How do you deal with mental fatigue?

First of all, you are right. It'll become easier as you give more exams. That's the key. Keep going!

My take-aways on dealing with mental fatigue from my prep till now:

1) Reduce mental friction during your Preparation: Work on your basics and make sure you have mastered an approach for every question type. This will help you in reducing that mental friction (which adds to the overall fatigue). What happens when you work on questions randomly is that you keep re-reading the stem or answer choices. Especially in Verbal because you are not really writing a lot unlike Quant. You need to be clear in Verbal about when you are 'looking' at the question v/s when you are 'working' on the question. This will happen by having a systemic approach and 'active thinking'. Once you make Verbal your friend you will actually feel a bit energetic to go through that last huddle.

2) Dress rehearsal/Visualization/ Stamina building- Re-create the exact test scenario as much as possible. Don't skip AWA/IR (especially in the first few mocks), eat the food you will eat during breaks, test your pacing strategy, try and wear similar clothes, keep some buffer (eg: if there is a brief check before re-entering test room), etc. Basically this is your time to experiment and find your 'ideal' routine. At the same time, don't get too rigid about it all too. Expect that something will change and there will be 'variables' every time. (In my 2nd attempt, there was a 1.5 hour delay as the server wasn't responding and they had to wait to restart it till all the current test-takers took a break. So you can't plan for that ) Also, you can visit the test centre. The less anxiety or uncertainty you have, better it is. As anxiety is a subjective thing so you have to be your own best judge on this.

3) Work on your physical health- Exercise and eat right towards the build up of the test day. This will contribute towards the 4 hour marathon. Its always better to not be coughing or sneezing during those 4 hours.

4) Utilize breaks- My way is: I eat 1 or 2 bananas with honey and black/himalayan salt ---> drink water ---> go to the loo ---> splash cold water on my face ---> try to relax my eyes ---> stretch a bit and look at the bigger picture/gain some context (briefly think what just happened and what's next). I try to finish all this in 5-6 minutes. Breaks can help you re-energize. So design your way of working through the break.

Also, do what BB said Set up your scratch pad, avoid careless mistakes, know yourself.
Here is a good article on setting up your scratch pad: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... tch-paper/

Hi omizzle,

Many Test Takers face fatigue 'issues' during their studies and/or on Test Day, so you're not alone. You can train to face those issues though (much in the same way that you train to face anything else that you'll face on Test Day) - but it will take some time and a bit of 'experimentation' on your part. Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What materials have you used?
3) How did you score on this CAT (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
4) Did you take the FULL CAT (with the Essay and IR sections)?

Goals:
5) What is your goal score?
6) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
7) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
8) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

I would say try to practice as many CATs as possible. For CAT 1 and 2 take a long break between quant and verbal. for CATs 3 and 4 try to reduce the break time to about 30 mins to recover. For your last 2 CATs aim for only 8 mins break between the 2 to simulate the actual test conditions. Practice, practice, practice.

Also, your energy on test day will be heightened just from the adrenaline of the real event. I was always pretty tired after doing practice exams, but didn't get the same sense of fatigue on test day. The 8 min breaks really help (and definitely have snacks and water! Water was key for me -- I ended up having to run to the bathroom a lot, but it was worth it, as it really helps with fatigue and sharpening focus).

Definitely utilize breaks -- walk around, drink water, splash water on your face...I even did jumping jacks during breaks to wake myself up a bit and give myself more energy.