Most GMAT study plans you will find were written for a test that no longer exists. They budget weeks for Sentence Correction, which has been removed. They treat Data Sufficiency as a maths topic, which it no longer is. They assume an essay and a four hour sitting, neither of which is still there.
Prepare from one of those plans and you will spend a meaningful share of your time on content that is not examined, and almost none on the section most likely to hold your score down. Here is what the exam is now, and a ten week plan built around it.
The exam runs 2 hours and 15 minutes, with one optional 10 minute break, and contains 64 questions in total. There are three sections, each 45 minutes:
You can answer the three sections in any order you choose.
The content inside them matters more than the timings. Quantitative Reasoning is Problem Solving only, testing arithmetic and elementary algebra, with no calculator. Verbal Reasoning is Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning only. Data Insights carries Data Sufficiency along with Multi-Source Reasoning, Table Analysis, Graphics Interpretation and Two-Part Analysis, and a calculator is permitted there.
Read that again if you have prepared before. Data Sufficiency sits in Data Insights. Sentence Correction appears nowhere.
The Total Score runs from 205 to 805, in intervals of 10. Each section is scored from 60 to 90, in intervals of 1.
The part that should reshape your plan: all three section scores contribute equally to the Total Score. Data Insights is not a side section you tidy up at the end. It is a third of your score, it is the newest section, and it is the one most candidates have never been taught properly.
If you are rationing your preparation time, that is the imbalance to correct first.
Section order. You choose it. Most people are sharper in the first 45 minutes than the last. Put your weakest section first if accuracy is your problem, or your strongest first if nerves are.
Question Review and Edit. At the end of each section you can review as many questions as you like and change up to three answers. Three per section, not three in total. Flag doubtful questions as you go, because hunting for them afterwards wastes the time you need to re-solve them.
The optional break. Ten minutes, after the first or second section. Taking it is almost always right.
Practise all three in your mocks. A feature you use for the first time on test day is a liability, not an advantage.
This assumes eight to ten hours a week alongside work or final year study. Compress it to seven weeks at fifteen hours, but do not compress the mocks.
Weeks 1 to 2, diagnosis and foundations. Sit a full official practice exam cold, before studying anything. You need a baseline, not a comfortable score. Then rebuild arithmetic and elementary algebra fundamentals. No calculator in Quant, so mental arithmetic and estimation are worth real practice.
Weeks 3 to 4, Quant and Verbal content. Work through Problem Solving by topic rather than at random. For Verbal, split your time between Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning, and read dense non fiction daily. Critical Reasoning rewards argument structure, so learn to name the conclusion and the assumption before you look at the options.
Weeks 5 to 6, Data Insights properly. Give this block to Data Insights alone. Data Sufficiency first, because it is the type most people carry bad habits into. Then Multi-Source Reasoning, Table Analysis, Graphics Interpretation and Two-Part Analysis, one at a time. Use the on screen calculator while practising so it is familiar.
Week 7, first timed mock and repair. Sit a full official practice exam under real conditions, with your chosen section order. Spend the rest of the week only on what it exposed. Resist the pull of topics you already enjoy.
Week 8, pacing. 45 minutes for 21, 23 and 20 questions is roughly two minutes each. Practise in 45 minute blocks and build the habit of abandoning a question you have not cracked in three minutes. One question is worth far less than the four you lose by chasing it.
Week 9, second mock and review strategy. Another full mock. This time rehearse your three edits per section deliberately.
Week 10, taper. Light revision, error log review, no new material. Confirm your test centre or online setup. Sleep matters more than one more problem set.
You must wait at least 16 calendar days between appointments, and you may take the exam up to 5 times within a rolling 12 month period. There are no lifetime limits. Scores are valid for five years from the date you took the test.
Two practical consequences. First, book your date before you start studying, because an unbooked exam drifts. Second, if you are retaking, 16 days is rarely enough to fix a content gap. Three to four weeks of targeted work usually beats a fast rebooking.
GMAC's free Official Starter Kit includes two full length official practice exams and 70 questions across all three sections. Use the official material for anything that needs to feel like the real test, and keep third party questions for drilling volume.
If you are weighing this against the other route into a business school application, our GRE preparation page sets out that comparison, and our GMAT coaching page covers the format in more detail.
The GMAT Focus Edition is a 2 hour 15 minute exam of 64 questions, scored 205 to 805, with three equally weighted sections. The two changes that should reshape your preparation are that Data Sufficiency now sits inside Data Insights, and that Sentence Correction has gone. Treat Data Insights as a third of your score rather than an afterthought, book the date before you begin, and rehearse section order, the three edits and the break in your mocks rather than discovering them on the day.
Talk to a Counsellor →Checked on 6 October 2026. Exam rules, fees and visa requirements change, so always confirm with the official body before you book or apply.
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