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Test anxiety and time management problems

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Test anxiety and time management problems

by nickyb12 » Thu Mar 10, 2011 1:33 pm
Does anyone know how to get over serious test anxiety and improve time management skills?

I need to achieve a score of 600 and seem to be finding it very difficult on the actual test day. I took my first 2 real GMAT tests a year ago and achieved 410 and 470. I then realised a lot of work was needed so I then found a tutor and studied for a year. I was achieving between 560 and 640 on GMATprep tests and Kaplan CATs and figured I was finally ready to achieve my score. I took the GMAT yesterday and got a miserable 440...and left the test center confused. Does anybody have any suggestions? It seems test anxiety plays around wth my time management on test day and I am not sure how to deal with it...

Nick
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by bellaray » Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:25 pm
nickyb12 wrote:Does anyone know how to get over serious test anxiety and improve time management skills?

I need to achieve a score of 600 and seem to be finding it very difficult on the actual test day. I took my first 2 real GMAT tests a year ago and achieved 410 and 470. I then realised a lot of work was needed so I then found a tutor and studied for a year. I was achieving between 560 and 640 on GMATprep tests and Kaplan CATs and figured I was finally ready to achieve my score. I took the GMAT yesterday and got a miserable 440...and left the test center confused. Does anybody have any suggestions? It seems test anxiety plays around wth my time management on test day and I am not sure how to deal with it...

Nick
I can certainly sympathize with you on the test anxiety. I used to drill myself sick through college and high school to overcome test anxiety...Ironically, the anxiety compounded. The more I tried to cram in at the last minute, the more I felt was needed to be crammed it. The end result was performing poorly on tests, that I was capable of doing well on. Once I failed a calculus exam, only to correct my paper with no help from the professor, two weeks after the exam. After reviewing the exam and seeing the careless mistakes that I had made, it honestly looked like a drunk had taken the test. Simply stated, don't worry over it. do you really need a 600 score??? Your GMAT score isn't the end all, be all of who you are. You cannot let your test score define who you are, nor how successful you will be. You sound quite capable of scoring above 600,. My suggestion to you is, study systematically, but do not spend time studying in a marathon manner, simply an hour a day, but spend the hour, working problems that you do not know....not ones that you already know.
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by Dan@VinciaPrep » Wed Mar 16, 2011 3:50 am
I agree with the above statements, and would like to add a little. A lot of test takers tend to change their style the day of the test: they read slower or faster, the spend more time on some problems than they usually do, etc... You need to train yourself to always do the same thing. One of the big killers is that some people just don't want to give up on a (math) question during the test. You can ONLY SPEND 2 MINUTES on a question. This includes while you practice as well. You can review for longer than two minutes (in fact, you probably have to review for up to six minutes or so for some questions), but making good decisions in only two minutes is part of the test.

Finally, I'm not sure how many times you took the GMAT prep tests but you should take both tests twice since there are over 1000 questions in the database for the tests. These are the most accurate exams. If you get your target score three times (under test like conditions => 8 minute breaks and doing the writing section) then your ready. Don't skip the writing section! It improves your stamina which is critical.

Hope that helps!
nickyb12 wrote:Does anyone know how to get over serious test anxiety and improve time management skills?

I need to achieve a score of 600 and seem to be finding it very difficult on the actual test day. I took my first 2 real GMAT tests a year ago and achieved 410 and 470. I then realised a lot of work was needed so I then found a tutor and studied for a year. I was achieving between 560 and 640 on GMATprep tests and Kaplan CATs and figured I was finally ready to achieve my score. I took the GMAT yesterday and got a miserable 440...and left the test center confused. Does anybody have any suggestions? It seems test anxiety plays around wth my time management on test day and I am not sure how to deal with it...

Nick
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by AIM GMAT » Wed Mar 16, 2011 6:08 am
hey Nick ,

It seems the anxiety is making you under achieve . Well if you are planning to take one more go for the GMAT then take ample of drill tests just with the same condition as in the real test and try to control your anxiety in the sample tests , this helps a lot when done repeatedly . Whenever u feel diverted to anxiety take a deep breath and get going . Do not try to do anything new on the test day , that adds to the anxiety . Hope the little tips does helps .
Thanks & Regards,
AIM GMAT
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