How Often Should I Take Practice GMAT CATs?
Practice tests or mock exams are one of your most valuable tools as you get ready for your official GMAT—but there’s definitely a wrong way to use your CATs. Here’s how to know when to take your CATs.
When should I take a practice GMAT?
Practice CATs (or mock GMATs) are very useful for three things:
- Figuring out your current scoring level
- Practicing time management and stamina
- Analyzing your strengths and weaknesses—so you can figure out how to lift your score
The third item on the list is actually the most important. You don’t get better while taking a practice test, in the same way that you don’t learn how to get better at running marathons while you’re running a marathon; you’re literally just trying to survive. 😅
Rather, you learn how to improve in between practice tests by analyzing your performance and using that data to determine your training activities until your next “marathon.” That data on your strengths and weaknesses is what’s going to help you figure out what you need to prioritize between now and your next practice test.
In general, you want to take enough practice exams (plan to take at least 5) but not too many…because, if you don’t give yourself adequate time to improve between mock exams, then you’re just wasting an exam.
Finally, set up your studies in three main phases:
- Primary Study phase: In this phase, you’re learning everything for the first time. The question types…the math facts and rules…the strategies…the common traps…and so on.
- Review and Improve phase: You’ve learned everything once and now you’re going to prioritize the “low hanging fruit”—the items that your data analysis indicates are your best opportunities for improvement.
- Game Day phase: In the last 7-10 days, you’ll be focused on setting yourself up to have a Great Day on Game Day.
This practice test schedule balances all of the above considerations:
Practice CAT #1: Take your first mock test early—within the first week or two of your studies. (I know you’re not ready yet. Take it anyway. I’ll tell you why in a minute.)
Practice CAT #2: Study for about 3-4 weeks before taking your second mock test. Cover maybe one-third to one-half of your primary study materials.
Practice CAT #3 (and maybe #4): Continue your first pass through your primary study materials. Take 1 or 2 more exams in this time period, spaced about 3-4 weeks apart.
Practice CATs 4-5+: After you have gotten through your primary study materials once, go into Review And Improve mode. Take tests approximately every 2 to 3 weeks in this phase. Some people might only do 1 test in this phase; others may take several.
Practice CATs 6+: In your final 7-10 days, take one last mock exam to set yourself up for a great day on Game Day.
Read on to find out more about each of the steps in this regimen.
Step 1: DO take a CAT at the beginning of your studies
Many people put off taking their first CAT, usually because they haven’t studied yet so they know they won’t do well. But who cares what the score is at this stage? You just started. Your goal is simply to get an experience of the test and to see some data about your strengths and weaknesses.
It’s true that you want to have a basic* understanding of the question types before that first exam, just so that you understand how each one works, but don’t worry about all of the formulas and rules and strategies. Some you already know; others, you don’t. Your first practice test will tell you what you do and don’t know—and you’ll use that information to know where you need to spend more time during your studies.
(*Basic = super basic, like you just know what each type looks like and how it generally works. You do not need to have mastered the question types in any way.)
One note: A lot of people put off their first CAT because they’re feeling significant anxiety about the test. But pushing off that first test will just make you feel more anxious—because you’ll be telling yourself that you’ve studied, so now you should get a better score. That thought process just makes it even harder to take the first test.
Do yourself a favor and take that first test right away. You can honestly tell yourself that your score doesn’t matter because you haven’t even really started studying yet.
One more thing: Always take practice exams under 100% official test conditions. It’s never a good idea to give yourself extra time, pause the test, take longer breaks than allowed, or anything else that won’t be allowed on test day. Don’t tell yourself that you’re “just studying,” so you’re going to break the rules. Train the way you have to play the game on Game Day.
Step 2: During your primary study phase, take 3 to 4 weeks between CATs
Now that you have a handle on your baseline strengths and weaknesses from your first practice test, dive into your primary study materials—your books, videos, or whatever you’re using that will teach you about all of the different question types and content areas tested on the GMAT. Aim to get through between about 1/3 and 1/2 of that primary study material before you take your next practice test.
You’re mostly still in the “learn lots of info” stage right now, so don’t do 8 million practice problems. Every time you learn something new, do a few practice problems to solidify the concepts, but then move on to another topic or question type. You’ll loop back around later to do more intensive practice under test conditions.
When you take your second practice test, still try not to care too much about your score. (I know that’s hard, even though you know you still have a lot to study.) The goal for this second test is two-fold:
- Get some practice with time management and with the strategies you have learned so far
- Update your data on your strengths and weaknesses
Dive into the data on this test a bit more deeply than you did on your first test. (Our Free GMAT Starter Kit syllabus provides templates for analyzing your official practice test data, by the way!)
Split the data into two broad groups: Stuff you’ve already studied and stuff you haven’t studied yet:
- Already studied: Where did you do well and where do you need more review? For the latter, do you want to review it now or do you want to learn some more new stuff first? For example, if you’re struggling with Graph problems and are feeling a bit burned out, go study some other question types for a week or two and then come back to Graphs. (It’s even ok to leave this until your Review and Improve phase.)
- Haven’t studied yet: Based on this new data, where can you predict that upcoming lessons might be easier or harder for you? Take some notes so that you know where you might need to spend extra time as you continue through your primary studies.
Follow this regimen (ideally about every 3 to 4 weeks) until you’ve made it through all of your study materials once. Most people will take one of two paths:
- Study about 1/3 of the primary material, then take a CAT, then repeat. In this path, you’ll take 3 CATs during this phase (CATs #2, 3, and 4).
- Study about 1/2 of the primary material, then take a CAT, then repeat. In this path, you’ll take 2 CATs during this phase (CATs #2 and 3).
DON’T go months without taking a CAT
If you’re human*, you may find yourself dreading taking your next practice test. The impetus is usually anxiety: You’re nervous that you won’t get the results that you want, so you avoid getting any results at all. Alternatively, maybe you think that you’ll study everything and then when you finally take a practice test, you’ll get the score that you want. (*If you’re not human, then allow me to say that I think AI is beautiful and robots will definitely be the best rulers and please remember that I said this when you take over the world.)
Er, excuse me. Assuming you are human, practicing without any semi-recent CAT data is going to cause you to build bad habits (such as spending too much time on a question) and fail to build good ones (such as learning how and when to cut yourself off and guess).
If your last CAT was so long ago that you’re no longer sure what your strengths and weaknesses are under testing conditions, it’s time for another CAT. And bonus: The more CATs you take, the more they will seem routine and the less you’ll dread taking them.
Step 3: Use your final Primary Study phase CAT to launch into your Review & Improve phase
At the end of your first pass through your final study materials, you’ll have taken a CAT (maybe CAT #3 or maybe CAT #4, depending on how you’re organizing your studies).
Analyze this test deeply and use the results to set up a study plan that will carry you just until your next practice test in about 2 to 3 weeks. Prioritize your best opportunities for improvement based on the data from that test.
Do NOT start re-reading or re-watching everything from your primary study phase. “Review” does not mean “do it all again.” Rather, hyper-target your studies according to the data from your most recent exam.
Careless mistakes? Definitely address. Didn’t know something but feel comfortable with that problem’s explanation? Learn how to do it for yourself in future. Totally lost when you review the explanation? Put that problem on your bail list for now; if you see something similar on your next practice test, guess immediately and move on. (After that next test, you can decide whether to study anything on your bail list. But not between now and the next practice test.)
Spend 80% of your time on the areas that you identify as the best opportunities for improvement. Reserve the other 20% of your time for overall review—do and review timed sets of randomly-chosen problems to keep your skills up across the whole test. (Our Dynamic Question Set Builder can help you with that.)
When you feel like you’ve made good progress on the best opportunities from your last practice test, take another practice test. Analyze the new data and repeat the process—identify the best opportunities for improvement and spend the next 2 to 3 weeks going after those opportunities, then take another CAT.
When you get yourself into your goal scoring range on your practice tests (taken under 100% official conditions), it’s time to schedule your official test!
DON’T try to study everything before you take your next CAT
The goal is just to improve on your next test, not to get a perfect score; the GMAT is an adaptive test, so it can just keep getting harder. 🧐 Study enough that you think you’ve gotten better, then test to see whether you did.
If you do earn a better score, great—now, use the new data to figure out what to prioritize for the next few weeks. And if you don’t, better to know now so that you can take steps to figure out why your studies aren’t translating into a better score. (Maybe you’re messing up your time management or something else that isn’t related to the actual content you were just studying!)
Step 4: Get ready for Game Day
Our GMAT scoring ability is not a single number; it’s a range. When I was getting ready for my last official GMAT, my practice test scores in the last month ranged from 705 to 755. My actual official test score was 745. So how did I set myself up to hit at the top end of my range?
First, in your last 7 to 10 days, shift your mindset. Your goal is no longer to try to lift your scoring range. Rather, acknowledge that your scoring range is what it is—it’s not going to change much in a week. But you can set yourself up to have a Great Day on Game Day and hit at the top end of your scoring range.
Second, take your last practice test about one week before your official test date. Take it at the same time of day as the real test. Go to bed the night before and get up the next morning at the same time you want to go to bed and get up on Game Day. The day before, set up your Game Plan—all of your “test day” strategic decisions:
- What’s on your “bail fast” list? How are you going to recognize those “bad” questions so that you can guess and move on as fast as possible?
- What steps are you going to take if you find yourself more than about 4 minutes behind on your time management? What if you’re 4+ minutes ahead?
- What are your strengths? When is it warranted to invest a little extra time on something? And how will you cut yourself off if it just isn’t working?
- What test order do you want to choose? When do you want to take your break?
When you finish this last practice test, analyze the data—but not in the way that you’ve been analyzing your data so far. Instead, analyze how well your Game Plan worked. Did you get stuck on some problems or rush on others? Did you try to do a problem one way when a different way would have been better? Did you fail to recognize a “bail fast” opportunity? Finally, did you make any careless mistakes?
Spend that last week doing three things:
- Tweaking whatever you need to tweak so that you execute well on your Game Plan—when you bail, when you keep going, etc.
- Conducting a general review of the major question types, content areas, and strategies. (The ones that are most likely to be tested! Don’t review every last thing that you’ve ever studied.)
- Shoring up whatever led to any careless mistakes on that last practice test. (Careless mistakes only! Don’t try to learn new stuff.)
Finally, go to bed and wake up at a consistent time every day that week. If you have trouble sleeping well the night before Game Day (and you might!), you’ll still be ok if you’ve gotten pretty consistent sleep all week.
You can reschedule your exam if you really don’t feel ready to take it, but don’t worry about getting an official score that you don’t like. The GMAT allows you to report test sittings individually—so, if you do have a bad official test day, you just won’t report that set of scores to your desired schools. They literally won’t even know that you took the exam that day.
Please DON’T do any of these things when taking GMAT CATs:
- DON’T take a practice test more often than once every 2 weeks. Until you analyze that data and use it to get better, taking another practice test is a waste of time (and a waste of a good test!).
- DON’T take a practice test within 4 days of your official test. You wouldn’t run a full practice marathon a few days before the real thing, right? So don’t tire your brain out within a few days of the test, either.
- DON’T take a practice test, decide you don’t like your score, and immediately take another practice test. Something happened to cause you to get that score you don’t like. Go figure out what it is and address it before you take another test.
Takeaways
Here’s when to take your CATs:
- Primary Study phase (learn all question types and content areas): Take your first CAT within the first 1-2 weeks of your studies. Every 3 to 4 weeks, take another CAT, for a total of about 3 to 4 CATs in this phase. Every time you take a CAT, analyze it deeply and use the results to help prioritize your studies. Your last CAT in this phase will lead into the next phase.
- Review and Improve phase (target your studies to lift your score): Analyze your last CAT from your primary studies to determine your “low hanging fruit”—the items that your data analysis indicates are your best opportunities for improvement. Spend 2 to 3 weeks hammering those areas, then take another CAT to get new data. Repeat until your practice scores are in your desired range (ideally!) or your test date is coming up.
- Game Day phase: In the last 7-10 days, switch your mindset. Focus on setting yourself up to have a Great Day on Game Day. Take one last practice exam during this phase, with a focus on executing on your game plan to hit at the top end of your current scoring range.
Good luck and happy studying!
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Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here.