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vineetgupta
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Getting Panicky-Help 14 Dec 2006, 23:52
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Hi everyone,

I have my GMAT exam in 3 days from now.I am currently going through the AWA essays from ARCO book.But now I am really starting to panic just at the thought of writing them in the exam and now the exam as a whole.I also usually end up reading the same lines again and again....

I keep telling myself that it is just an exam but its not helping much.

Please tell me what should I do?

Help will be really appreciated.
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necromonger
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Getting Panicky-Help 15 Dec 2006, 10:34
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If you're so nervous and panicky, my suggestion is that you just relax, don't look at any GMAT book for the next day, see a few movies, go out with friends/loved ones and hopefully you'll be less panicky on the day. Remember, panic is your worst enemy in a standardized test. Go there with the attitude that you will kick some serious GMAT @ss and not the other way around. After all, it's not like someone will kill you if you don't do well!
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Getting Panicky-Help 15 Dec 2006, 10:48
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panicky is good. use that energy for the gmat. and for crying out loud, stop with the awa, it's a waste of time. if you've put in more than 3 hours on awa, that's 2 too many.

focus on the task at hand, and prepare warm up exercises for the day of the test.
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Getting Panicky-Help 15 Dec 2006, 10:50
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Well, I guess there are 2 ways to look at it. Pumping adrenalin = good, but panic = bad

but I see your point.

kidderek
panicky is good. use that energy for the gmat. and for crying out loud, stop with the awa, it's a waste of time. if you've put in more than 3 hours on awa, that's 2 too many.

focus on the task at hand, and prepare warm up exercises for the day of the test.
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Getting Panicky-Help 16 Dec 2006, 03:15
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My advice...Distribute your energy among three sections wisely. If you get stuck with any question and in 2 min if you don't know how to solve it or dont get any clue, make a guess and move. I would recommend never spend more than 3 min on a question. I think having a 40+ on V and 4 on AWA is much better than having 25 on V and 6 on AWA, so I don't recommend investing much energy on AWA.

And manage break time well. Its crucial to be back at your seat on time. I suffered from that yesterday.

Good Luck!
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Getting Panicky-Help 16 Dec 2006, 05:26
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While I agree that AWA is no big deal in terms of overall score, I must say that it's still a good idea to invest several hours in it. AWA are the first section you have on real test, and if you totally screw up - you may get nervous and bomb the whole test. So my advice is - write several AWA essays, just to get used to timing and essay format. Don't agonize over quality, it doesn't matter much, but do some training to feel prepared on G-day.

I was going to skip AWA preparation at all, but during GMATpreps I saw that AWA's giving me a headache, so I decided to write several more essays. I'm very happy with this decision, as on G-day I was very calm and concentrated, and AWA didn't freak me out at all.
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Getting Panicky-Help 16 Dec 2006, 10:08
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AWA is a cakewalk... I wouldn't worry about it either. Freaking out isn't a good idea, so try to focus on each question individually and don't think about the whole picture/score... just take it one step at a time and of course don't forget to keep up with timing.

good luck today or tomorrow... whenever it is your test!
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