Food and drinks for test day

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Rastis: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 183; Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:06 amFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Washington, DC; Thanked: 6 times; GMAT Score:500

by Rastis » Wed Dec 18, 2013 5:38 pm

Hey all,

I'm taking the GMAT soon and was wondering if anyone found some interesting off the wall snacks and/or drinks that they felt made a difference when taking their exam. I was planning on eating fruit and drinking some energy drinks during my two breaks but I'm open for more suggestions!

Thanks,
McCombs Wannabe

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Wed Dec 18, 2013 5:38 pm

David@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2193; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pmFollowed by: 512 members; Location: Vermont and Boston, MA; Thanked: 1186 times; GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Wed Dec 18, 2013 7:04 pm

What do you mean by "energy drinks" are you talking about like a Vitamin Water/ Gatorade type of thing or something more like a red bull?

The truth is that too much sugar can make you crash, too much caffeine can make you very nervous and twitchy, and whatever they put in things like red bull and five hour energy might make you just plain crazy.

Here is my advice to you -- NEVER do anything on test day you have not tried in practice. And do not use more than your usual amounts of caffeine or sugar.

If you plan on trying to use some non-standard (for you) sort of food or beverage you better try it in a practice test -- A FULL 4.5 hour practice test - at the SAME TIME of day as your actual exam.

I recommend that you eat a sensible meal before you go to the center. Something with protein. Then bring along 3 or 4 snacks that have some protein and complex carbohydrates. A Cliff Bar might be a good example. As for beverages - watch out what you drink and in what quantities. You need to go 75 minutes between bathroom breaks and it needs to be comfortably. Not like when I am in the car and can barely make it the last 15 minutes to a rest area. You will not be able to do geometry if you are in that condition.

You might want to send a message directly to "LunarPower" for a comment on this one. Ron can fill you in on nutrition.

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Chanakya1: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 10; Joined: Fri Nov 29, 2013 8:20 pm

by Chanakya1 » Thu Dec 19, 2013 5:49 am

Red Bull and Snickers it will be for me

Good luck for your test!

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David@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2193; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pmFollowed by: 512 members; Location: Vermont and Boston, MA; Thanked: 1186 times; GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Thu Dec 19, 2013 8:26 am

Hilarious Chanakya1!

Do you normally drink Red Bull? If so then you might be okay -- I am just never sure if the GMAT is the correct place for, what does the ad for red bull say "it gives you wings" I am never sure if the GMAT is the proper place to have "wings" (I am not even sure what it means).

I used to use a caffeine supplement before running in races. This was not the Olympics and there was no drug testing but I am sure I was within the limits of like 2 cups of coffee. Anyway, my legs used to twitch on the way to the race and I am just thinking if I did that before the GMAT the proctor might come over to me on test day and ask me to stop twitching so much during the GMAT!

I do stand by my statement "NEVER do anything on the GMAT test day you have not tried on at least one practice test."

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Fri Dec 20, 2013 1:25 am

Well, there's not really going to be a simple answer to this one. Will have to post in multiple segments, as I'm on a tablet.

Caffeine:
Different people have VASTLY differing levels of (a) sensitivity and (b) tolerance to caffeine.
You probably have at least a vague sense of how caffeine affects you. However, you may want to keep a "caffeine journal" in which you record the following parameters:
* Amount of caffeine ingested
* Source
* Time of day
* Hours of sleep the previous night
* Food eaten with the caffeine source
... and in which you record the following results:
* Time it takes the caffeine to "kick in"
* Feeling of alertness / increased attention, at that point (subjective scale of 0-10) at that point
* Feeling of restlessness / hyperactivity / nervousness, at that point (0-10)
* Feeling of hunger at that point (0-10)
* Approximate time at which you feel the peak effect of the caffeine
* Same three 0-10 ratings at that point. (If your adrenal system is working properly, your hunger score should be 0, 1, or 2 at this point, even if you haven't eaten much.)
* Approximate time at which you first feel a "crash" or "fade"
* Same three 0-10 ratings at this point.

That seems like a lot of data, but, if you collect them over just 1-2 weeks, you'll have a pretty good idea of how to optimize your caffeine consumption.
If your test is coming up soon, you may as well just keep the journal at approximately the same time of day when you're going to take the test, and save the more exhaustive analysis for later.
The time of day makes a HUGE difference -- the same amount of caffeine that makes me reasonably alert at certain times of day will make me immediately go to sleep at others -- so being even a couple of hours off will make the data much less meaningful.

[/b]

Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by lunarpower » Fri Dec 20, 2013 1:28 am

As for beverages themselves, Red Bull is pretty weak sauce, with only about 80 mg of caffeine in a can (about the same as you'd get in a 20-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew). It has about the same amount of caffeine per ounce as other "energy drinks", but the ridiculously small can means not much of a kick. (The can is small to increase profit margins, obviously, but also because Red Bull is a mainstay in bars -- they want to avoid the legal trouble that has befallen Four Loko and so on. Anyways...)
Make sure you do your homework here. For instance, a medium Starbucks brewed coffee has as much caffeine as 4 cans of Red Bull, or about 10 cans of Diet Coke. So, yeah. Journal. Do it.

Sugar:
You should avoid sugar. (Honestly, if you are over 16 years old, you should pretty much not eat sugar ever again in your life -- except perhaps after especially intense workouts -- but that's another discussion for another day.)
Eating sugar kicks up your insulin levels, with two main effects:
1/ Sluggishness and lack of alertness (= the "rest and digest" syndrome -- the opposite of "fight or flight"),
2/ Intense hunger. If you eat sugar, you'll be objectively more hungry than you'd be if you ate nothing at all. (Try a controlled experiment if you don't believe me.)
The worst part about the insulin-induced hunger is that it tends to kick in 1-2 hours after you eat sugar, which means you're going to get nailed right in the middle of the test. Ugh.

Oh yeah, and, if that's not enough to convince you, the whole idea that sugar provides extra energy ("sugar high") is completely false. There's no such thing as a "sugar high" at all; any such effect from candy is probably just a confounding effect from the caffeine present in chocolate. So, basically, there are no benefits to sugar at all -- none whatsoever, not even a little bit -- unless your gmat exam comes directly after a huge workout. (I don't recommend that, since big workouts tax the brain as well as the body.)

Incidentally, there's some evidence that a big workout 10-12 hours before your test, followed by sufficient sleep, will actually allow your brain to "supercompensate" and last slightly longer than usual. Worth a shot.

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by lunarpower » Fri Dec 20, 2013 1:31 am

So, what should you eat?

To avoid having this post get interminably long -- and because I'm not going to be available for the next week or so to respond to posts -- I'm just going to split this into 2 possibilities.

IF YOU HAVE A BACKGROUND OF LOW CARB DIETING:
(not necessarily a hugely extensive background, but at least, say, a month or so)
Eat a medium-sized meal with 50-70% of calories from fat, 20-30% of calories from protein, and the rest (20% or less) from "slow" carbohydrates like potatoes or sweet potatoes.
Between the quant and verbal sections, eat a pack of almonds or peanuts.

IF YOU DON'T:
Eat a medium-sized meal with about 30-50% of calories from fat, 30-40% from protein, and the rest (30% or less) from "slow" carbohydrates like potatoes or sweet potatoes.
At breaks, eat almonds/peanuts and "slow" carbs. Portable "slow" carbs are hard to find, but edamame (Japanese soybeans) and carrots are a decent choice here.
Maybe eat some brown rice crackers. Do not eat white bread, white rice, or white just about anything.

Remember, food is not going to make you alert. (Quite the opposite -- people tend to be most alert when they're somewhat hungry.) Alertness is going to come from sleep and stimulants such as caffeine.
What you're trying to do with food is (1) fuel the brain -- the reason why you're eating here in the first place -- and (2) try to level out "high" and "low" feelings as much as possible (aka regulating insulin and blood sugar). These suggestions should help there.

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by lunarpower » Fri Dec 20, 2013 1:33 am

I recommend that you eat a sensible meal before you go to the center. Something with protein. Then bring along 3 or 4 snacks that have some protein and complex carbohydrates. A Cliff Bar might be a good example.

Clif Bars -- no.
A Clif Bar has less protein than a corresponding amount of white bread. It also gets something like 40% of its calories from pure sugar. Just say no.

Clif Bars are for sustained muscular energy -- of the "I just hiked uphill for 2 hours and I have no glycogen left in my muscles" variety. I.e., they are designed to help you restore physical aerobic energy stores to depleted muscles. Obviously that's irrelevant here (your brain doesn't rely on glycogen).
For keeping your brain humming along during a test like the gmat, a clif bar would be an absolutely terrible choice. You'd actually be better off fasting.

The best during-test snack is nuts, specifically almonds or peanuts. If you are not at all accustomed to low-carb dieting, you should also throw in some carrots, edamame, or, if you're desperate, brown rice crackers. (If you don't immediately know the answer to "Do you have experience with low-carb dieting?", then the answer is no.)

Good luck.

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by David@VeritasPrep » Fri Dec 20, 2013 5:14 am

Thanks Ron!!

So much here I did not know. It is funny that the Red Bull that I was scared of is actually better than the Cliff Bar that I mentioned!

Happy Holidays!

David

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feedrom: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 27; Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2013 10:19 am; Thanked: 4 times

by feedrom » Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:06 pm

lunarpower wrote: Eating sugar kicks up your insulin levels, with two main effects:
1/ Sluggishness and lack of alertness (= the "rest and digest" syndrome -- the opposite of "fight or flight"),
2/ Intense hunger.

Oh I see the reason why people give chocolate to their lovers on the Valentine's day, so that they can't fight or fly anymore.

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dentobizz: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 20; Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2010 2:12 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 2 times

by dentobizz » Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:55 pm

lunarpower wrote: Eating sugar kicks up your insulin levels, with two main effects:
1/ Sluggishness and lack of alertness (= the "rest and digest" syndrome -- the opposite of "fight or flight"),
2/ Intense hunger. If you eat sugar, you'll be objectively more hungry than you'd be if you ate nothing at all. (Try a controlled experiment if you don't believe me.)
The worst part about the insulin-induced hunger is that it tends to kick in 1-2 hours after you eat sugar, which means you're going to get nailed right in the middle of the test. Ugh.

Oh yeah, and, if that's not enough to convince you, the whole idea that sugar provides extra energy ("sugar high") is completely false. There's no such thing as a "sugar high" at all; any such effect from candy is probably just a confounding effect from the caffeine present in chocolate. So, basically, there are no benefits to sugar at all -- none whatsoever, not even a little bit -- unless your gmat exam comes directly after a huge workout. (I don't recommend that, since big workouts tax the brain as well as the body.)

Incidentally, there's some evidence that a big workout 10-12 hours before your test, followed by sufficient sleep, will actually allow your brain to "supercompensate" and last slightly longer than usual. Worth a shot.

Thanks Ron for this detailed discussion.
I have a question:If someone is feeling drained out after attempting the Quant section,then isn't it advisable to consume a snack that contains simple carbs during the break since the brain easily utilities simple forms of sugar (glucose,fructose,etc)to produce energy quickly?
This can have a temporary benefit-to help the test taker get past the final verbal section in the last 75 mins.
Obviously, the quantity of glucose/fructose needs to kept low otherwise too much sugar will not make the person feel energetic but lethargic as explained above in your post.

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Rastis: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 183; Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:06 amFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Washington, DC; Thanked: 6 times; GMAT Score:500

by Rastis » Mon Dec 23, 2013 10:16 am

Well apparently none of that even matter for I completely bombed my test this morning - 420, 25Q 23V. And this is after scoring over 600 and scoring in the mid-40s in the Quant section of my practice tests leading up to the exam. I don't have the answers.

Jesse

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jaichil: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 10; Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:15 am

by jaichil » Fri Dec 27, 2013 8:12 am

lunarpower wrote:
Sugar:
You should avoid sugar. (Honestly, if you are over 16 years old, you should pretty much not eat sugar ever again in your life -- except perhaps after especially intense workouts -- but that's another discussion for another day.)

If only someone could tell this to Food Network channel. They keep showing all those dessert shows that make us crave for some.

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Sat Dec 28, 2013 1:49 am

dentobizz wrote:I have a question:If someone is feeling drained out after attempting the Quant section,then isn't it advisable to consume a snack that contains simple carbs during the break since the brain easily utilities simple forms of sugar (glucose,fructose,etc)to produce energy quickly?
This can have a temporary benefit-to help the test taker get past the final verbal section in the last 75 mins.

Well, the best answer is "Experiment and find out what works for you." For most people, though, this wouldn't be a good idea.
First, as you pointed out yourself, the goal is to fuel 75 minutes of relatively low-energy output. (It's not low-energy for the brain, but, relative to what muscles consume during intense physical exercise, there's just no comparison.) A huge hit of sugar released into your system all at once isn't going to last that long.
Second, simple sugar is not going to "give you energy quickly", unless (a) you are hypoglycemic and your blood sugar is perilously low, and/or (b) your body is drained of glycogen (i.e., you've just been exercising intensely). I'm assuming (b) is not true. If (a) is true, then you're diabetic and presumably know how to manage that already. So, yeah. Unless those things are true, eating simple sugars will lower your level of alertness, by flooding your blood with insulin and preparing the body to "rest and digest" (and store fat).

Again, though, these things vary from person to person. Sugar is definitely worse than making sure your body is fueled by reasonably slow-burning foods -- but just how much worse depends on the person. For instance, I personally "crash" if I eat anything containing more than about 10 grams of sugar, but I know people who aren't much affected by eating an entire cupcake. So, it won't be good, but it may not be as bad for you as for some others.

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by lunarpower » Sat Dec 28, 2013 1:53 am

jaichil wrote:If only someone could tell this to Food Network channel. They keep showing all those dessert shows that make us crave for some.

I know this comment isn't entirely serious, but, a serious response nonetheless:
If you eat a low-carbohydrate, sugar-free diet for 3-4 weeks (or a ketogenic diet for 2 weeks), you should stop feeling those cravings after sticking to the plan for that much time. You'll get to a point where you look at those things and just say, "eh."

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