The difference between a good GMAT Preparation schedule and a poor one boils down to time management. We want 20 hours of your time every week dedicated toward GMAT, for a period of 3 to 4 months. With the comfort of preparing online, you can spend small nuggets of your day on your phone/laptop, coupled with focused preparation during weekday nights & weekends. To know more on how you should start, check out this video.

There isn't a one-size-fits-all preparation plan for the GMAT exam. Having said that, preparing online for your GMAT has significant advantages.

Within Online Preparation for the GMAT, you have two options. One is to subscribe to a self-paced recorded course. You have complete freedom over your preparation - anytime, anywhere, and at your pace. Ideally suited for someone who is structured and motivated.

If you believe you are unsure to go it alone and will appreciated a guided tour, a GMAT Live Online Course will suit your learning needs the best. Apart from this, you can also go in for 1-on-1 tutoring (will cost 2x to 4x of what a group learning program will cost).

If you ask us, the best way to start is to sign up as a trial user at Wizako. The only commitment you make is to yourself to complete the free content. If it meets your learning needs, unlock content behind paywall by paying the requisite fees. Start your GMAT journey today by clicking here.

Preparing for the GMAT is much like preparing for an 800m running race. You will prepare for such a race different from the way you will prepare for a 100m dash or a marathon.

Relating the GMAT prep to that analogy, a typical GMAT study plan to score upward of 705 in the GMAT Focus exam will span 300 to 350 hours of focused preparation spread over a 3 to 4 month window.

Irrespective of the time window, break your GMAT prep into 5 phases. Your GMAT preparation starts with taking a diagnostic test to assess where you stand. Step 2 is to finding your GMAT preparation mode and test prep partner. Based on your diagnostic and your estimate of your relative strength in the 3 sections, find the mix of scores in individual section that will get past the post. Phase 4 is when the actual preparation starts. We recommend starting with one section at a time. In the last phase, take mock exams, analyze, use the feedback from each mock test to fine tune your preparation.

Read an indepth guide to building your GMAT Study Plan .

At the risk of stating the obvious, it is not how many mock tests you take, but how well you analyze and use the feedback mechanism that will result in score improvement in the GMAT.

Focus your test analysis on 3 factors: Accuracy, Time taken, and Ironing out rough edges. But if you want to read about this a little more in depth, you can do so here.

A reassuring fact: If you have done justice to your GMAT preparation, you will be able to complete all questions in each of the sections of the GMAT exam with at least a couple of minutes to spare.

Having said that, even the stalwarts of GMAT know that they may not be able to answer all questions in the GMAT. Knowing what questions usually trip you and not trying to solve a question that you have no clue about is the key to conserving time, energy, and morale in the exam.

By preparing for one conceptual topic at a time - learn from the basics and solve higher difficulty questions in one chapter, ironing out any doubts you have along the way, before you move on to the next one.

By grabbing a notepad and pen whenever you see a video of K S Baskar walking you through quant concepts - take notes in class, and actually attempt the example problems we walk you through. There is a world of difference between sitting passively and watching others solve a quant problem and actually solving it yourself alongside our Wizako tutors.

The best place to start is always the start line! Many test takers who skip learning the basics of GMAT verbal struggle with improving their accuracy or time management beyond a point. Sure, reading is a life skill but reading comprehension does not have to take a lifetime to master.

Analyzing and understanding the foundation for the GMAT, including what question types are usually tested and what the corresponding strategies are, is a great place to start your preparation.

Focus on breaking down the questions to their structural elements and keep an error log to your progress. What's an error log, you ask? You can check out this video

By focusing more on comprehension than on reading. When people prepare for tests such as the GMAT, they tend to focus on reading speed rather than on enhancing their understanding of the information they are reading. And if we are a non-native English speaker, then the second reading speed waltzes into the picture, comprehension flies out the window!

We spend a significant portion of our lessons discussing reading strategies that will specifically help you enhance your comprehension while managing your time well and not reading a mile a minute.

Also check out our wizreads.com blog compiling interesting articles for you to practice your reading on.

Two things to keep in mind - one, focus on improving data literacy skills and not just your quant skills. Questions based on graphs and charts are more about accurate interpretation of the information than about calculating percentages. Two, practice Data Insights after completing the majority of your preparation for quant and verbal sections. The Data Insights section is a confluence of the skills you will develop in quant and verbal and requires both your calculation and inferencing skills in equal measure.

Oh, where do I begin! Figuring out the test-taking strategy that works best for you is like playing a chess game with other versions of yourself. In layman parlance, I mean that you must figure out your own strengths and weaknesses and play them to your advantage.

For example, you might determine that verbal is not your strong suit and that getting it out of the way at the beginning of the test allows you to relax and focus better on quant and data insights. Another test-taker might save verbal for the last because it is not their strong suit either and they would much rather wait to face their biggest demon.

Once you learn your concepts and improve your accuracy through extensive practice, you can flesh out the details of an ideal strategy best suited for you.

The list could be endless. However, we have collated a list of 12 common mistakes that test takers make. If you also make those mistakes, it's time to clean up the act. If you do not make those, being aware of such mistakes will help you avoid those.

Read the 12 Common Mistakes that GMAT Test Takers Make