As per the example explained in "When to Apply" above, a student should have finished writing the GRE® and TOEFL iBT at least 3 weeks prior to the deadline (December 15, 20XX in the example).

Official Score Reporting

A student needs to report his/her GRE^®Test and TOEFL^® iBT scores to a university through ETS. This is known as Official Score Reporting. It takes about 2 to 3 weeks for the universities to receive the student's score through this process.

For the GRE^®Test: During the exam, 4 score report recipients may be selected

For the TOEFL^®: 4 score report recipients can be added through the TOEFL iBT^® online registration system until 10 p.m. (local test center time) on the day prior to the test date.

However, if the student wants to report scores to more recipients, he/she may do so by filling in Additional Score Report (ASR) forms and paying an additional fee.

Hence, in our example, a student should have planned to have finished writing the GRE^®Test and TOEFL^® by November 20, 20XX.

IELTS can be taken on any one of the 48 fixed testing days of a year

Since good scores in these tests improves the chances of admissions to good universities, a student prepares for a few months before writing these tests.

Approximately two months of professional guidance from T.I.M.E. and another two months of self-preparation from the student would imply the student should have started preparation at least four months prior to November 20, 2013 i.e. July 20XX.