Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards:
Review the cards in the Mixed Practice I deck. Spend about 10 minutes a day each day reviewing these cards and cards from the previous decks that you haven’t mastered.
3 month GMAT Study Plan: Week Eight
Week Eight
Day 1: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Statistics and Counting videos and complete all quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quizzes
Fundamental Counting Principle
Quiz: Fundamental Counting Principle
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 2: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Counting videos and complete all quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Quiz: Counting Identical items
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 3: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Counting videos and complete all quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Quiz: Permutations and combinations
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 4: Continue Working on the Above
Again, there were quite a few Quantitative Reasoning lessons/quizzes this week. Devote today to completing all those.
Day 5: Practice Test
In Magoosh, take a full-length practice test!
In your dashboard, navigate to Practice → Practice Test, choose the order in which you want to take the sections, and then start your practice test.
This will be your first experience of sitting for a full formal GMAT. As much as possible, try to mimic the GMAT conditions. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. You can review your test immediately after completion or save it for tomorrow since that is the focus of this week’s day two.
Day 6: Practice Test & General Review
Open your error log for a deep-dive review of yesterday’s practice test. During this session with your error log, spend time to reflect on your pacing strategy.
As you review your test, determine which question types you are currently struggling with the most in regards to timing. If running out of time is not an issue for you, review your error log to find the
questions where you should have spent MORE time. Can you find any patterns? Where do you make careless mistakes? Figure out where you should slow down when testing.
Review
If not already done, break out your error log to analyze any questions you’ve missed during this week’s practice.
In Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards:
Review the cards in the Mixed Practice II deck. Spend about 10 minutes a day each day reviewing these cards and cards from the previous decks that you haven’t mastered.
3 month GMAT Study Plan: Week Nine
Week Nine
Day 1: Flex Day
Rest, Review, Practice or Catch-up: Already you have likely done a lot of work! And because all that work requires time for absorption and review, you might need a flex day. Use this time in whatever capacity best suits where you are in your prep journey. Consider these options:
- If you’re feeling pretty good about where you’re at (both in the schedule and in your overall progress), take a break! You deserve one! But, if you are raring to keep going check out the following options for:
- Spend some quality time with your error log. Revisit (maybe redo a few) missed questions and review their associated lessons.
- Do more practice and review in the OG online question bank
- Break out your flashcards and review
- If you are feeling a bit behind schedule, use this as an opportunity to get caught up or closer to caught up.
Day 2: Verbal Reasoning
Magoosh Custom Practice:
- 10 VR questions
Day 3: Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Probability videos and complete all quizzes:
Complementary event and simple rules
Quiz: Complementary event and simple rules
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Quiz: Mutually exclusive events
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Examples of generalized And rule
Quiz: Examples of generalized And rule
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Day 4: Finish Quantitative Reasoning
In QR, watch the following Probability videos and complete all quizzes:
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Quiz: Using Counting Techniques
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Listing vs. Counting vs. Probability Rules
Error Log Review of the above Quiz
Congratulations!🥳 At this point, you should have seen most of the Magoosh lessons at least once. Now the focus is going to be on a whole lot of practice and applying everything that you’ve learned from the lesson videos. But! You aren’t done with the lesson videos.
They are a resource you should return to, maybe even multiple times. For example, if there are areas in which you are still weak, you should rewatch those videos. When you miss questions during practice, you should rewatch the video(s) that covers that topic and any related videos that are recommended on the question review screen. Remember that full comprehension comes in several stages: always push yourself to reach a deeper understanding with each and every topic.
Day 5: Flex Day
Rest, Review, Practice or Catch-up: Already you have likely done a lot of work! And because all that work requires time for absorption and review, you might need a flex day. Use this time in whatever capacity best suits where you are in your prep journey. Consider these options:
- If you’re feeling pretty good about where you’re at (both in the schedule and in your overall progress), take a break! You deserve one! But, if you are raring to keep going check out the following options for:
- Spend some quality time with your error log. Revisit (maybe redo a few) missed questions and review their associated lessons.
- Do more practice and review in the OG online question bank
- Break out your flashcards and review
- If you are feeling a bit behind schedule, use this as an opportunity to get caught up or closer to caught up.
Day 6: Mixed Practice & Review
OG Mixed Practice:
- 10 DI questions
Review
If not already done, break out your error log to analyze any questions you’ve missed during this week’s practice. Be sure to make note of and go back and review the lessons associated with the questions you are missing.
In Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards:
Review the cards in the Mixed Practice III deck. Spend about 10 minutes a day each day reviewing these cards and cards from the previous decks that you haven’t mastered.
3 month GMAT Study Plan: Week Ten
Week Ten
Day 1: Practice Test
Navigate to your GMAC account and take one of the first free full-length Focus practice tests!
You can access them here.
Remember to do your best to mimic the GMAT conditions. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Again, note how what you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. Review your test immediately after completion or save it for tomorrow since that is the focus of this week’s day two.
Day 2: Practice Test Review
Open your error log for a deep-dive review of yesterday’s practice test. During this session with your error log, spend time to reflect on your pacing strategy. Determine which question types you are currently struggling with the most in regards to pacing. If running out of time is not an issue for you, review your error log to find the questions where you should have spent MORE time. Can you find any patterns? Where do you make careless mistakes? Figure out where you should slow down when testing.
Day 3-5: Mixed Practice & Review
OG Mixed Practice:
- 5 QR questions
- 5 VR questions
- 5 DI questions
Day 6: Review
Review
If not already done, break out your error log to analyze any questions you’ve missed during this week’s practice. Be sure to make note of and go back and review the lessons associated with the questions you are missing.
In Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards:
Review the cards in the Mixed Practice IV deck. Spend about 10 minutes a day each day reviewing these cards and cards from the previous decks that you haven’t mastered.
3 month GMAT Study Plan: Week Eleven
Week Eleven
Magoosh Custom Practice:
- 20 QR questions
- 20 VR questions
OG Mixed Practice:
- 10 QR questions
- 15 VR questions
- 10 DI questions
Review
If not already done, break out your error log to analyze any questions you’ve missed during this week’s practice. Be sure to make note of and go back and review the lessons associated with the questions you are missing.
In Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards:
Review the cards in the Mixed Practice V deck. Spend about 10 minutes a day each day reviewing these cards and cards from the previous decks that you haven’t mastered.
3 month GMAT Study Plan: Week Twelve
Week Twelve
Day 1: Practice Test
Navigate to your GMAC account and take the other free full-length Focus practice tests!
You can access them here.
Remember to do your best to mimic the GMAT conditions. Note how your sleep the night before affects your work. Again, note how what
you had for dinner the previous night and what you had to eat earlier that day affects your energy level and concentration. Review your test immediately after completion or save it for tomorrow since that is the focus of this week’s day two.
Day 2: Practice Test Review
Open your error log for a deep-dive review of yesterday’s practice test. For each question you entered into your log do the following:
- Determine and make note of why you missed the question
- Return to the Magoosh lessons and watch any that relate to the questions you missed in this O.G. practice.
- Be aware of any trends that help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Day 3-5: Mixed Practice & Review
OG Mixed Practice:
- 5 QR questions
- 5 VR questions
- 5 DI questions
Day 6: Review
Review
If not already done, break out your error log to analyze any questions you’ve missed during this week’s practice. Be sure to make note of and go back and review the lessons associated with the questions you are missing.
In Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards:
Review the cards in the Mixed Practice VI deck. Spend about 10 minutes a day each day reviewing these cards and cards from the previous decks that you haven’t mastered.
After Week 12: Prepare for GMAT Test Day
In the Magoosh questions:
At this point, if you have been following the schedule, you have done A LOT of work, an incredible number of questions! Excellent job! For the remaining days until the test, keep practicing.
Your first priority should be to finish any remaining unanswered questions; your second priority should be to re-answer any questions you got “incorrect.” If, when answering previous incorrect questions, you get the vast majority of them correct on the second try, then the supply of “incorrect” questions will dwindle. When you have run out of (or almost out of ) incorrect questions in each question format, math, verbal, and data insights, you have the option to reset your statistics, and start re-answering questions in an adaptive format. Many students have found that seeing questions more than once really deepens their understanding.
Some suggestions for what to do if you have additional time:
Through selecting question type & difficulty on the “Dashboard”, do Magoosh problems over again, and see how you do a second or third time.
Keep up the outside reading.
Keep working on the questions in the OG online question bank.
Keep watching Magoosh lesson videos on whatever topics you feel you need to review.
Keep studying cards that you haven’t mastered from the Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards.
Go to the online forums, looking for challenging questions that folks are asking.
If you have time before the real GMAT, you could buy access to more GMATPrep tests by purchasing official exams from mba.com.
COUNTDOWN TO THE EXAM:
Day Before the Test
No GMAT preparation all day!
Eat a large, healthy, leisurely dinner – no alcohol!
Go to bed earlier than usual.
Day of Test
ABSOLUTELY NO LAST-MINUTE GMAT PREPARATION!
Eat a large breakfast, full of protein
Do relaxing, fun activities to pass time until the test
Bring to the Test
A liter of water
Healthy energy-packed snacks (nuts, protein bar, etc.)
Take the optional break and be sure to get up, move & stretch – moving & stretching the large muscles of the body (legs & torso) will get oxygen flowing throughout, which will help keep you awake and keep you thinking clearly.
Good luck!
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