This is a question that goes in the mind of every test taker. When should I really start preparing? Well the answer depends on when do you want to attend the business school. GMAT scores are valid for a couple of years (5) and thus if you are not planning as soon as you give the GMAT then this is not a concern for you. This post is intended more for people who want to finish the process- from GMAT to attending a B school- in a single shot- meaning take the GMAT and then apply for the schools right away.
That needs some planning and you need to understand the application process of the B schools. Let me cover a little bit about the application process. Most of the schools have a couple of rounds in the application process- early bird, round 1, round 2, round 3 etc. Although there are many rounds, typically it is round 1 and round 2. You have to plan your applications around the round 1 and round 2 deadlines. I have visited many schools and talked with the Adcom of schools and typically there is much difference between your acceptance rate between round 1 and round 2. Round 3 become more competitive and you might want to avoid that. Now Round 1 deadlines for most of the schools are in the first week of October and Round 2 deadlines are in the first week of Jan. In order to come up with good applications and plan the schools visits and talking to professors, you will require about 3 months before the deadline. 3 month is a good time for preparing for the application essays and knowing more about the schools. Also remember that you would be spending quite a time on your essays and that shall go through multiple round of iterations.
You can plan to spend about 3 months on your GMAT preparation or take expert help and reduce it by 1-month. Plan to secure 700 and beyond for the top 10 schools and Grockit definitely becomes very useful in achieving your goal with the other Official material. So when do you really take the GMAT. Let’s work it backwards from the Round 1 application deadlines. That would be end of June. So if you clear your GMAT by end of June, you are in a good position to submit your applications in the round 1. Also let’s say you didn’t secure your target score in GMAT. Still you would have ample time to take another shot at the GMAT and clear GMAT in july and then proceed towards applying for round 1. In case you miss the round 1 deadline, then you can plan to apply in round 2- that statistically is very similar to the round 1.
If you are planning round 2, then you should be done with your GMAT by end of September at the latest to have ample time for your application preparation.
So in summary:
Round 1 applicants- Finish GMAT by June end and start preparing for GMAT beginning March-April.
Round2 applicants- Finish GMAT by September end and start preparing for GMAT beginning May- June.
Once planned in this manner, you would have ample time for each step and then attend your dream B school. Also remember 5P’s – Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance and that’s the reason we are here at Grockit :-) Helping you achieve your best - from start to finish.
About the Author
I am Atul Jose, Founding Consultant of F1GMAT, an MBA admissions consultancy that has worked with applicants since 2009.
For the past 15 years I have edited the application files of admits to the M7 programs: Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Kellogg School of Management, and Columbia Business School, together with admits to Berkeley Haas, Yale School of Management, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, SDA Bocconi, IESE Business School, HEC Paris, McCombs, and Tepper, plus other programs inside the global top 30.
My work covers the full MBA application deliverable: career planning and profile evaluation, application essay editing, recommendation letter editing, mock interviews and interview preparation, scholarship and fellowship essay editing, and cover letter editing for funding applications. Full bio with credentials and admit history is here.
I am the author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, the best-selling essay guide covering M7 MBA programs. I have written and updated the guide annually since 2013, which makes the 2026 edition the thirteenth.
The reason I still write and edit essays every cycle: a good MBA essay carries a real applicant's voice. Writing essays for F1GMAT's Books and Editing essays weekly is how I stay calibrated to what current admissions committees respond to.
Contact me for school selection, career planning, essay strategy, narrative development, essay editing, interview preparation, scholarship essay editing, or guidance documents for recommendation letters.