Tip of the Day: Get Comfortable with Discomfort

Think of moments of discomfort during your Verbal prep as the moments you’re doing the most learning, growing, and strengthening.

You may be surprised to hear that cultivating the sheer determination to find the correct answers to Verbal questions, no matter what, can easily add 5 or more points to your GMAT Verbal score. I cannot overstate the importance of learning to sit with your discomfort when answering Verbal practice questions, pushing through it, and not letting it get the best of you. Persevering through discomfort is how you strengthen your GMAT Verbal muscles, so you’re prepared to take on whatever heavy lifting comes your way on test day.

There is a significant amount of scientific research showing the key role of mindset in test prep. (For more on this topic, check out this article on how reappraising anxiety as excitement improves test performance and this article on the importance of grit.) If we never learn to deal with the discomfort we inevitably feel any time something doesn’t come to us easily, chances are, we’ll never advance to the point where that thing does come easily. This is just as true for the GMAT as it is for every other area of life.

If you quit the moment things get tough, if you tell yourself, “I’m too confused to figure this out,” you will remain in that state of confusion, and the things that are tough won’t get any easier. So, if you want to score high on GMAT Verbal, expect to feel uncomfortable at times when you answer questions. Welcome that feeling! It means you’re learning, and growing, and building your endurance and mental fortitude, and doing all of the things you need to do to increase your score.