hunterashmore wrote:
I second vinzycoolfire's question on what you are drinking during the breaks. I normally don’t believe in Gatorade for athletic activities, but I drank it during both practice tests and actual test since the simple sugars are what your brain needs to function at peak capacity. If you don’t regularly drink energy drinks such as Red Bull and are not familiar with how they affect you, don’t use this as an opportunity to start.
When you take the practice test, try to emulate the same conditions as the actual test. This means take at least one practice test at the same time of day as your actual test, eat "safe" foods, and try to take the same breaks. I also took the full time in every break so I could let my brain unwind a little and reset for each next section.
This test is more about testing mental endurance than anything. Due to the time constraint, the mistakes you make will always be sill. For example, As I was walking out of the building after the test I realized exactly how I could have easily solved the last three quant problems that I had to guess on because I was low on time...but that is just the nature of this test.
Make sure you take the practice tests with the IR section. I took my first test right before IR was added (thinking I would be good on the first try), then had to retake after IR was introduced. As prepared as I thought I was for that section, I actually found myself wishing it had been a second essay instead of an extra 30 minutes of quant-style questions right before heading into the full quant section. Again, it is all about mental endurance…
Oh, and DO NOT take a practice test within at least 24 hours of the real test. The absolute best that could come of that is that you will set yourself in a panic if you don’t do as well as you hope. Take your last practice test AT LEAST several days prior to the actual thing, and spend your remaining time identifying potential easy fixes, like what problems you know you simply spend too much time on and should move quickly to a guessing strategy so you can spend that valuable time on the problems you know you can get. I spent the last 24 hours trying to decompress as much as possible and just did some light reading on idioms (since idioms kill me – I blame it on being a southerner, lol).
Hope this helps!
Fully agree with hunterashmore. Took my 1st try yesterday, not sure if Gatorade helped but came out of verbal still feeling fresh.
Watch out for the breaks during prep test. The real thing is 8mins between IR and Quant, and 8mins between Quant and Verbal. I have been taking 15min breaks in my prep tests and walked in Verbal 2mins late...
A few days before the exam, just relax and read your flash cards, error logs, and essay structure. Don't push your brain over the edge thinking that last minute prep will help. Chances are it won't. Let your brain rest and prepare for the big day.