-
Target Test Prep 20% Off Flash Sale is on! Code: FLASH20
Redeem
How GMAT Students With a Growth Mindset See Their Mistakes
Did you ever notice that some people preparing for the GMAT seem to handle all kinds of obstacles and setbacks calmly and effectively? Whether they have trouble understanding a concept, are performing poorly on a practice test, or experience another type of GMAT-related issue, they don’t seem to get frustrated or anxious. Rather, they press on and eventually achieve their goals. So, what is it that enables GMAT students and other people to operate this way and succeed?
Stanford University professor Carol Dweck had a similar question. She observed that some students are devastated by issues they experience while learning, while others are more resilient, bounce back from setbacks, welcome challenges as opportunities, and in general enjoy the learning experience. So, she studied thousands of students to determine what some had going on that resulted in their having these tendencies that lead to success. In doing so she discovered that the key thing these students had in common was what she termed a “growth mindset.”
So, how do students with a growth mindset see their mistakes and other setbacks, and what is it about a growth mindset that enables students to succeed? In this article, I’m going to explore the answers to these questions and discuss how anyone can develop a growth mindset and harness it to achieve GMAT success. Let’s begin by discussing what a growth mindset is.
Understanding What a Growth Mindset Is
A growth mindset is a way of viewing yourself that involves the idea that your intelligence and basic abilities can be developed through work and the utilization of good strategies and input from others. We can also understand a growth mindset by contrasting it with a fixed mindset, which involves the idea that abilities and other personal qualities are largely fixed and can’t be significantly changed. So, basically, a person with a fixed mindset has the impression that his or her successes or failures depend on fixed traits, whereas a person with a growth mindset believes that he or she is in control of his or her destiny.
As a result, people with fixed mindsets and people with growth mindsets handle challenges and setbacks very differently. For instance, since people with fixed mindsets believe that everyone’s traits are fixed, one of their goals is to appear smart, and thus show that their supposedly fixed abilities are strong. The goal of people with growth mindsets, on the other hand, is to learn. Accordingly, people with fixed mindsets tend to avoid challenges, whereas people with growth mindsets embrace challenges.
Some other common characteristics of people with fixed mindsets are that they give up easily, don’t see the point of effort, tend to ignore feedback, and feel threatened by the success of others. In contrast, people with growth mindsets persist in the face of setbacks, see effort as the path to mastery, learn from feedback, and are inspired by the success of others.
Now that we better understand what fixed and growth mindsets are, let’s consider how having a growth mindset can help you to master the GMAT.
How Having a Growth Mindset Leads to GMAT Success
The connection between having a growth mindset and GMAT success is that a person with a growth mindset believes that he or she can develop his or her abilities, and GMAT success requires developing abilities. So, a growth mindset is exactly what’s needed for GMAT success. To see why more clearly, let’s consider some examples.
For instance, let’s say someone preparing for the GMAT is strong in quant but weak in verbal. If she has a fixed mindset, she’s likely to give up easily if her verbal preparation doesn’t go well. On the other hand, if she has a growth mindset, she’ll see any trouble she’s having as just a natural part of the learning process and continue working until she succeeds.
Also, a person’s mindset can have a huge impact on a person’s psychology when he’s taking a test. If he has a fixed mindset, on some level, he’ll be constantly wondering whether his supposedly fixed abilities are strong enough to get him to his score goal. So, he may take any trouble performing as desired on a test as a sign that his abilities aren’t sufficient. Having such a mindset can be super anxiety-provoking. On the other hand, a person with a growth mindset will see test performance issues as something to power through or just a sign that he has to prepare more.
In general, GMAT students with a fixed mindset see mistakes or other issues as indicating something about them personally, whereas students with a growth mindset see their mistakes as signs that they haven’t mastered something yet and need to keep going.
Now that we’ve seen how mindsets people have affected their GMAT success, let’s discuss fostering a growth mindset in ourselves.
To read the complete article, please view Target Test Prep's blog.
Recent Articles
Archive
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009