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17 Oct 2018, 22:40
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Hi everyone,
I’ve been lurking on this forum for months reading and internalizing advice and approaches to problems, but have decided to make my first post because I really need help figuring this out. I am grateful to whoever can help, and I apologize in advance for this long post. I have taken 3 Official GMAT’s in the last 2 months and my scores have been going down! My first score was 620, then 610, and now a 580. I am completely flabbergasted because I have been studying for over 7 months and have done over 20 practice exams (official GMAT practice tests, Manhattan Tests, Veritas, and Kapan) with scores ranging between 700 and 740 for most (although I did get a 770 once). Verbal has generally been 40 and above and Quant has generally been 46/47 and above. IR is usually around 6 or 7. I even tried manipulating a few of these practices a while back to see how my performance would be if I purposely missed a few in the 1st 5 or so questions, 2nd 5 or so questions, etc. for both Quant and Verbal, and then attempting other parts of the test normally. I still was scoring above 700 on those…
I have been diagnosed with ADHD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder since I was a kid and after many months of getting all my documents and tests in order, I was able to get 50% extra time on the GMAT, even though my doctors all suggested 100% due to my difficulties. Unfortunately, the committee would not grant it to me and I’m not sure how I could submit a convincing appeal. I made 50% work on my practice tests and I thought that was fine. However, I’m not sure what’s going on. After taking this last test, I spoke with my doctor and my tutor and they both suggested that I am having performance anxiety issues which are affecting memory recall and timing stress during my actual test since I’m not in the same environment that I’m taking practice tests in. However, for all my practice tests, I have made sure to mimic test day conditions as accurately as possible including what time I wake up, what I eat, when I eat, when I work out, etc. I take very good care of my body, both physically and mentally, and so I’m shocked by all of this. I have purchased both the 2018 and 2019 OG guides, plus the Verbal and Quant specifics, the Total GMAT Math book, Veritas Prep books, various Kaplan and Manhattan books, and have subscriptions to Magoosh and Target Test Prep, all while also working with a private tutor. I have probably put in over 800 hours of study time to date. I have also generally done well in my academic career for English (native English speaker). Math has been more challenging over the years, but nothing I haven’t been able to tackle with a lot of practice and time. I do have issues with memory retention so it does take me longer to reinforce concepts, but at this point I feel like I have done a good job with that.
I am prescribed Adderall which I have taken for years and this has helped with focus immensely, but my doctor and I have a feeling that this may be affecting my stress during day of, even if it’s the exact same dosage and timing on practice test days. My doctor and tutor both suggested I take a beta blocker called Propranol to help with this anxiety. I have my 4th attempt scheduled in 2 weeks and am going to make a request for a 5th to be safe. I’m stressing because I have been sitting on applications for the schools that I am trying to apply to and know with my background and rather unique career experience that I am a good candidate for the schools that I’m applying to. However, I’ve already missed one deadline, and may miss another if I can’t do well on this next attempt.
My questions are below. If anyone can please help me, I would be immensely grateful.
1. Has anyone run into a similar situation with day of testing anxiety? How have you solved it?
2. For the day of the actual test, I normally have found that doing warmup problems (about 10-15 medium level quant, across all categories from Target Test Prep or Magoosh) plus reviewing my notecards and notes for everything has been helpful for about 2 hours before my actual test. I don’t feel like it’s mentally exhausting on practice test days, but perhaps on actual test days, its causing extra stress and may actually be draining? Can anyone help elaborate on similar experience? Any alternate suggestions?
3. Has anyone had experience taking Propranol for testing? Does it help with memory recall, especially for clinical test anxiety? I don’t really have the physical systems of performance anxiety (sweaty palms, rapid heartbeat, etc.), but I absolutely feel like I’m a deer in headlights when I take the actual test, forgetting on what to do for a lot of the things that I shouldn’t.
4. Is there any other suggestions or advice or insight that you all can offer that may help me with my next attempt?
I realize that some of these questions may be more medically related, but whatever information and help I can gather is better than not getting help by not asking in the first place, in my opinion. Thank you so much for any and all help!
I’ve been lurking on this forum for months reading and internalizing advice and approaches to problems, but have decided to make my first post because I really need help figuring this out. I am grateful to whoever can help, and I apologize in advance for this long post. I have taken 3 Official GMAT’s in the last 2 months and my scores have been going down! My first score was 620, then 610, and now a 580. I am completely flabbergasted because I have been studying for over 7 months and have done over 20 practice exams (official GMAT practice tests, Manhattan Tests, Veritas, and Kapan) with scores ranging between 700 and 740 for most (although I did get a 770 once). Verbal has generally been 40 and above and Quant has generally been 46/47 and above. IR is usually around 6 or 7. I even tried manipulating a few of these practices a while back to see how my performance would be if I purposely missed a few in the 1st 5 or so questions, 2nd 5 or so questions, etc. for both Quant and Verbal, and then attempting other parts of the test normally. I still was scoring above 700 on those…
I have been diagnosed with ADHD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder since I was a kid and after many months of getting all my documents and tests in order, I was able to get 50% extra time on the GMAT, even though my doctors all suggested 100% due to my difficulties. Unfortunately, the committee would not grant it to me and I’m not sure how I could submit a convincing appeal. I made 50% work on my practice tests and I thought that was fine. However, I’m not sure what’s going on. After taking this last test, I spoke with my doctor and my tutor and they both suggested that I am having performance anxiety issues which are affecting memory recall and timing stress during my actual test since I’m not in the same environment that I’m taking practice tests in. However, for all my practice tests, I have made sure to mimic test day conditions as accurately as possible including what time I wake up, what I eat, when I eat, when I work out, etc. I take very good care of my body, both physically and mentally, and so I’m shocked by all of this. I have purchased both the 2018 and 2019 OG guides, plus the Verbal and Quant specifics, the Total GMAT Math book, Veritas Prep books, various Kaplan and Manhattan books, and have subscriptions to Magoosh and Target Test Prep, all while also working with a private tutor. I have probably put in over 800 hours of study time to date. I have also generally done well in my academic career for English (native English speaker). Math has been more challenging over the years, but nothing I haven’t been able to tackle with a lot of practice and time. I do have issues with memory retention so it does take me longer to reinforce concepts, but at this point I feel like I have done a good job with that.
I am prescribed Adderall which I have taken for years and this has helped with focus immensely, but my doctor and I have a feeling that this may be affecting my stress during day of, even if it’s the exact same dosage and timing on practice test days. My doctor and tutor both suggested I take a beta blocker called Propranol to help with this anxiety. I have my 4th attempt scheduled in 2 weeks and am going to make a request for a 5th to be safe. I’m stressing because I have been sitting on applications for the schools that I am trying to apply to and know with my background and rather unique career experience that I am a good candidate for the schools that I’m applying to. However, I’ve already missed one deadline, and may miss another if I can’t do well on this next attempt.
My questions are below. If anyone can please help me, I would be immensely grateful.
1. Has anyone run into a similar situation with day of testing anxiety? How have you solved it?
2. For the day of the actual test, I normally have found that doing warmup problems (about 10-15 medium level quant, across all categories from Target Test Prep or Magoosh) plus reviewing my notecards and notes for everything has been helpful for about 2 hours before my actual test. I don’t feel like it’s mentally exhausting on practice test days, but perhaps on actual test days, its causing extra stress and may actually be draining? Can anyone help elaborate on similar experience? Any alternate suggestions?
3. Has anyone had experience taking Propranol for testing? Does it help with memory recall, especially for clinical test anxiety? I don’t really have the physical systems of performance anxiety (sweaty palms, rapid heartbeat, etc.), but I absolutely feel like I’m a deer in headlights when I take the actual test, forgetting on what to do for a lot of the things that I shouldn’t.
4. Is there any other suggestions or advice or insight that you all can offer that may help me with my next attempt?
I realize that some of these questions may be more medically related, but whatever information and help I can gather is better than not getting help by not asking in the first place, in my opinion. Thank you so much for any and all help!
19 Oct 2018, 18:41
Kudos
Bookmarks
Could anyone provide any insight onto this? It would be greatly appreciated going into these next two weeks before my 4th exam. I did take another practice exam today and got a 700...
19 Oct 2018, 23:26
Kudos
Bookmarks
TrainernTraveler, I apologize in advance if this isn't too coherent. It's a ridiculous hour of the night in my part of the world, but your post caught my eye, and I wanted to write at least something.
First, test anxiety is probably the #1 killer of GMAT dreams, and it's something that we don't talk about enough as a community. I've read academic studies that suggest that 20-40% of adults suffer from test anxiety, and that seems about right to me. So for whatever it's worth, you're definitely not alone in your struggles. And if you keep an eye on this section of the forum, you'll see that the majority of posts come from test-takers who scored worse on their actual exams than on their practice tests, and anxiety is usually at least part of the story in those cases.
I can ramble forever about things that seem to help SOME people with their test anxiety, but I haven't run into anything that's a magic bullet. If your sleep habits and diet aren't great, those will make your anxiety worse, but great sleep habits and a great diet don't necessarily cure anxiety. Exercise helps; it's not usually a cure by itself. I've met one or two people that swear by beta blockers, but others tell me that beta blockers put their brain in a GMAT-wrecking fog. Consistent meditation seems to help most people who dedicate themselves seriously to it, but I've also met a few people who have built businesses around the idea that meditation training can cure test anxiety -- and the results have been mixed. I haven't been impressed by the results of hypnosis or talk therapy, but I'm having lunch with a therapist in a few weeks who has some interesting ideas.
So that might sound like a big, fat nothingburger, but if any of those things sound appealing to you, they're worth looking into.
A GMAT Club moderator, adkikani, is co-hosting a live GMAT Club chat next Tuesday, October 23 (8:00 a.m. Pacific time, I think?) about test anxiety, and the conversation will feature a GMAT Club member who managed to beat her anxiety. Join that if you can, or check out the transcript afterwards? (adkikani, let me know if I'm screwing up any details.)
I hope this helps a tiny bit. We're rooting for you, and let us know how things go!
First, test anxiety is probably the #1 killer of GMAT dreams, and it's something that we don't talk about enough as a community. I've read academic studies that suggest that 20-40% of adults suffer from test anxiety, and that seems about right to me. So for whatever it's worth, you're definitely not alone in your struggles. And if you keep an eye on this section of the forum, you'll see that the majority of posts come from test-takers who scored worse on their actual exams than on their practice tests, and anxiety is usually at least part of the story in those cases.
I can ramble forever about things that seem to help SOME people with their test anxiety, but I haven't run into anything that's a magic bullet. If your sleep habits and diet aren't great, those will make your anxiety worse, but great sleep habits and a great diet don't necessarily cure anxiety. Exercise helps; it's not usually a cure by itself. I've met one or two people that swear by beta blockers, but others tell me that beta blockers put their brain in a GMAT-wrecking fog. Consistent meditation seems to help most people who dedicate themselves seriously to it, but I've also met a few people who have built businesses around the idea that meditation training can cure test anxiety -- and the results have been mixed. I haven't been impressed by the results of hypnosis or talk therapy, but I'm having lunch with a therapist in a few weeks who has some interesting ideas.
So that might sound like a big, fat nothingburger, but if any of those things sound appealing to you, they're worth looking into.
A GMAT Club moderator, adkikani, is co-hosting a live GMAT Club chat next Tuesday, October 23 (8:00 a.m. Pacific time, I think?) about test anxiety, and the conversation will feature a GMAT Club member who managed to beat her anxiety. Join that if you can, or check out the transcript afterwards? (adkikani, let me know if I'm screwing up any details.)
I hope this helps a tiny bit. We're rooting for you, and let us know how things go!
