GMAT is one of the most widely accepted standardized test scores for admission in top management schools. How you prepare for GMAT matters a lot, as it will determine your final scores and possibility of future opportunities and success. Here are few common mistakes that need to be avoided while preparing for GMAT exam: Study plan                          Your GMAT study plan needs to have a regular timing or duration every day. Dedicating an hour or two every day preparing for GMAT is essential to create a habit of covering important topics and learning new ones. What students shouldn’t do is to procrastinate their study schedules to two weeks before the exam or for the weekend. The reason behind this is keeping a gap or pushing everything for the last minute can break down your health, build immense pressure and hamper your final scores. Exam format & question patterns Knowing everything about GMAT exam format is important while preparing for the test. GMAT has four sections -- Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative and Verbal. A student planning to write the exam has to understand the details of each of these sections including number of questions and duration. For example, there are 12 questions in the Integrated Reasoning section, 41 questions in Verbal and 1 topic in Analytical Writing Assessment. The more you know, the better you can plan for the exam. In addition, gathering information about the exam patterns matter. Aspirants need to understand what type of questions are asked, critical topics to focus and how much time to spend on a single question. Having planned your study considering these in-depth details, will give an extra edge to your preparation. Focus & dedication Focus and dedication is very important to complete any task successfully. It is important to focus on all the four GMAT sections, ignoring any of the sections could have major impact on your overall GMAT score. Though, each of the sections are different but all are of same importance. Taking too much time in a single question Your GMAT score depends a lot on how many questions you solve and how correctly you solve those questions. It is important that you breakdown your time and allot time for each of the questions. Using your time strategically would help you to attempt all questions and save your time from wasting in one question. Don’t commit the same mistake It is very important to learn from past mistakes and commit new mistakes. If you commit the same mistake, it means you haven’t learned from your last one. It will be a good practice to analyze your answers to understand the very reason why and where you went wrong (if at all you went wrong). This will help you to identify your weak areas and work to improve on those. Preparing for GMAT exam or any exam, require a lot of hard work and dedication. But if students can identify and avoid these common GMAT mistakes, then they can stand a chance to score higher in the test and get into renowned management schools and institutes. Looking for GMAT coaching? Let us help you find the best GMAT coaching classes and trainers in your city, by posting your requirements here.