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GMAT Time Management Strategies to Ace the Exam

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Rituparna Nath

Content Writer at Study Abroad Exams | Updated On - Jan 24, 2023

The GMAT Time Management aims to answer maximum questions correctly in the test within the provided time. The GMAT time management is tricky as the syllabus is huge and every section requires some attention. Proper time management can help you avoid spending excess time on a single question, so that you can focus and give attention to the difficult ones. But with the right strategies, you can score well in the exam.

GMAT Time Management Strategies

The best GMAT time management strategy is to strengthen your test practice and track your progress in simulated real time. Let's break down several GMAT time management techniques, and correct some common misconceptions along the way.

  1. Pay attention to how you practice pacing and mark your progress

To enhance your GMAT time management including practice exercises it is important. It helps to keep a track of how long it takes you to answer each question. When you review the answers, note which types of questions you spend a lot of time on and which you answer more easily. This way you can work on the time taking problems to solve it faster.

  1. Know your weaknesses and strengths

During the test, there would be questions that make you falter and are sometimes not worth a lot of time and energy. Use your best judgment on questions that give you trouble, it is best to skip it. This way you save yourself time and use it on problems that take longer. On average, you will miss around 40% of the questions on the GMAT, so you need to understand while deciding which questions to solve and which ones to guess. Also, you need to practice GMAT test-taking tips to score high in exams.

  1. Do not spend more than 3 minutes on a single question

This should be taken quite literally, and you’re already pushing it if you’ve spent three minutes on one question. Taking the GMAT requires flexibility, and this is where you need to adjust to the test as it tries to adjust to you. Know when it’s time to cut the cord, so you can free yourself to answer more questions. Do not leave any questions unanswered, as each unanswered question costs you more than questions you answer incorrectly. Know the specific time constraints of all test sections, as charted out in the next point.

  1. Follow the benchmarks

It’s very important to know effective GMAT time management strategies as often students run out of time. The solution to this problem is a timing benchmark. This guides the student as they would memorize how many to answer within a certain period of time provided to each section.

Verbal Timing Benchmarks

GMAT verbal time management would include giving yourself nine minutes to solve 5 questions. Follow this tip during practice tests as well, this will enhance your speed.

Finish this question By the time on-screen
Q6. 55 mins
Q12. 44 mins
Q18. 33mins
Q24. 22mins
Q30 11mins

Quantitative Timing Benchmarks

GMAT quantitative reasoning solving tactic would be to practice five quant questions together but not taking more than ten minutes. Make sure not to give more than three minutes to any individual question.

Finish this question By the time on-screen
Q4. 54mins
Q8. 38mins
Q12. 30mins
Q20. 22mins
Q24. 14mins
Q28 6mins
  1. Make balance: Don’t go too fast or too slow

Best GMAT Time management techniques would include always keeping track of the time spent on each question, even if it’s a set of problems. It's very important to keep a balance. You need to solve the entire problem test paper to qualify in the exam. Below there is a table to give you an idea about the time management that is required for the exam.

Question Type Average Timing Minimum and Maximum Timing
Quant 2 minutes 1 minute/2.5 minutes
Sentence Correction 1 minute 15 seconds 45 seconds/2 minutes
Critical Reasoning 2 minutes 1 minute/2.5 minutes
RC: Reading 2-3 minutes 1.5 minutes/3.5 minutes
RC:General questions 1 minute 30 seconds/1.5 minutes
RC:Specific questions 1.5 minutes 45 seconds/ 2 minutes
  1. Be flexible

Instead of waiting for the exam day, practice tests help in your time management. Regular practice tests will improve your time management. As your score starts increasing day by day you’ll face harder questions which will take more time.

So be flexible to face questions without any particular order. As it is a computer adaptive test, the questions come in a random order, so you need to be prepared for it. Learning GMAT effective time management strategies will lead to better scores and improved overall academic performance.

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

Ask your question

Answered Questions

BS

Bhavya Singh

18 Mar 21ISB Hyderabad

Several factors affect the chance of a candidate getting a seat in ISB Hyderabad. Not only the GMAT score, but also the application profile, essays, and performance in the interview combined together decides whether a candidate should get a seat or not in such an elite institute. The points listed below are some important aspects to consider for admission to such institutes.

  • There is no fixed cut-off for ISB Hyderabad, as declared by the institute. There are examples of people with a GMAT score of 720 not getting a seat from the interviews. On the other hand, there are candidates with a score of 700-710 but are successful in getting a seat in ISB Hyderabad.
  • GMAT score is not the only criteria for getting a seat, but the door to get an interview call. The quality of essays written by the candidate, his/her application/ profile, and the performance in the interviews are also considered.
  • For candidates with an average profile, a GMAT score of 720+, along with a complete application and a good essay can be considered to have high chances to receive an interview call. After having a call, the rest depends on how the candidate will perform in his/her interview.

This is the overall scenario for admission in ISB Hyderabad, for a student with an average profile.


MN

Mahak Nigam

30 Jun 22Master of Business Administration Degrees & Finance, Aditya Institute of Management Studies and Research

More than 140 Business Schools in India accept GMAT scores. Here is a list of popular B-School that accept GMAT scores.

IIM Ahmedabad (PGPX) IIM Bangalore (EPGP) IIM Calcutta (PGPEx)
IIM Indore (EPGP) IIM Kozhikode (EPGP) IIM Lucknow (IPMAX)
XLRI Jamshedpur MDI Gurgaon IMT Ghaziabad
IIFT Delhi FMS Deli ISB Hyderabad/Mohali

Many other reputed B-School across the country also accept GMAT scores.


AV

Arvind Verma

30 Jun 22Studied at Indian School of Business

ISB Hyderabad accepts both examination scores. So, you can opt for either of GMAT or GRE. Your chances of selection or rejection will remain the same. Go through the examination pattern and syllabus and choose the one in which you feel that you will be able to score better. Ultimately having a good score is what matters during admission. As per the recent trends, ISB Hyderabad cutoff for GMAT is 600, while for GRE it is 311. 


AS

Aditi Sen

12 May 21PGDM from Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad (2019)

There are many business schools in India that require GMAT scores at the time of admission.

Some of the top business schools with requiring GMAT scores in India are:

Institute Name

GMAT Score

ISB, Hyderabad & Mohali

730 or higher

S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai

550

IIM Ahmedabad

711

School of Management, NMIMS Mumbai

600

IIM Bangalore

710

Great Lakes Institute of Management

600

IIM Calcutta

701

XLRI Jamshedpur

710

IIM Lucknow

680

IMT (All campuses)

720

IIM Indore

700

ICFAI Business School (Hyderabad & Mumbai)

700

IIM Kozhikode

700

A few other institutes include - MDI Gurgaon, FMS Delhi, Sunstone Business School Noida, ISB Indore, and more.


NM

Nishad JK Makol

10 Mar 23PGDM Marketing & Consulting, S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (2017)

I see that you already have more than 50 months of work experience. My suggestion for anyone with such work experience is to opt for the 1-year PGPM Program rather than the 2-year PGDM Program. Keep working for another year and earn your fee for the 1-year program. This way you will save time. Money and even be spared from investing additional efforts when the same could be done in lesser time. The cutoff for both the programs is

Program

Cutoff

PGPM

660

PGDM

85 Percentile