If you are working in a full-time demanding profession, preparing for GMAT might seem a bit complex. But as GMAT scores are necessary to enrol in top universities, you have to find a way to achieve success. Hence, a good GMAT score has the potential to upsurge your chances of admission to your dream business school.
GMAT syllabus is designed to evaluate a student’s analytical and reasoning skills. Along with fresh graduates, working professionals take the GMAT in hopes of advancing their careers.So, to make it easy for you, we will be helping you with the GMAT study plan for working professionals to acquire and prepare for GMAT exam while balancing work through proper time management.
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GMAT Preparation Tips For Working Professionals
The prospect of balancing work and taking the GMAT can be challenging for working professionals. However, achieving your target score in an exam while doing a full-time job is possible if you follow these GMAT tips & tricks.
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Set a Target Score For GMAT
To get a good score on the GMAT exam, every working professional needs to determine a target score for themselves. And for that, the primary step is to research the MBA program and universities in which you want to enrol.
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Learn Proper Time Management
The best way to manage your GMAT time management is to analyse how much time you want to solve each GMAT section. Since the Verbal and Quantitative sections of GMAT have more scoring opportunities, dedicate 45 mins to 1 hour practising them.
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Be Consistent In Your Efforts
Achieving a good GMAT score while balancing a work-life will take a considerable amount of effort. With proper hard work and following a study plan, you can reach your target GMAT score.
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Take GMAT Mock Tests
The only way to evaluate your progress is by taking GMAT mock tests. The sample questions are very similar to the actual GMAT questions. Thus, including mock tests in your GMAT study plan will help you get familiarised with the test format.
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Set Short-Term Targets
Break down the whole GMAT syllabus into smaller sections and turn it into a short-term goal. Each week, make it a point to achieve one of those short-term goals to boost your confidence.
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GMAT Study Schedule for Working Professionals
The GMAT preparation for working professionals begins with planning an effective study plan. This step-by-step ‘working professionals GMAT study plan’ will help you manage both work and studies for your GMAT preparation.
Step 1 - Understand The GMAT Structure
The first step is to clearly understand the GMAT exam pattern and syllabus. The aggregate score is calculated on a score scale of 200-800 in the quantitative and GMAT verbal reasoning section. The full GMAT structure is explained as follows -
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Sections |
No. of Questions |
Allotted Marks |
Time |
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1 |
0-6 |
30 mins |
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12 |
1-8 |
30 mins |
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36 |
6-51 |
65 mins |
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31 |
6-51 |
62 mins |
Step 2 - Take Full Length Practice Tests
Full-length mock tests for GMAT will help you practise sample questions. You will be able to understand your strengths and weaknesses after taking the GMAT practice tests. As a beginner, you can take the GMAT™ Official Starter Kit + Practice Exams 1 & 2 (FREE) and as you proceed with your preparation, the GMAT™ Official Practice Exams 3 to 6 (PAID) is recommended. Other than these, you can take the Kaplan GMAT Prep, Magoosh GMAT Prep & Manhattan GMAT Prep for practising additional GMAT mock tests.
Step 3 - Study GMAT Prep Books
You must study each topic in the GMAT prep books to understand the test-taking strategies and commonly asked question types in GMAT. Here are some GMAT preparation books you can study to amplify your GMAT preparation:
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Books |
Features |
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GMAT Official Guide 2022 Bundle |
Covers Verbal and Quantitative sections of GMAT, offers 1900+ practice questions |
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Manhattan Prep's All the GMAT Bundle, 7th Edition |
Consists of 100+ practice questions, interactive video lessons & exam strategies |
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Kaplan's GMAT Prep Plus 2022-2023 |
Has 350+ practice questions, detailed explanation for practice questions |
Step 4 - Determine Study Hours
The GMAT self preparation time for working professionals must be determined following their working hours. With more than 40 hours spent working from Monday to Friday, you will have a limited time frame to prepare for the GMAT. Pace your GMAT preparation by studying 4-5 hours on weekends and at least 2 hours on working days.
Step 5 - Practice GMAT Verbal & Quants Sections
Both the Verbal and Quantitative sections of the GMAT exam hold the maximum scoring opportunity. Practice sample GMAT questions for reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and sentence correction. Similarly, practise solving arithmetic, GMAT geometry, algebra and word problems in a given time period to understand the test-taking strategies.
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If you are a working professional, you must start your GMAT preparation journey as soon as you book a GMAT appointment date and time slot. Balancing between GMAT preparation and job may become difficult sometimes, but with self-paced learning and a personalised GMAT study plan, one can definitely overcome the stressful times. And if you want to know more about GMAT exam and other related things to universities, sign up on Yocket and get all the information easily.
