How to Start Your GMAT® Studies in 2026

Welcome to the GMAT® Strategy Podcast. You're here because you believe there's a better way to study for the GMAT® and so do we.

We created the GMAT® Strategy to maximize your results and minimize your efforts so you can get to the fun parts about business school and life as quickly as possible.

My name is Isaac Puglia and I've been teaching GMAT® classes and tutoring privately for the GMAT® for almost a decade and I've achieved a 99th percentile score on the GMAT® and helped thousands of students get into the business schools of their choice.

I'm excited to be a part of your MBA journey since we all at TGS think our world can benefit from the best possible business leaders that we can find.

If this show is bringing you value, please share it with your friends and family who are studying so that together we can make this process as easy and as painless as it can possibly be.

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How to Start Your GMAT® Studies in 2026

Let's talk about how to start your GMAT® studies in 2026.

We're getting a little ahead on this one, but we just want to make sure all of you are starting off on the right foot and avoiding a lot of the incorrect and conflicting information out there every single year.

A lot of you are making your plans for how you're going to attack this. Some of you are nearing the end of your studies and will still find a lot of what we're going to discuss quite relevant. If you're in the middle of the process, we'll be able to give you some tips that will help as well. But for the most part, it's going to be about how to set the right foundation — and if you haven't had the right foundation and you're struggling, how to go back and reset it properly.

For some of you, the GMAT® is really going to be no big deal. For others, it's going to be one of the most consequential challenges of your professional and academic life. Most of us are going to be somewhere between those two extremes. But getting the framework right from the start is incredibly valuable no matter where you are on that spectrum. So let's build that framework for you.

Broad Overview

First, here's a broad overview of the steps we're going to go through, and then we'll dive into each one in detail.

1. Know the format — the different sections and question types (especially since the GMAT® went through a big change a couple years ago)
2. Take a baseline practice exam as soon as possible so you can optimize your path
3. Plan based on that result — select the best resources and execute well on your study plan
4. Retest to measure progress and optimize from there

We're also going to cover a few simple tips that are extremely helpful for getting results faster and avoiding the big pitfalls.

The Format of the Exam

If you're very brand new to the GMAT®, there are three sections:

• Quantitative Reasoning — standard five-option multiple choice, covering math content up to high school geometry (but geometry is no longer on the current exam)
• Verbal Reasoning — two problem types: Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning, testing your reading skills and logical reasoning
• Data Insights — mostly your ability to decode charts and graphs, plus Data Sufficiency and some logic/puzzle-style questions

If you have regulation time (no special accommodations), you'll have 45 minutes for each section with a 10-minute break you can take between any of the three sections.

Quick side note: if you have a documented history of learning differences, we encourage you to start the accommodations process as early as possible so you can practice and take your baseline exam with the right timing protocol. You can reach us by DM at The GMAT® Strategy on current social channels, or email us at contact@thegmatstrategy.com.

What's a Good Score?

For a top-10 program, the target used to be 700+ on the old exam. On the new GMAT®, that's about 655.

As of today, new GMAT® scores are roughly 45 points lower than old scores. Many business school websites still publish averages from the old score scale. If you can't tell which scale is being used, reach out to the schools you're interested in.

The new exam is shorter and designed to be more user-friendly. If you hear "GMAT® Focus Edition," that's the same thing as the current GMAT® — GMAC just stopped calling it the Focus Edition.

Key rule of thumb: if you see a score that ends in a zero, that's the old score scale.

What's still relevant from old materials? Problem Solving, Data Sufficiency, Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and all the Data Insights question types. What's gone: the essay and Sentence Correction.

For individual section scores, aim for at least a 78 in Quant, Verbal, and DI if you're going for a top-20 program. That puts you in the high 500s to low 600s range overall — roughly the low cutoff for top schools. Higher than 655 improves your odds; lower than 655 reduces them, though it's not the be-all end-all. Your story, career, and application matter enormously.

A good starting point: check the median scores for your target schools. That's a solid way to set a goal score.

The Role of Admissions Consultants

If you want help setting your target score based on your demographic and history, admissions consultants can be useful. They help with application essays, school selection, and making your story compelling. We encourage you to speak with at least three before committing, and be aware that many have brand partnerships with GMAT® prep companies — those recommendations aren't unbiased.

How Scoring Works

Your GMAT® score is not strictly based on accuracy. The exam is highly adaptive — it adjusts difficulty after every question. Your score reflects the difficulty level of questions you're engaging with, not just how many you get right. There's a complex tradeoff of time, accuracy, and difficulty level that's very different from traditional exams.

We made a free video on this: "How to Reach Your Dream GMAT® Score in Half the Normal Time" at thegmatstrategy.com.

Step 1: Take a Baseline Practice Exam

Use the free Official GMAT® Starter Kit from MBA.com — it includes two free practice exams. Take one cold (before you study anything). Don't worry about timing or pre-learning.

Think of it this way: if someone asked you the fastest route to New York City from an unknown starting point, you couldn't answer. Same thing here — we need to know where we're starting from.

If you're truly terrified of taking a cold baseline, start with the practice questions in the Starter Kit (about 90 questions). But once you finish those, take the practice exam. Don't go through an entire study program without baseline data first — we've seen that lead to dilated timelines and studying things you might already be great at.

Step 2: Compare Your Results

Compare your baseline to your target school's median score. Look at each individual subscore against the 78 benchmark:

• Way above 78? Probably less of a priority.
• Way below 78? That section needs more investment.

Use one of the many free GMAT® score calculators online to play with different subscore combinations.

Step 3: Pick Your Study Resources

Picking the right materials is very personal — it's a combination of learning style, budget, desired score gain, and timeline. Here's what the data shows:

Free resources (~6 hours per point gained)

• Libraries, used books, YouTube — all can work
• Be careful with YouTube noise and unvetted advice
• Harder to get questions answered; forums can be biased
• On a 100-point gain: plan for ~600 hours
• If you need a free study plan, check out our Study Plan episode

Books (~5 hours per point gained, $100–$300)

• Manhattan Prep books are the top recommendation based on our data
• Buying back ~100 hours for ~$200 = about $2/hour
• Good for self-paced readers

Digital self-paced courses (~4 hours per point gained, $300–$1,000)

• Magoosh for low-cost video-based learning
• Target Test Prep for quant focus
• e-GMAT for verbal, especially for non-native English speakers
• On a 100-point gain: ~400 hours
• You're buying structure, organization, and software that tracks your progress

Live classes (~3 hours per point gained, $1,000–$2,000)

• Best for people who thrive with live instruction and accountability
• TestCrackers recommended for smaller-brand, more personalized attention
• On a 100-point gain: ~300 hours

Private tutoring (~2 hours per point gained, $2,000–$10,000)

• Fastest route on average — fully customized to your strengths and weaknesses
• Get at least three referrals from your personal network
• On a 100-point gain: ~200 hours

These numbers come from a study of roughly 10,000 data points. They're averages — your mileage may vary. The cost-efficiency tradeoffs are real but not guaranteed.

Step 4: Execute and Block Out the Noise

Once you've chosen your provider, trust the process. Be careful with social media and forums — not everyone posting is telling the truth about their scores, and there are a lot of paid placements in the industry.

If your score isn't moving after completing a program, audit your own execution first. Are you actually following the advice? If you're executing well and still not seeing results, that's when it makes sense to consider switching providers. We have an episode called "How to Switch GMAT® Providers" if you need it.

Step 5: Review and Iterate

After each practice test:

1. Pick your top three areas for improvement
2. Go deep on those three — review the source material, then do lots of practice problems (ideally from the Official Guide)
3. Retest to measure progress on those specific areas
4. Pick a new top three and repeat

Don't try to improve everything at once. Spreading too thin leads to spinning wheels.

Quick Tips to Accelerate Your Progress

Use official materials as much as possible. Especially for Verbal — it's very hard to simulate real GMAT® questions. Start your baseline with MBA.com and use Official Guide problems throughout your prep.

Focus on high-quality scratch work. What you write on your paper matters more than most people think. Aim for scratch work that someone else could follow — that level of organization prevents careless mistakes under time pressure. Don't write in your books; use separate paper (that's realistic to test day).

Keep a list of problems to revisit. Log questions with interesting concepts, tricks, or traps — and actually schedule time to re-solve them regularly. Five to ten problems a day as a warm-up builds the speed and pattern recognition that matters on test day.

Closing

That's how you start studying for the GMAT® from a deeply informed perspective. We've given you the big picture, some options for getting more detailed information, and a quick-start guide if you're ready to run with it.

We're committed to helping everyone in this process for as long as we can, and for as free as we can. Let us know if there are specific things you're struggling with and we'll do our best to address them in future content.

As always, our greatest hope is that this material makes your studies as easy and as painless as they can possibly be. For more tips and strategies, head to thegmatstrategy.com. And please stay positive and stay consistent with your studies — all of you have amazing value to offer the world and the business community at large.