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AweG
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Music or total silence? 25 Mar 2018, 04:33
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Hey guys ! i was wondering if you like to focus while using ambient music as background or total silence to help you concentrate bettter. In some research it is adviced to listen to classical music for certain tasks and it raises IQ for a short period of time up to 10 points ?









Cheers!
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Music or total silence? 25 Mar 2018, 05:12
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AweG
Hey guys ! i was wondering if you like to focus while using ambient music as background or total silence to help you concentrate bettter. In some research it is adviced to listen to classical music for certain tasks and it raises IQ for a short period of time up to 10 points ?









Cheers!
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Hi AweG

I have heard of certain classical musician compositions and playlists on YouTube which help you calm yourself down.

However, I personally prefer silence. Also from the point of view of the GMAT exam - say between sections or while you are waiting in the hall for the test to begin - I am told they provide you earplugs to be used during the test. Since you only have silence to accompany you then, I think it best to try and pratice using silence as a method to calmness.

But in the end it is essentially whatever works best for you, mate. :-)

Best,
Gladi
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AweG
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Music or total silence? 27 Mar 2018, 05:01
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Gladiator59
AweG
Hey guys ! i was wondering if you like to focus while using ambient music as background or total silence to help you concentrate bettter. In some research it is adviced to listen to classical music for certain tasks and it raises IQ for a short period of time up to 10 points ?









Cheers!

Hi AweG

I have heard of certain classical musician compositions and playlists on YouTube which help you calm yourself down.

However, I personally prefer silence. Also from the point of view of the GMAT exam - say between sections or while you are waiting in the hall for the test to begin - I am told they provide you earplugs to be used during the test. Since you only have silence to accompany you then, I think it best to try and pratice using silence as a method to calmness.

But in the end it is essentially whatever works best for you, mate. :-)

Best,
Gladi
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I didnt know that you are allowed to have earplugs during the exam! do you know if i can bring my own plugs for the exam ? cause what they offer i guess is the standard ones which are usually quite carpy
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Music or total silence? 27 Mar 2018, 06:12
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AweG
Gladiator59
AweG
Hey guys ! i was wondering if you like to focus while using ambient music as background or total silence to help you concentrate bettter. In some research it is adviced to listen to classical music for certain tasks and it raises IQ for a short period of time up to 10 points ?









Cheers!

Hi AweG

I have heard of certain classical musician compositions and playlists on YouTube which help you calm yourself down.

However, I personally prefer silence. Also from the point of view of the GMAT exam - say between sections or while you are waiting in the hall for the test to begin - I am told they provide you earplugs to be used during the test. Since you only have silence to accompany you then, I think it best to try and pratice using silence as a method to calmness.

But in the end it is essentially whatever works best for you, mate. :-)

Best,
Gladi

I didnt know that you are allowed to have earplugs during the exam! do you know if i can bring my own plugs for the exam ? cause what they offer i guess is the standard ones which are usually quite carpy
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Hey AweG,

I do not think they allow you to get your OWN earphones afaik. I was talking about the same standard crappy earphones :-D

It is still better than not having any earphones.. the point I am making is don't make it a habit to listen to music to calm down... Else you might end up feeling restless when you don't get any music. :-)

Best,
Gladi
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Music or total silence? 31 Mar 2018, 14:47
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JohnShelby
You know, in my situation it depends. It depends on my mood, it depends on the time of the day, even on the weather, and so on and so forth. I like listening to music while I'm writing or preparing something but it helps me to concentrate only at the first part of the day. And only if I am not too tired. In this case I can even listen to some rock music. But if I am nervous or if I am after a complicated day then even Ludovico Einaudi will seem to me too distractive. But in the bigger part of situations, silence is better to focus.
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Nicely put. I think i will continue having as much silence as i can while doing gmat.
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Music or total silence? 12 Apr 2018, 00:03
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i concentrate in silence, because music is it distracts me. I'm used to the fact that music is just for recreation
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Music or total silence? 09 Oct 2018, 10:15
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I appeared for the GMAT and luckily it was a Pearson VUE center. The test center was great, however, the noise cancellation earphones they gave me were so good that I was having trouble concentrating. I guess one needs to get used to such total silence!

So in retrospect, total silence is not the greatest... normal silence which you are used to in your home without any audible disturbance is the best!

:grin:

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Gladi
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Music or total silence? 11 Oct 2018, 03:25
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Well, there are a lot of articles on the internet about this topic. You can search for them, if you want some science behind that. If you want my personal opinion - it depends on the person, the type of music and what are your relationships with this music. Breaking it down into categories:

1. I'm the type of person that don't get distracted even by Cannibal Corpse, Death, Make Them Suffer, etc. (pretty much all hardcore and metal genres). So for me it's pretty much "always go with the music". You might be different and a single sound can harm your concentrating ability.

2. Type of music is more of a science. It's proven that classical music is able to increase your level of concentration and in some cases even cure some diseases. On the other hand, some part of your brain tries to follow up the rhythm and predict changes in patterns, etc. If you perfectly memorized tempo and patterns of Mozart (not perfectly, but you know what i mean, i hope) then yeah, it might help. On the other hand, again, it depends on personality and type of music.If you're doing routine homework and you don't enjoy it or have no motivation, your favorite music might help to get through it.

3. Your relationships with music. If you're obsessed with music and you're listening to some new music, while doing a test, homework or something else, you will waste the major resource of your mind on following up, recognition of patterns and rhythm and so on and so forth. Personally, i never listen to new music during "concentration moments" because i deeply focus on music itself which is harmful for learning process. Some background music you have listened to for a while might do the trick for you though.

As for me, i said earlier that i love music. Especially EDM (melodic dubstep, idnie electronica, progressive house, future bass), ambient (future garage mostly, though) and hip-hop. What i have noticed i that i can't focus at all while listening to EDM - i'm getting obsessed (especially if it's Illenium, Porter Robinson, Unlike Pluto and some other favorites producers). Everything else seems fine for me on the background. Even some dirty metal or hardcore :)
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Music or total silence? 11 Oct 2018, 03:31
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yungbirdy
Well, there are a lot of articles on the internet about this topic. You can search for them, if you want some science behind that. If you want my personal opinion - it depends on the person, the type of music and what are your relationships with this music. Breaking it down into categories:

1. I'm the type of person that don't get distracted even by Cannibal Corpse, Death, Make Them Suffer, etc. (pretty much all hardcore and metal genres). So for me it's pretty much "always go with the music". You might be different and a single sound can harm your concentrating ability.

2. Type of music is more of a science. It's proven that classical music is able to increase your level of concentration and in some cases even cure some diseases. On the other hand, some part of your brain tries to follow up the rhythm and predict changes in patterns, etc. If you perfectly memorized tempo and patterns of Mozart (not perfectly, but you know what i mean, i hope) then yeah, it might help. On the other hand, again, it depends on personality and type of music.If you're doing routine homework and you don't enjoy it or have no motivation, your favorite music might help to get through it.

3. Your relationships with music. If you're obsessed with music and you're listening to some new music, while doing a test, homework or something else, you will waste the major resource of your mind on following up, recognition of patterns and rhythm and so on and so forth. Personally, i never listen to new music during "concentration moments" because i deeply focus on music itself which is harmful for learning process. Some background music you have listened to for a while might do the trick for you though.

As for me, i said earlier that i love music. Especially EDM (melodic dubstep, idnie electronica, progressive house, future bass), ambient (future garage mostly, though) and hip-hop. What i have noticed i that i can't focus at all while listening to EDM - i'm getting obsessed (especially if it's Illenium, Porter Robinson, Unlike Pluto and some other favorites producers). Everything else seems fine for me on the background. Even some dirty metal or hardcore :)
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Hey yungbirdy, Welcome to the GMAT club!

Nice to know you have the ability to solve while listening to music! However, since the real GMAT exam does not allow one to take any music playing device inside the test center, don't you think it would work against you if practice to solve questions with music at home?

After all, you end up training your brain to solve with music on and the test day difference is environment would be detrimental to your concentration/aptitude.

Best you try to maintain an environment as close as possible to actual test conditions - either a full blackout with noise cancellation headphones or a quiet room level noise. Between these two, I had always practiced with the latter but on exam day I ended up using the noise cancellation earphone and might have been a bit uncomfortable with those.

Best,
Gladi
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Music or total silence? 11 Oct 2018, 04:13
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Gladiator59

Hey yungbirdy, Welcome to the GMAT club!
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Thanks a lot, Gladi! Hope it'll be a nice ride! :)

Gladiator59

However, since the real GMAT exam does not allow one to take any music playing device inside the test center, don't you think it would work against you if practice to solve questions with music at home?
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Yes, you actually have a nice point and i totally missed it, my bad! Thanks for pointing this out!

I do feel uncomfortable without music at times. Especially when it's awkwardly silent (like examination environment) or unacceptably loud (public transport, etc.). It does affect my ability to do stuff, including concentrating but, maybe it's just me but it has unnoticeable influence on me at this point. If we're talking about silent environment, i find it somewhat easy to focus even without music that i'm used to listen to during studying. I'd say i get slightly bored and a bit anxious but able to manage my feelings in most cases.

If we're talking about loud environments with a lot of noises or voices, i tend to get overly nervous and even angry at times if i have no access to my earbuds. I don't know if it's normal or not but it's the way i am, i guess.
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Music or total silence? 17 Oct 2018, 09:08
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It always depends on my mood :)
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Music or total silence? 08 Nov 2018, 11:18
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Music, total science can drive you crazy
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Music or total silence? 27 Nov 2018, 00:24
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total silence to help you concentrate better.