Study for the GMAT During Your "Mental Peaks"

If you consistently study at times when your energy is low — for instance, after a long day of work — you’ll associate GMAT study with feeling tired. Moreover, you may find that focus and concentration are hard to come by. The result? A persistent feeling that you don’t have what it takes to succeed on the GMAT. A feeling that the GMAT is too hard, or that it requires too much of you.

Now, you may think, it can’t make that much of a difference that I’m studying when I’m tired. Think again! Feeling chronically exhausted when you study for the GMAT, and probably annoyed that you have yet one more thing to do that day, can have a very real effect on your ability to retain knowledge, and thus your confidence.

You want to study for the GMAT during your mental peaks, not your lulls. Of course, we all have other responsibilities, so we can’t always time GMAT study “perfectly.” Nevertheless, we can be strategic about scheduling study times. We can shuffle other things around in our schedules. We can do shorter study sessions on busier days and longer sessions on quieter days.

Additionally, schedule full-length practice tests for times when you have the mental energy to perform at your peak. Think about it. How well can you expect to perform on a challenging, hours-long exam after you’ve just spent 8 hours at work?

The process of preparing for the GMAT will feel much more manageable (and be more effective) if you study at times when you have the mental bandwidth. If the process doesn’t feel manageable, your confidence will understandably be low.

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep