GMAT Strategy

Sunil,

Thanks for writing me off line and inviting me to discuss your current challenge: acing the GMAT without the psychological shortcomings bringing you down. If you're trying to navigate choppy waters between mastering content and a solid performance, you've come to the right place. Whether you're completely 'set' with knowing the material or not, a queasy feeling of how you'll do on the exam can shake the best of us into not performing our best. After all, sometimes taking tests isn't about content, but about taking tests themselves.

The good news is that getting over anxiety and building confidence is the easiest and quickest thing to change and have an impact on your score - - with the caveat being you use the right tools suitable for YOU in particular, and taught/implemented by someone who 'knows' what they're doing. I read, and I've heard many say, 'oh, you're nervous... practice deep breathing' or 'study more, you'll feel better.' This will work for some, but not everyone. In fact, it only really works for a few people (think bell curve) because by the time someone takes the test, they've had years of prior tests - - and anxiety - - so if we don't address modifying our behavior or the real issue:, then things don't change. Also by putting it out there that 'deep breathing' will solve every woe, it doesn't reveal the depth and severity of the psychological schism between how one is performing and what one really wants - - most of the time.

Likewise, this issue is likely not so intense that you need to start seeing a cognitive behavioral specialist or a freudian therapist for the next 15 years... or even jet down to see a witch doctor in the jungles of the Amazon. That is NOT to say that these folks don't offer great services, because they very well might, but if you're looking for a potent fix that has the potential to last a lifetime - - and certainly to help you manifest your best score on test day, you should try some other modalities to get you into the best zone in the 2 - 5 months you've dedicated to study. Dealing with the symptoms instead of the reasons the symptoms exist is the best way to go, in our experience. We've seen people improve up to 230 points the weekend before the test, just by getting into the best test-taking zone. And you can too.

Since you and your situation are unique, it would be irresponsible for me to prescribe anything outright, except to say you should check out the following modalities that we use when we work with our clients. It's often a hybrid approach that gets the best results, to name a few:

hypnosis
guided visualization
neurolinguistic programming
EFT
EMDR
TAP
Sound Therapy
Biofeedback
Integrative life coaching
Reiki

Do you have access to anyone who works in these modalities? Bonus if they know/understand the GMAT...As far as I know we're the only company that employs these methods combined with GMAT study...


Best,

Bara Sapir