GMAT Strategy

This forum is a great resource on everything about GMAT. Hands down. There are numerous study plans, gmat scores and stories to follow.

What I am most interested at this point, out of great frustration and want-to-smash-my-laptop, is how can one remain positive while a) studying and b) during the actual exam?

What are some tricks that you used? I am trying to employ a 5 minute positive meditation break during a study session. But when I don't get 2 or 3 questions in a row, I give up.

Would love to hear some thoughts.

I am so glad that you asked about this!!!

This is the topic that I am the most interested in...more than Quant and Verbal put together. That is because the same things that help mentally with the GMAT are the same things that are great for you in life as well.

I have written several articles about this and have more in the works. My reply is going to be pretty long so I am going to break it up by sections:

The sections are:

1) How to avoid frustration and test anxiety and stay positive and focused while studying and during the test (this is the most direct answer to your question).

2) What you can do in your life to help yourself focus and to be able to control anxiety and frustration.

3) How to divide errors into those that are positive (and therefore no reason to get frustrated!) and those that are "bad errors." I will then make suggestions as to how to avoid the "bad errors" and hence leave you with no reason for frustration!

(By the way - great screen name!)

1) How to avoid frustration and test anxiety and stay positive and focused while studying and during the test. This is a very important topic that deserves much more attention.

Here are several articles that I have written on the subject:

The first article is called "Laugh your way to success" and it probably answers your question most directly

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/06/ ... n-the-gmat

The next link is to an article "Abolishing the Ego and Excelling on the GMAT."

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/07/ ... n-the-gmat

The third article is called "There is a solution to every problem." It has lots of ideas about staying optimistic.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/10/ ... n-the-gmat

Finally, "The most important time is now."

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/07/ ... ime-is-now

2) What you can do in your life to help yourself focus and to be able to control anxiety and frustration.

The first thing that you can do to help you not get, as you say, "frustrated and wanting to smash your laptop" is exercise! Here are three articles on exercise that address your question.

The first article is the most direct. The title is "how physical exercise can help control your GMAT test anxiety." However, the article is about much more than anxiety, it is about emotional control including frustration and other negative thoughts. It turns out that exercise is the key to controlling your emotions.

https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2013/12 ... t-anxiety/

This next article is the first one that I wrote about exercise. It explores the link between exercise and intelligence.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/05/ ... e-the-gmat

This article contains the newest research on exercise and the brain.

https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2013/12 ... mat-score/

The second area of concern is multi-tasking. This must be avoided! In addition to the article below I have two more articles on multi-tasking coming out soon. One of the things in the new article is that - exactly the opposite of exercise - multi-tasking causes difficulty in controlling the emotions!

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/02/ ... asking-now

Finally,

3) How to divide errors into those that are positive (and therefore no reason to get frustrated!) and those that are "bad errors." I will then make suggestions as to how to avoid the "bad errors" and hence leave you with no reason for frustration!

Here are two articles on dividing mistaking between good and bad errors.

https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2013/01 ... -the-gmat/

https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2013/01 ... -the-gmat/

As you can see from the articles the "bad errors" are those that are avoidable. The mistakes that you should not have made are the ones that you have to avoid. Here are two articles on avoiding these mistakes.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/10/ ... -handrails

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/12/ ... n-the-gmat

First, thank you for all of this.

I will have to set aside some time this weekend to read it bit by bit. I almost flipped the table with my gmat tutor today because I was hitting a dead wall. I know I can do it but its frustrating.

Will post back with thoughts.

Don't flip your tutor or the table! You can do this.

A famous actor turned high school teacher (Tony Danza) said something that I really like: "Have the courage to be calm."