Remember this \u2013 the GMAT is not as much a test of\u00a0 \u201chow well you\u2019ll do in business school \u201cas it is a test of \u201chow well you will\u00a0 do after business school\u201d.\u00a0 Business schools have essentially two constituents \u2014 students\/alumni and recruiters.\u00a0 And if the top recruiters come to the school to hire the students, the top students will continue to come.\u00a0 Business schools know this, and accordingly one of their top goals in the admissions process is to admit the kinds of students who will be successful in landing and excelling at great jobs.<\/p>\n
As such, the GMAT is designed to test the kinds of thought processes and reasoning skills that lead to success in business, and one crucial component of that is your ability to make good, reasoned decisions while under pressure.<\/p>\n
To combat this stress, know that it is an intentional part of the GMAT.\u00a0 You\u2019re not feeling stress because you\u2019re personally not worthy of success; you are feeling stress because the GMAT needs you to in order to make the test more difficult!\u00a0 Which, logically, means that if you can just let go of the stress, the test will be considerably easier. Which, if you follow the logic, means that the GMAT is an easier test than you think<\/strong>!\u00a0 Tell yourself that you can relax and stay confident because, in many ways, the only thing you have to fear is fear itself.<\/p>\n As mentioned above, the timed pressure of the GMAT contributes immensely to test-day stress and to the kinds of silly mistakes that result from it.\u00a0 Rushing through problems not only leads directly to score-killing mistakes, but it adds additional stress that can grow unbearable.\u00a0 But remember this about the GMAT\u2019s computer-adaptive scoring system \u2013 you can (and will) miss several questions per section and still score very, very high.\u00a0 It\u2019s not uncommon for someone to miss 10 or 11 questions on each section and still score 700+!<\/p>\n If you acknowledge that you can-and-will miss questions, then use that knowledge to your advantage.\u00a0 Plan on giving yourself 3-4 quick guesses, or \u201cpunts<\/a>,\u201d per section \u2014 if you start to read a question and realize withing 20-30 seconds that you\u2019re just not going to get it, guess and move on.\u00a0\u00a0 And, frankly, on those 3-4 questions that intimidate you the most at first glance, your likelihood of answering correctly after 2-3 minutes is probably not all that much higher than your odds of guessing correctly, and the time that you save for future questions may be even valuable than one correct answer with accompanying stress.<\/p>\n Perhaps the two worst case scenarios on the GMAT are:\u00a0 1) Spending more time than you should have on a question and still getting it wrong; and 2) Making a careless mistake on a question that you should have\u00a0 gotten right.\u00a0 Planning to punt a handful of questions that will fall into the first category can help you save time and peace-of-mind to avoid the second, and if pacing has been a cause of stress for you it\u2019s quite helpful to know that you can afford to relax.<\/p>\n In business, it\u2019s less exotic but just as important to celebrate the bad decisions that you didn\u2019t make (Madoff may be a bad investment\u2026) as it is to celebrate the good decisions that you did (Apple? Yeah, maybe computers are the wave of the future).\u00a0 On the GMAT, deciding not to waste time on a question can be just as valuable to your overall score as getting a question correct can be.<\/p>\n The GMAT is designed to intimidate you, but the flip side is that it\u2019s also designed to reward you if you are able to navigate it effectively.\u00a0 As a multiple-choice test with some pretty stringent time constraints, each question must have a ~2-minute path to a definitively correct answer \u2014 that\u2019s just the rule.\u00a0 So while it\u2019s natural to be anxious about the fact that the test is intimidating, it\u2019s equally helpful to focus on the fact that each questions is giving you all the clues you should need to solve it.\u00a0 And if you train yourself to begin each question by looking for the latter, you can drastically reduce the downside of the former.<\/p>\n When a question looks convoluted or intimidating, try to identify one thing that you do know right away and consider that an asset that you can use to find the next.\u00a0 Many GMAT questions will have you solve for the fourth or fifth variable, and just the mere sight of that many steps or variables can be stress-inducing.\u00a0 But remember \u2014 every long journey begins with a single step, and do does every convoluted GMAT question.\u00a0 Let yourself win that initial psychological battle of identifying \u201cwell, I do know ________\u201d so that you can proactively build from that.\u00a0 Celebrate the milestones \u2014 each variable you solve for, each answer choice you eliminate, is a step toward a correct answer.\u00a0 The power of positive thinking dictates that a proactive approach to \u201cI know x, which leads me to y, which leads me to\u2026\u201d will be a much more productive approach then \u201chow in the world will I ever solve for z?\u201d\u00a0 And knowing the GMAT, you\u2019re never more than 4-5 steps away from the finish as long as you\u2019re willing to identify, celebrate, and take those steps.<\/p>\n While the pressure described above is designed to make you think that the GMAT may be the most important day of your professional career to date, the truth is that it might be\u2026but really only if you do well.\u00a0 Business schools, with precious few exceptions, only care about your highest score. After all, that is what they report to the rankings services, to employers, and to prospective students.\u00a0 In fact, most applications ask you to self-report your GMAT score\u00a0 by typing it into your application form, and then the admissions office will simply cross-reference your file to confirm that score. You can\u2019t fake your way to a high GMAT score, and schools don\u2019t have much reason at all to punish you for underestimating the difficulty of the test once or twice before you saw the light.<\/p>\n So what the GMAT is is an opportunity for you to succeed, not a pass\/fail final referendum on your\u00a0 candidacy.\u00a0 Your safety net on test day is the knowledge that the worst you can do is need to take the GMAT again \u2014 a nuisance, definitely, but not a life-changing catastrophe.\u00a0 There is, in fact, very little to fear on test day other than fear itself.<\/p>\n Test-day anxiety has befallen many a GMAT examinee, but like the GMAT itself it can be overcome!\u00a0 Ultimately the best defense against anxiety is confidence, so prepare thoroughly and earn your right to be confident!<\/p>\n Ready to sign up for a GMAT course ? Enroll through GMAT Club and save up to $180 (use discount code GMATC10)! Take a look at our course options in some of our most popular cities: New York<\/a>, Chicago <\/a>and Los Angeles<\/a> and make sure to check the Veritas Prep blog<\/a> for daily articles.<\/p>\n\n
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