Super Stressed and Anxiety Days before GMAT Focus

Question

Hello there,

Pardon me if this is not the right place to post about managing stress before and during the GMAT Focus exam. 
I had not been sleeping well the past few days up to the day before the exam itself, as I had a lot of gaps in Quant to catch up on. 
However due to impending deadlines, I revised all the available OG questions and crammed everything, which while I understood the OEs and learnt them well, it had made me feel very stressed until the exam itself where I blanked out.

Are there any advice to overcome such stress and anxiety?

And perhaps any timing strategy as well?

Target: 625
Baseline first score: 555
GMAT exam: 555

Thank you
Darren

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi darrendtjw,

I'm not an expert in issues related to stress/anxiety, but you may want to avoid last-minute cramming before your next attempt. And although it's easier said than done, getting a good night's sleep before the test is important.

IVYCRACKERS.COM · Answer

Hi Darren! One of the reasons for stress (along with gaps in Quant) can be that you were not really confident of scoring well. Now this generally happens when a candidate isn't able to identify the weak areas and keeps making the same errors on practice tests. Another common issue that I have witnessed is that candidates don't spend enough time on reviewing the practice tests, because of which they are not sure about their weak areas, and hence their score on mock tests doesn't improve (as per their expectation). One more reason that I have witnessed is that candidates don't take enough mock tests or they don't phase the mock tests properly. For example, one of my candidates decided to take 7 mock tests in last 7 days before GMAT. On day 6, unfortunately his score dropped to 660 (on older GMAT) and he was under so much stress. Fortunately on day 7, his score improved to 730 and he was able to get the confidence back. Hence, it's extremely important to phase the mock tests over a period of 3 months.

Here is something that you can try (it's a 3-months plan):

Wk1 to Wk4 - Start with a diagnostic test (test + review - 5 hours), study 2~3 hours daily (4-5 days per week)

Wk5 to Wk8 - 2~3 mock tests (test + review - 5 hours), study 2~3 hours daily (4-5 days per week)

Wk 9 to Wk13 - 4~5 mock tests (at least 1 test each week) (test + review - 5 hours), study 2~3 hours daily (4-5 days per week)

PS: Ensure you don't study anything a day before the test

Here is something on timing strategy as well (for Verbal)

In my opinion, you should try and get max questions correct between Q1 and Q7 & Q15 and Q23.

Here is a strategy that you can adopt for verbal: 14 mins for Q1 to Q7, 11 mins for Q8 to Q14 (this is where you can take risk), and 20 mins for Q15 to Q23.

This also means that (since GMAT clock runs backwards): when you have 33 mins left you should be at Q7 (considering you will spend 2 mins on Q7), and when you have 21-22 mins left (ideally 22mins) you should be at Q14.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

I believe this article will help:  How to Eliminate GMAT Test-Day Anxiety 
Let us know how the test goes!

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