Fatigue

[aces021]

The last 45 or so minutes of the exam I can't concentrate and everything starts looking blurry. I end up reading the same thing over and over again without really reading it. My brain isn't in the test, it's numb. My mind starts to drift off. How should I build my stamina?

[Mike858]

Study for 4 hours a day. If you can structure your study schedule similar to how the actual exam is structured you will get used to it.

[aces021]

Study for 4 hours a day. If you can structure your study schedule similar to how the actual exam is structured you will get used to it.

I already do that. Sometimes I do 6 hours. But I take breaks every 2 hours or so.

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Hi aces021,

Fatigue affects almost everyone on Test Day. It's one of the primary reasons why Test Takers sometimes see a "dip" in their performances during the Verbal section. If you're too tired to have the necessary focus and do the necessary work, then it's tough to get the points.

Thankfully, fatigue issues can be dealt with. You'll have to do some real analysis about a variety of details, including sleep, breakfast, snacks/drinks, note-taking and your posture, among other things. It's as much a part of your GMAT training as any content or tactics that you'll learn, so you have to account for these details.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[David@VeritasPrep]

Mental fatigue of the kind you are describing is often based on the way that you approach problems. If you approach each problem with a do or die sort of effort and you are fighting each one then you will be exhausted well before the end.

For example: how often are the verbal section are you down to two answers and those answers really seem to be about equally possible. You look at one and then the other, straining for that difference that will allow you to make the choice. It is that straining that takes the toll on you.

What if I were to tell you that when I go through the verbal section only about 5 questions leave me debating the answer choices while the rest of them are pretty automatic?

It takes no toll on your mind, it does not leave you fatigued if you are able to do problems in an efficient and decisive manner.

It is not enough to do long sessions of practice. You will simply be exhausted in practice as well. If you are an inefficient runner who is training for a marathon it is not enough to go on longer runs and still be as inefficient as you always have been. If you want to avoid hitting "the wall" and wanting to collapse with fatigue then you need to become more efficient.

My suggestion is look to your techniques and methods. If you want to arrive at the end of the exam and not be completely jaded you need to have more than half of the questions on each section be pretty automatic. You need to have only a few questions on each section that put you in that sort of "Is it B, no is it C, maybe it is B, but C looks good, too" sort of agony.