Last-Minute GMAT Advice - 5 Tips for a Test-Day Edge

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Is your GMAT right around the corner? These five last-minute tips will give you the extra edge you need on test day to boost your score and dominate the GMAT.
For more GMAT test-taking tips and strategies, visit: http://www.dominatethegmat.com/blog/

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so your gmat is right around the corner
maybe it's tomorrow
maybe it's later this week but either
way you're looking for some last-minute
gmat tips
hi I'm Brad Fritsch founder of dominate
the gmat and i'd like to share with you
five things you can and should be doing
just before taking the gmat to put
yourself in the best position to get the
highest score possible so let's dive in
tip number one tip number one is to know
thy enemy know that the enemy
so maybe it's not the best thing to be
thinking about the gmat as your enemy
but here's the idea
you may recognize this phrase from soon
zoo or however you pronounce that author
of the art of war that i read way back
in college and you probably did too and
the idea is this that the better you
plan for battle the better you know your
opponent the better you're able to help
think and kinda figure out what is in
store for you once you hit that
battlefield the better chance you have a
victory the better chance you have of
success and the same goes on the g-men
mind there are two things about this
that i would encourage you to do number
one is to watch the video that is put
out by the gmac that gives you a
behind-the-scenes look at what you're in
store for
on test day if you haven't watched that
if you're watching this video on my
website on my blog you can click on the
link below to actually go directly to
that video with not
we need to scout it out on youtube or go
to nba.com to find that video but they
literally show you what you're in store
for
what the registration process is like
what the room is going to look like what
the little cubicle and the computer
screen where you going to be taking the
gmat is going to look like you know the
lockers where you put your stuff
all of these little things may not seem
like a big deal but the fewer surprises
there are on test day the better
it's something very simple you can do
and why not be as prepared as possible
and the second thing is scout out your
route and this may seem a little bit
weird but I remember when my wife took
her gmat I got a frantic call
literally you know i think it was like
45 minutes before she was scheduled to
take the gmat and I was actually still
in bed and and she called me up and she
said brett i am at the location where I
thought the gmat is supposed to be and
it is not here
help try to get online and turns out she
had the wrong directions and she ended
up frantically driving across town to
get to the proper testing location
minutes before her test was supposed to
start so imagine her state of mind right
she was all frantic and instead of being
in a peaceful Zen state ready to take
the gmat she was frantic because of
something so simple
if she had scouted out maybe even take
15 minutes 30 minutes and drive to the
testing location
you know the day or two before the gmat
just it just to get eyes on it again
know thy enemy certainly can't hurt and
it can absolutely help with that
the second tip for you is to dress for
success
what does that mean to dress for success
just what it sounds like I want you to
literally dress up to take the gmat now
you might be thinking yourself
that sounds a little bit weird i have
seen countless studies that support this
idea that the better you look the better
you feel about yourself and the better
your
likely to perform i remember back in
college on all of my big final exam day
is really for any test I took I would
wear a suit
sometimes a full suit but either way
definitely khakis a nice button down
sometimes a tie and it may sound a
little bit weird i know a lot of people
roll out of bed the day of a test or the
day of their gmat and maybe they even go
to the testing center in sweatpants and
a sweatshirt because you think i'm going
to be comfortable but here's the reality
the reality is that the better you feel
the better you look the better you put
yourself into a mental mind state that
this is this is game time
this matter is this is important I'm
going to dress for the occasion
it literally shift something in your
brain to trigger a little bit more focus
a little bit more alertness
I get it may sound weird but I guarantee
you that the better you dress the better
mindset you're going to have to do well
on the jennette
which brings us to our third point which
is have the proper perspective
chill out even right have the proper
perspective
put the gmat in its appropriate time and
space
there's no sense in blowing it out of
proportion there's no sense in feeling
like you just won't be able to succeed
or oh my gosh my whole life my whole
future depends
hands on how i do tomorrow because to
the extent that you work yourself up
that way you're not going to perform to
the best of your ability you simply
won't
you know one of the things I like to do
in fact you see this video here you may
have seen something like this one of the
things I really like to do is I like to
put myself and just a state of
remembering where I fit in the larger
the larger picture right for me I
believe in God and I like to remind
myself that guy's really in charge that
when we think about where we fit into
the universe and we're a small or a
small case of what's going on and to the
extent that i can step back and I can
remind myself of the fact that life will
go on
you know even if i don't do as well on
the gmat as i would have liked to have
life will go on and maybe it's because I
served in the Peace Corps and I've seen
I've seen kids starving literally to
death
you know I spent two years living in a
village where people made less than a
dollar today a day
it is a privilege to take the gmat you
are in the top 5% maybe even the top one
percent even thinking about getting to
go to business school
just remember that man is a privilege
you know one of the things that I always
do before making any major decision or
embarking on any major major event like
taking the gene that is
I do this thing where i look at the best
case scenario and the worst-case
scenario and usually when I analyzed the
worst case scenario
I'm okay with it and what that does is a
kinda it kinda takes the pressure off it
kind of puts me at ease and I'd
encourage you may be to do the same
thing right
put the proper perspective on the gmat
what's the worst thing that happens
ok maybe you don't do as well as that
you wanted
what does that mean take it again 250
bucks right
it's not the end of the world reapply go
to law school instead writing it's so
obviously they're not ideal scenario as
you probably invested months preparing
for the gmat you want to do well nobody
likes to waste two hundred fifty dollars
I understand all this but what I'm
saying is the worst case scenario really
isn't all that bad
and I think that even if it's just a
mind game even if it's just convincing
yourself that
I'll be okay with XYZ outcome it put
your mind in a state that positive
expectancy
it takes the pressure off because if you
go into the gmat all jacked up and
feeling like man I either have to i am
so stressed out I have to do well on
this thing
you're not going to do nearly as well
so put in the proper perspective chill
out a little bit and you're going to do
well which actually brings me to the
fourth point which is actually really
important which is you have not put in
the work
trust your preparation
test your preparation the reality is
like it or not it's the gmats tomorrow
for you or even if its kind of towards
the end of this week
there's not a whole lot more than you're
going to be able to do hopefully you've
put in the time
hopefully you've taken the practice test
and you've taken my course hopefully a
but either way you put in the time
you're not going to do that much more
it's like an athlete an athlete shows up
to the track on test day
he's either put in the time or he has it
for you
there's only so much that you're going
to be able to do at this point
trust your preparation and here's the
other thing I would say about that this
is crucial
a lot of students maybe it's the day
before your g
that and a lot of students Alaska what
should i do you know should I know my
eyes more formula should i take another
practice catch it
go watch a movie I'm serious don't study
the night before the gmat I'm dead
serious i've seen study after study your
brain is a lot like an athlete's body
what's the most important day for an
athlete
it's actually rest day the day they're
not doing anything why because it's the
day their muscles get to regenerate and
come back stronger it's the day their
body gets to kinda get back
what it would have been broken down and
they actually are able to perform better
as a result of that rest your brain
actually works the exact same way it
needs time off for the synapses to make
those connections to solidify that
learning right I don't want to get into
the neuroscience of it but the reality
is when you sleep when you take time off
and you go to sleep and your brain forms
those connections
that's actually solidifying the memory
that you're going to be able to draw
from on test day so I hate to say it but
staying up at night looking at
flashcards a few more times are trying
to work a few more practice problems you
know sure maybe doing a little bit if
you want but i would say at some point
maybe nine o'clock eight o'clock the
night before the gina unplug baby go
watch a movie watch the sitcom
I you know go on a date with your wife
and you wake up the next day and don't
even look at stuff the morning up
because the reality is your brain is
actually going to be better prepared
taking a little bit of rest a little
in a time off then if you cram the night
before the gmat you've had months to
prepare for the gmat one extra night of
looking at a few flash cards isn't going
to make that much difference and in fact
trust your preparation it's actually
better for your brain to take that
little bit of a break
so hopefully that's encouraging to you
which brings me to the final . this
might be a little kind of like Dress for
Success one of these kind of hokey one
but i guarantee you it works and the tip
is this
be happy that's right
be happy it may sound weird but here's
the reality i was reading a book called
the happiness advantage and there was a
line in the book that stuck out to me it
was citing a study where kids i think in
Japan who did things to increase their
happiness level however they mad you
know however they measure that their
happiness quotient those students
actually ended up doing better on
standardized tests than their
counterparts who worked as in words in
quite as happy of estate
it sounds weird but again that I
researched and I looked at it I read the
study and I looked at other studies
advances and positive psychology have
come along the way we know that our
expectations dictate our reality
if you think you're going to do well on
the gmat you're going to do well on the
gmat if you go into it say no it was me
i just i'm terrible at these type of
questions or every time I have a 50-50
guess I get it wrong or think about the
mindset that the the stories you tell
yourself and to the extent that those
are negative like every time I guess I
get them wrong or every time I see this
type of question
the wrong right is terrible and data
sufficiency or I hope the reading
comprehension passages are easy
are there topics that I know something
about all of those negative thoughts
will fuel negative results on the
flipside positive expectancy that
positive psychology will actually feel
your success and a component of that is
happiness right
and so there are some simple things to
do I have a whole separate blog article
on this but but the morning of your test
the morning of the gmat wake up early
and go for a walk take your dog for a
walk pet your dog a little bit maybe if
you're going through starbucks or
something on the way to the gmat buy
coffee for the person behind you
I give to a charity of your choice i
mean it sounds like these weird things
but anything that fuels your happiness
level the day of the test
kind of like dressing for success it
puts you in a mindset for success so
don't believe me
give it a try what's the worst thing
that happens you do something nice for
somebody
it makes their day it makes your day and
even if it has zero impact on your Gina
you've made the world a better place but
I guarantee will actually help you on
the gene that so there you have some of
them a little bit more orthodox like
trusting your prep maybe and knowing
Diana me some of them a little bit more
unorthodox but they work
so with that I wish you the best of luck
if it's tomorrow if it's later this week
go out
trust your preparation get yourself into
the right mindset and may you dominate
the g met