Three schedules, each built for a different reality. Pick the one that fits how much time you have. None of them start with content on day one. All of them end with mock exams, not lessons.
Before you read further: take a diagnostic test first. Every schedule below assumes you know your starting score and which sections need the most work. Without a baseline, you are guessing at your weak areas instead of targeting them.
What All Three Schedules Have in Common
Regardless of timeline, the structure is the same:
- Diagnostic (week 1 of any plan)
- Content phase (learn what you do not know)
- Practice phase (apply under timed conditions)
- Mock phase (full-length adaptive tests)
- Review cycles woven throughout every phase
The ratio of time across phases changes by schedule. Longer timelines get more content depth. Shorter timelines compress content and front-load mocks.
One rule applies to all three: the week before your test, do not start anything new. Review your error patterns, take one final light mock, and stop heavy studying 48 hours before the exam.
1-Month Schedule (Intensive)
Who this is for: Students with a hard deadline 4-5 weeks out and the ability to study 3-4 hours per day, 6 days per week. This is a high-commitment plan. Total hours: 72-100.
If you cannot genuinely protect 3-4 hour blocks daily, use the 2-month plan instead. An underfed intensive plan is worse than a well-executed moderate one.
Week 1: Diagnostic and Foundation
Goal: Know exactly where you stand and cover high-yield content in your weaker section.
- Day 1: Take a full diagnostic test under real conditions. Timed, no breaks beyond what the actual exam allows. Score it and identify your biggest gaps by section and topic.
- Days 2-6: Begin content study. If quant is weaker, spend 70% of sessions on quant fundamentals: arithmetic, algebra, geometry basics, data interpretation. If verbal is weaker, prioritize reading comprehension strategies and text completion patterns.
- Day 7: Rest or light review (30-60 minutes, no new content).
Week 2: Primary Content
Goal: Cover the core content areas for your weaker section. Do not try to learn everything. Focus on the topics that appeared most in your diagnostic gaps.
- Days 1-5: Content lessons, 2-3 hours each day. Alternate between your weaker and stronger sections. Do not ignore your stronger section entirely; you need to maintain what you know.
- Days 4-5: Begin timed practice sets. After each session, log every mistake. Why did you get it wrong? Careless error, missing concept, or misread?
- Day 6: First full section-length timed practice (1 quant section + 1 verbal section, separately). Not a full mock, just two isolated sections.
- Day 7: Review week 2 errors. No new lessons.
Week 3: Practice and First Mock
Goal: Shift from learning to applying. Accuracy under time pressure.
- Days 1-3: Timed practice sets only. 30-45 minutes per session. Track accuracy and pace. The goal is finishing sections with time to check 2-3 problems, not rushing through them.
- Day 4: Full mock exam. Take it in one sitting with no pauses, just like the real test. Score it and review every incorrect answer.
- Days 5-6: Targeted review based on mock results. Hit the specific topic types that failed. Not general content review. Specific problems.
- Day 7: Rest.
Week 4: Mock Phase and Final Sharpening
Goal: Simulate test conditions repeatedly and close final gaps.
- Day 1: Content review of your two biggest remaining weak areas. Maximum 2 hours.
- Day 2: Full mock exam, second one.
- Day 3: Deep review of mock 2 errors. Look for patterns. Are the same question types showing up?
- Day 4: Timed practice sets targeting your pattern errors.
- Day 5: Third mock exam if time allows and energy is there. If not, do a half-mock (one of each section).
- Day 6: Light review only. No new content.
- Test day: Full rest the night before. No studying.
2-Month Schedule (Moderate)
Who this is for: Students with 8-10 weeks and 1-2 hours per day, 5 days per week. This is the most common scenario. Total hours: 80-120.
This plan has room to actually learn content thoroughly, practice in volume, and take multiple mocks without burning out. It works for full-time students with normal course loads.
Weeks 1-2: Diagnostic and Content Foundation
Week 1:
- Day 1: Full diagnostic test. Do it properly. Use results to build your topic priority list.
- Days 2-5: Begin content study on your lowest-scoring section. Start with foundational topics before advanced ones. For quant: arithmetic and algebra before number properties and probability. For verbal: sentence equivalence and text completion before dense reading comprehension.
Week 2:
- Continue content, now adding your second section. Alternate days between quant and verbal if both need work.
- First timed practice sets (untimed practice is useful to learn concepts, but shift to timed within the first two weeks).
Weeks 3-4: Core Content Phase
Goal: Cover every major topic category in both sections. Do not rush to mocks yet. Two months gives you time to build the knowledge base properly.
- Quant topics to cover: Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, data analysis, statistics, word problems, data interpretation.
- Verbal topics to cover: Text completion, sentence equivalence, reading comprehension (short passages, long passages, paragraph argument).
- Study 1-2 topics per session. Do practice problems after each topic. Not just at the end of the week.
- End of week 4: Take your first full mock. This is 4-5 weeks before your test date, which gives you time to actually use the results.
Weeks 5-6: Practice and Review Cycles
Goal: Apply what you learned under real pressure. Identify which content is actually sticking versus which topics still fail under time constraints.
- Shift from lesson-based study to practice-based study. 70% of sessions should be timed practice sets now.
- After every practice session: 20-30 minutes of error review. Not just checking the right answer. Understanding the precise reason you missed it.
- Take mock 2 at the end of week 5 or start of week 6. Compare with mock 1. Are the same topics failing, or different ones?
- Targeted content re-study based on mock 2 results. This is not going back to basics. It is fixing specific gaps you now have data on.
Weeks 7-8: Mock Phase and Refinement
Week 7:
- Mock 3 early in the week.
- Full review session the next day.
- Practice sets targeting your remaining error patterns.
- If scores are plateauing, consider a strategic shift: timing drills, process-of-elimination practice, harder question types.
Week 8:
- Mock 4 at the start of the week.
- Final gap review: two or three specific topics, nothing broad.
- Days 5-6: Maintenance practice only. 1 hour per day maximum.
- Day 7 (day before test): Rest completely. No studying.
3-Month Schedule (Part-Time)
Who this is for: Students with 12-14 weeks who can study 5-10 hours per week across 2-3 sessions. Total hours: 60-140 depending on weekly consistency.
This plan works for students carrying heavy course loads, students with multiple competing commitments, or anyone who cannot protect daily study blocks. The risk is consistency. A part-time plan that drifts for two weeks loses momentum and requires recalibration.
Weeks 1-2: Diagnostic and Setup
- Week 1, session 1: Diagnostic test. Full length, real conditions.
- Week 1, sessions 2-3: Review diagnostic results. Build your topic list. Set a weekly session calendar you will actually follow.
- Week 2: Begin content. One section per session (quant one session, verbal the next). Keep a running error log from the start.
Weeks 3-6: Deep Content Phase
The longer timeline lets you go deeper than the other plans. Use it.
- Weeks 3-4: Quant foundation. Cover all arithmetic, algebra, and geometry topics. Do practice problems within each lesson, not just at the end.
- Weeks 5-6: Verbal foundation. Reading comprehension strategies, text completion patterns, sentence equivalence. Vocabulary building is ongoing throughout the 3 months.
- End of week 6: First full mock. Score it. Adjust your remaining 6-week focus based on where the score is and what sections fell short.
Weeks 7-9: Intermediate Content and First Practice Cycles
- Continue content study on your weaker topics from mock 1 results.
- Begin mixing in timed practice sets alongside content lessons. By week 9, at least half your study time should be timed practice, not content reading.
- Mock 2 at end of week 9. This is roughly 4-5 weeks before your test date.
Weeks 10-11: Practice-Dominant Phase
- Shift to 80% practice, 20% content. You have covered the material. Now you need repetitions.
- Mock 3 in week 10, mock 4 in week 11.
- After each mock: full error review session. Log specific question types that are failing. Look for the pattern.
- Adjust your final two weeks based on what the mocks are showing.
Week 12 and Final Days: Mock Phase and Taper
- Mock 5 early in week 12.
- Days 4-5: Targeted review of final gaps. Specific topics only.
- Days 6-7: Light maintenance. 30-60 minutes per day at most.
- Day before test: Complete rest.
How to Adjust Any of These Plans
A study plan is a starting hypothesis, not a contract. Update it every time you take a mock exam.
If a mock shows your quant score has stopped improving but verbal is still gaining, shift allocation toward quant practice. If your verbal reading comprehension is collapsing under time pressure but accuracy is fine on untimed practice, you have a pacing problem, not a knowledge problem. The answer to a pacing problem is timing drills, not more content review.
The TDMBA study plan generator can build a personalized week-by-week schedule based on your diagnostic results and test date. It adjusts allocation by section and adjusts intensity based on your available hours per week. Use it to create your specific version of one of the frameworks above.
What does not change regardless of plan: take a real diagnostic before you start, take mock exams consistently through prep (not just at the end), and never skip the error review step. That step is where the actual learning happens.