Test Day Strategies from GMAT Experts
Comprehensive preparation is crucial to GMAT success for most students, but it is not the only factor. Consequently, Veritas Prep is pioneering research on the other ingredients required for a high GMAT score.
While this research continues, Veritas Prep thought they could share additional insight from a few members of their renowned GMAT faculty. Each Veritas Prep Instructor scored in the 99th percentile on an actual GMAT exam and has experience helping others duplicate their success.
No one suggestion is universal. Each student should consider a suggestion, practice it, and decide whether or not to incorporate it into his or her own test-taking regimen. The Veritas Prep experts recommend:
- “I highly recommend that students create a ‘workback schedule’. Working back from the exam, the week before, the students should plan to do a full run through of the exam, including nutrition and test day schedule (if your exam is at 4pm, then take your practice exam at 4pm). Working back from this run through, one week before they should do ANOTHER complete run through with the exact same conditions. Why complete two? It's similar to the theater, with a full run through and a dress rehearsal. The first session is to get a sense of what 3.5 hours is really like, to understand looking at the screen for that long a period of time, getting limited bathroom breaks, etc. Students typically think they can perform on little sleep and that nutrition doesn't matter, etc. The full run through often reveals the error of their thinking, as well as revealing other areas that need review. The second run through is to rebuild confidence. Since confidence is so important in exam success, students should avoid going into the exam worried (as most typically are after the first run through). I repeat this mantra to my students often.” Kevin Richardson, Chicago-based Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor and Veritas Prep MBA Admissions Consultant (Stanford Graduate School of Business)
- “My advice to students is to finish their full-time preparation three days before the test. In other words, don’t plan on learning anything new in those three days. Just spend a few hours a day reviewing and refreshing what is in your head at that point. The GMAT is as much an endurance game as anything. I encourage students to sleep normally for them. Anything other than their normal sleep routine would be disruptive. If their sleep routine is not optimal, however, I encourage them from the beginning of their preparation to adopt a new one well in advance so that it becomes normal for them by the time they take the test. I encourage people to listen to their rhythms when they schedule their test – morning people schedule in the morning, night owls in the afternoon. Most people have a good sense of when their brains are at optimal function and endurance. And for nutrition, I have a few tips: high-protein for breakfast a few hours before the test, something with carbs and protein just before, a power bar or high-calorie protein drink at the first break, and something like fruit (somewhat complex sugars) for the second break. The idea here is endurance, and having the right kinds of energy available at every stop. In terms of exercise, again, I don’t recommend any changes from established routine. If the routine is sub-optimal, it has to be modified well in advance. The idea here is that on test day, you should not have to deal with anything that will make your brain say ‘That’s a new feeling’ and distract you from the test. Sore muscles, weird sleep effects, or gastro-intestinal problems tend to do that.” Rob Stringham, Salt Lake City and New York-based Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor
- “The week of the test, I think the best strategy is for students to not deviate too much from their typical routine. I find that the students that do the best are the ones that are the most comfortable and relaxed going into the test, so whatever they can do to make themselves feel comfortable is what I'd recommend. And a lot of that comfort zone comes from taking the test in stride, and not changing their lives to make it a bigger deal than it has to be – that just causes more pressure. If students are used to exercising regularly, the worst thing they can do is to eliminate that the week of the test to cram in more prep time. By altering their routine, they'll feel more pressure, and their energy levels will drop due to the lack of activity. But if they don't exercise regularly, they'll only add strain and pressure by trying to start up just for the test.” Brian Galvin, Detroit-based Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor
- “On the day of the test, mental repeat that one formula you have trouble remembering before you walk into the test center – imagine a TV Detective repeating a license plate over and over to memorize it. Once you receive your scratch paper (or erasable workboard) at the start of the quantitative section, you can jot it down and have access to it during the test.” Kevin Richardson, Chicago-based Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor and Veritas Prep MBA Admissions Consultant(Stanford Graduate School of Business)
- “Psychologically, I talk to my students about acquiring the ‘tight-rope walkers’ mentality. A tight-rope walker can never start thinking ‘What will I do if I fall?’ In order to contemplate it, they have to envision themselves falling – making that a more plausible reality. For this reason, I make my students commit to NOT retaking the test. (If a student does poorly, I would, of course, let them out of the commitment, but that hasn’t been an issue yet). I tell them, instead, to become comfortable with an educated sense of the range of test score they want to achieve, the consequences of scoring inside that range, and then commit to achieving and accepting those results. This removes the safety net of the “if I do poorly this time, I can always retake it” mentality, which saps the motivation to succeed.” Rob Stringham, Salt Lake City and New York-based Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor
- “I remind my students that ETS has designed the entire experience in order to throw people off and make them uncomfortable. From the security procedures when students arrive, to the overly formal and eerily quiet testing centers, to the way questions are posed, everything is designed to make students doubt themselves and feel undue pressure. My advice is to know going in that there will be opportunities to feel pressure or doubt, and to recognize (and even laugh at) those occasions when they arise. I tell my students to remember that 99% of what will be tested is material that they learned in high school; if they remain calm and confident, and pay attention to the tricks that ETS uses to make familiar topics look extremely unfamiliar, they should be able to interpret and succeed on any question.” Brian Galvin, Detroit-based Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor
- “Take your 5 minute breaks, whether you think you need them or not. I analogize it to swimming in a lap pool. Sometimes, you've done several laps and you think, ‘I should stop at the wall to take a breath, but I'm feeling really strong. I think I'll just go on’ – and, oops, it’s the middle of the pool and now you really need that rest. The inevitable outcome is the second half of that lap is messy, ugly, and slow. If you start to panic, you could even start swallowing water and then things really spiral downward. Now you're wishing you had taken that break when you had the chance. Since you cannot take a break during GMAT sections, it is advantageous, perhaps imperative, to take the rest when it is offered. Similarly, when you encounter a Reading Comprehension passage, put your pencil down and take a 5 second breather, clearing your mind before you dive into the passage. Remember, you want to complete the entire set of questions relating to that passage without having to go back and reread the entire passage. That 5 second moment of zen can save you 2-3 minutes once you start the passage.” Kevin Richardson, Chicago-based Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor and Veritas Prep MBA Admissions Consultant(Stanford Graduate School of Business)
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Instructor Profiles
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