When Should I Start Studying for the GMAT?

Earlier than you think. If you’re aiming for first-round applications in the fall, you’ll want to start studying in January. Under ideal conditions, preparing for the GMAT might take only a month or two, but weak fundamentals, a bad test day, and the ordinary chaos of life can stretch your timeline, robbing you of valuable time for writing your best possible applications. Here’s why starting the GMAT in winter helps ensure that your application will actually shine by the fall deadlines.

For the bigger picture on how to create an efficient study plan, start with How to Study for the GMAT.

As I write this, it’s the dead of winter, and first-round MBA deadlines won’t be here for another eight months or so. That’s almost enough time to bring a baby to term.

So if you’re looking ahead to the next admissions cycle, you still have plenty of time to worry about the GMAT or Executive Assessment and your MBA applications, right?

As crazy as it may sound, I would argue that you should probably start thinking about your GMAT or EA prep before the snow starts to melt. If your goal is to produce the best MBA or EMBA application you possibly can, without turning your life into a stressed-out nightmare right before the application deadlines, then summer might be too late to start your GMAT or EA studies.

Unless you’ve already been humbled by the GMAT or EA, you’re probably thinking, “Come on, you stupid ninja guy! If I start in June, I’ll still have TONS of time for applications.” You might be right. And you might be desperately wrong.

Why You Should Get an Early Start on Your GMAT or EA Prep

In an effort to scare the poop out of you, here are two stories about guys who started their GMAT prep in June but still didn’t have enough time to produce their best MBA applications by the following January. (If you’re taking the Executive Assessment, this applies to you, too. The dangers of a late start are just as real for that exam.)

In May one year, I received a phone call from a gentleman – let’s call him Mr. U, since he’s from upstate New York – who planned to quit his thoroughly unsatisfying job so that he could focus exclusively on the GMAT beginning in early June. He intended to spend the summer pounding the GMAT into submission, and then spend the fall writing amazing MBA application essays.

And guess what? Stuff happened. He needed a few more weeks than he predicted to fully transition out of his job. He ended up having some unexpected family obligations as the summer and fall wore on. He got distracted by some home repair projects. Some unavoidable trips, mostly for out-of-town weddings, interrupted his GMAT studies.

Beyond all of that, his arithmetic and algebra skills were an utter disaster, and he needed far more study time than he’d hoped. Because his math skills were so crappy, Mr. U battled burnout after a couple of months of studying and had to take the GMAT twice to get his target score.

Between his GMAT struggles and other unpredictable distractions in his life, Mr. U didn’t start writing his MBA application essays until late December, and he pulled a few late nights in early January to get everything done. His applications weren’t very polished, and he definitely suffered through some unnecessary MBA essay agony.

It all worked out for him in the end. Mr. U attended a top-ten MBA program, and his post-MBA life is pretty awesome. But he suffered through the harrowing process of receiving rejection letters from five of his six target MBA programs. If he had started earlier, Mr. U might have had more options, and he definitely would have saved himself a ton of pain and stress.

The second story involves a fellow we’ll call Mr. F, since he loves skiing in fresh powder, just like everybody else in Colorado. Mr. F started his tutoring program in June, and he earned his high GMAT score in August. No problems there. He figured that he would have the entire autumn to work on his MBA applications.

But again, life got in the way. His boss gave him some summer evenings off to focus on the GMAT, but autumn was payback time, and Mr. F ended up working ridiculously long hours from late August through the end of December. Some drama in his family also ate into his precious free time and, just like Mr. U, Mr. F ended up finishing some of his second-round MBA applications at literally the last minute on January 3.

In the end, his MBA applications weren’t as polished as they should have been. We both ended up sweating unnecessarily as we waited for his decisions the following spring.

One thing was clear: if he had given himself more time, his MBA applications would have been much stronger.

When Should You Start Studying for the GMAT or Executive Assessment?

Whether you’re taking the GMAT or the EA, please don’t let this happen to you.

You might think that the test-taking and MBA application process will take just a month or two, but all sorts of things can derail your progress: a bad test day, a sick family member, essay-writer’s block, a natural disaster, unexpected work issues, a marriage proposal from your significant other, or a promotion that requires extra hours.

You also might find that your underlying GMAT or EA skills are weaker than you expected. You can certainly overcome those weaknesses, but it does mean that you’ll need to put in more study time than you originally thought. As Mr. U painfully discovered, weak quant fundamentals or weak reading skills can substantially delay your test date.

So if you’re truly serious about your MBA or EMBA goals, make sure that you give yourself enough time to weather every possible distraction. If you start in January but succeed in achieving your dream GMAT or EA score in February, that’s wonderful. You’ll have plenty of time for b-school visits in the spring and summer. But it takes a ton of time to write great MBA or EMBA applications, and if your life isn’t perfectly smooth during the course of your studies and the MBA application process, you’ll ultimately be thrilled that you started studying early.

For more on the application side of that timeline, the myth of the “first-round advantage” is worth a read: “First-Round Advantage” Is a Big Fat Lie. Sort Of.