The GMAT is eating me alive and ruining my life

[lulufrenchie]

Ok maybe the title is a little bit exaggerated but I really need your advices.

Hi all, my name is Lucile and I need your help.
I am supposed to take the GMAT in two weeks and I am not ready (definitely not).
I already took it last November and I got 570 (Q37 V31 AWA5 IR4) and I was about to apply to really bad school and then I realised I am way more ambitious than that and I can take the gmat again and apply to my dream school which is NYU.
So, I took a class with Kaplan in January and I am working on it every single day since I started the class. I want at 680 (with my international profile and my great GPA I suppose it will be enough).
But since I started to study I have not been able to have more than 620. I did a lot of progress in math and had a Q44 on my last cat. But I am still struggling with the verbal and the best I got was V33.
The problem is that I can't manage my stress anymore and I freak out in the middle of the cat (I can't breath anymore and I can't focus). I am going into a really bad time personally for many other reasons and it really affects how I deal with the gmat.
Today, I have decided that I will change the date of my GMAT and give myself another two months to study. I wish I could be done with it asap but there is not point to take it and fail.
Do you have any tips to manage my stress ?
What should I do now to progress ?
Let me know if you have any advices.

Best,
Lucile.

[[email protected]]

Hi Lucile,

If the approach that you're using right now can't get you past a 620, then the likely solution is that you will have to change your approach.

I have a few questions about how you deal with the Quant and Verbal sections of CATs:

1) Do you finish either section early? Do you have to rush to finish either section (and guess on a bunch of questions)? Do you ever leave questions unanswered?
2) How often do you find yourself taking a "math" approach in the Quant section, as opposed to using a tactic such as TESTing VALUES, using Number Properties, etc.?
3) In the Verbal section, how often are you "narrowing it down to 2 choices and then 'guessing'?"

Thankfully, the GMAT is a predictable, standardized Test, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

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

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

Lucile, mindfulness meditation seems to be tailored made for people in precisely your situation. The problem with anxiety is you can get caught in a vicious cycle. Anxiety makes it hard to focus. The lack of focus can reduce test scores. Lower test scores lead to more anxiety, which further erodes your focus, etc. A mindfulness meditation practice can break this cycle. And this isn't hypothetical. Here is a good article about how a mindfulness practice can boost standardized test scores: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi ... on/275564/

I strongly encourage you to consider incorporating this element into your preparation regimen. If you're interested in more resources on the subject, let us know.

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

Hi Lucile,

If you're interested, we have a free video on the topic on overcoming test anxiety: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1252

As part of managing anxiety, it's crucial that you adopt the proper mindset/attitude on test day. To this end, you may be interested in reading the following articles:
- https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/min ... -destroyer
- https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/jun ... g-big-gmat

Cheers,
Brent

[lulufrenchie]

Thank you all for your time and answers.

Rich:
What happen usually when I take a cat is that I don't have enough time to finish de Quant part and rush for the last questions, and I finish the verbal part early.
I have realized that I am having good reflexes more often now in Quant and I don't always use a "math" approach but I still do sometimes.
And finally, yes, in the verbal section I often hesitate between two answers (and of course I feel like I always pick the wrong one)
I have been studying for a while now and I am frustrated because I don't improve as fast as I want to. When I started to study I got a 400 on my first cat and told myself I would just need to work 3 months and it would be fine. Well, I was wrong.
I just rescheduled my test and gave myself six more weeks to, maybe, finally, beat the GMAT. :/

David and Brent:
Thank you very much for the articles. I know I have to learn how to manage my stress and I started to work on breathing exercices and I started to workout again. That's why I am giving myself six more weeks before I take the exam.
I also need those six weeks to improve my score in the verbal and have better reflex in quant.

I really appreciate your help.
Best,
Lucile.

[[email protected]]

Hi Lucile,

I've sent you a Private Message with some suggestions.

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

[manyaabroadtpr]

Ok maybe the title is a little bit exaggerated but I really need your advices.

Hi all, my name is Lucile and I need your help.
I am supposed to take the GMAT in two weeks and I am not ready (definitely not).
I already took it last November and I got 570 (Q37 V31 AWA5 IR4) and I was about to apply to really bad school and then I realised I am way more ambitious than that and I can take the gmat again and apply to my dream school which is NYU.
So, I took a class with Kaplan in January and I am working on it every single day since I started the class. I want at 680 (with my international profile and my great GPA I suppose it will be enough).
But since I started to study I have not been able to have more than 620. I did a lot of progress in math and had a Q44 on my last cat. But I am still struggling with the verbal and the best I got was V33.
The problem is that I can't manage my stress anymore and I freak out in the middle of the cat (I can't breath anymore and I can't focus). I am going into a really bad time personally for many other reasons and it really affects how I deal with the gmat.
Today, I have decided that I will change the date of my GMAT and give myself another two months to study. I wish I could be done with it asap but there is not point to take it and fail.
Do you have any tips to manage my stress ?
What should I do now to progress ?
Let me know if you have any advices.

Best,
Lucile.

Hi There,

Stress always hampers your progress in whatever you do. To deal with your stress maybe you could tell yourself that you are not looking to get all the questions right instead looking to get the ones that you are definite about turn out right.

We mean, let accuracy be the determining factor while taking the test and not speed. In this way you may find yourself running out of time while nearing the end of the test, but this is when you guess a few and do the rest with accuracy. It is no harm to guess on a few questions as many experts have probably told you by now. Just do not guess questions in a row.!

To improve your verbal we would advise start reading articles, science journals , business tabloids and read them online and figure out for yourself if you can understand the language and the main idea present in the passage. This would be a better way to tackle vocabulary on the GMAT.

All the best.
www.manyagroup.com

[JTuquero]

Thank you all for your time and answers.

Rich:
What happen usually when I take a cat is that I don't have enough time to finish de Quant part and rush for the last questions, and I finish the verbal part early.
I have realized that I am having good reflexes more often now in Quant and I don't always use a "math" approach but I still do sometimes.
And finally, yes, in the verbal section I often hesitate between two answers (and of course I feel like I always pick the wrong one)
I have been studying for a while now and I am frustrated because I don't improve as fast as I want to. When I started to study I got a 400 on my first cat and told myself I would just need to work 3 months and it would be fine. Well, I was wrong.
I just rescheduled my test and gave myself six more weeks to, maybe, finally, beat the GMAT. :/

David and Brent:
Thank you very much for the articles. I know I have to learn how to manage my stress and I started to work on breathing exercices and I started to workout again. That's why I am giving myself six more weeks before I take the exam.
I also need those six weeks to improve my score in the verbal and have better reflex in quant.

I really appreciate your help.
Best,
Lucile.

Hi lucile,

I noticed that you have a slight pacing issue.Try this approach: group five math questions together and spend approximately (but no more than) 10 minutes on them. Make strategic guesses on questions that you aren't confident on or that would take you much longer than two minutes to answer. That way, you buy yourself some time and you can spend more time on questions that you can confidently answer.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted on your progress.

Jessica