GMAT Dates and Registration

The GMAT runs year-round. Test-center availability depends on the seat inventory at each venue, and online appointments run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in many regions, with the exception of mainland China, where the online exam is not offered. You can book up to about six months in advance, which is the practical horizon for tying a test date to an application round: work backward from your earliest school deadline, leave room for one retake, and book the seat before you finalize the study plan.

You can sit the GMAT up to five times in any rolling 12-month period, counting test-center and online attempts together, with at least 16 days between attempts. There is no lifetime limit. A perfect 805 locks you out for five years, and a missed appointment forfeits the full fee and imposes a 24-hour wait before rebooking. Appointments you cancel in advance do not count toward the five, and neither do no-shows.

Changes stay open until 24 hours before the appointment. The cost depends on how far ahead you act: rescheduling a test-center seat costs US$55 more than 60 days out, US$110 at 15 to 60 days, and US$165 at 14 days or fewer, and online reschedules run about 10 percent more. Cancelling returns US$110, US$80 or US$55 on the same windows. Inside the EU there is also a 14-day cooling-off period: a full refund if you cancel within 14 days of registering. Phone rescheduling (US$10 service fee) works for test-center seats only.