ApexGRE
0By: ApexGMAT
Contributor: Ruzanna Mirzoyan
Date: September 10, 2021
Tips:
1. Visualize success and the value you will get in the end
2. Review the GRE sections
3. Set a time limit for each day
4. Do not forget to reward yourself
5. Forget about the target score only focus on improvement
6. Give yourself a pep talk
7. Be your own critic
8. Strategy is important
9. Be confident and remember that everything is in your hands
Studying for the GRE exam can be an extensive burden on your shoulders, especially if you are a non-native English speaker. For making your time manageable, you definitely need to come up with a study plan. So how do you design one that works? The paramount thing that you should consider is keeping you on track and studying not less than intended. You need to have specific goals for each day to become more accountable for your daily actions. We offer 9 tips for GRE test preparation that will help you address your lowest and weakest points. Even though every individual taking the exam has different expectations, you should gain greater focus by prioritizing your day along with GRE preparation. Sticking to a daily routine is an integral part of life; the most difficult thing is adhering to it, avoiding procrastination, and maintaining motivation. Therefore, after learning all the exam basics, such as the timing, the sections, and the preparation materials, it is worth creating a checklist by using our recommended tips.
1. Visualize success and the value you will get in the end
The thought of success can create happiness! Once we attain something that seemed hard initially, the suspense wears off, and the excitement rapidly comes in. By taking time every day to imagine achieving your goal you can stay motivated and on the right path. When we experience happiness our brain releases serotonin, the hormone responsible for happiness. By keeping the picture of accomplishment in our mind’s eye each time, the happiness never fades away. Hence, if every day contains even a tiny drop of happiness, even the most complex struggles seem to be a joy. Whether the GRE exam is a struggle or not, happiness and motivation are something that one undoubtedly always lacks. Do your best to look at the bigger picture and think of the steps that will expedite reaching the top.
2. Review the GRE sections
As GRE might imply struggles and confusion in your head because of your previous lack of math or verbal knowledge, by reviewing sections daily you need to make sure that the question types and the overall format are a piece of cake at the end. Whether you have a private GRE tutor or are studying on your own, be sure to review the format every day before going through your study materials. You may do short quizzes on analytical writing, verbal or quantitative reasonings to keep pace with timing and question types. You can consider this form of revision as stretching your brain muscles before the main exercise. Doing a simple GRE quiz each time will make you more cautious about time management and remind you about the type of questions that might pop up afterward. You can even shortly look into some question types from the unscored section to acquaint yourself with the question types.
3. Set a time limit for each day
As it is said, time is the only non-redeemable commodity, so proper allocation is a fundamental key to success. Hence, determining how much time you exactly need to allocate each day will foster productivity and make you avoid GRE burnout. Try to study every day at the same time by finding the right spot in the day when your brain picks up and retains the most out of the bunch of materials and information, which rapidly sinks in. You can even think of studying some time for weekday preparation and extending on the weekends. Just know that GRE preparation takes around from 4 to 20 weeks in general. As the hour allocation differs from person to person, it can range from 5-6 hours per week to 2-3 hours a day or even 120 hours studying ten hours a week. The answer here is that it depends. You may even do quizzes for testing your knowledge to define a daily hour limit. You can search for a large number of those quizzes on the internet. Besides, ensure the limit you set for yourself is reasonable because procrastinating one day and doubling the hours the next day does not seem plausible. It does not matter how many months you have on your hands; the significant thing is precise allocation. Remember that time is the most expensive investment you are making. Never forget that your study-life balance should be of utmost importance.
4. Do not forget to reward yourself
It is no secret that the GRE, besides being burdensome and overwhelming, is also not considered to be an ordinary exam. This is why you cannot exhaust yourself by wasting time without scheduling mind gainful breaks. Sometimes your body just needs to do nothing for the sake of evading GRE scoring plateaus. Even though this might sound counter-intuitive, there are times when you need to prepare without studying. Therefore, not having small rewards in front of you every day will drain your energy. As GRE is mainly concept-focused and tests your understanding of certain structures and techniques, breaks ease your mind allowing better integration and memorization of concepts. Those rewards are things and rejuvenate your broken concentration. You can try something like the Pomodoro Technique. This technique helps break down time into intervals with short breaks. Instead of breaks, you can think of something ‘non-GRE related’ that will make you regain focus. For example, by grabbing a quick snack, meditating, or walking around the house. Even though small rewards are significant, the GRE strategy also involves a larger reward; a big break. As depleting yourself over some time is a grind on your body and mind, even leading to serious fatigue, taking a break for one or two days can sometimes be the best action. Whichever works best for you, make use of it; even those brief respites retain your stamina. Finally, never forget about the grandiose reward; your final score. During small daily rewards or even larger breaks, always remind yourself of the one thing you are putting arduous effort into. Remember possible competition; maybe your friends are also preparing, think about the bragging rights after you have a successful finish!
5. Forget about the target score, only focus on improvement
GRE preparation practices do generate plight both in physical and mental states. It is crucial to remind oneself of the improvement phases. We agree that everything you are going through is for the final score, but focusing too much on it deteriorates the mental support you could get by concentrating on what you are gaining from that infuriating experience. All successful practices dictate that you should focus on one thing at a time, which improves every day until the exam day. When the exam day comes, you will utilize all the knowledge and effort to get the highest GRE score possible. Keeping daily track of your improvements relieves some of the weight. Even the tiniest advantage acquired can be a game-changer. For instance, finishing each section a minute earlier than before will eventually contribute to achieving more significant results on the exam day.
6. Give yourself a pep talk
I am sure you receive a lot of support from the people surrounding you. However, self-encouragement is of the utmost importance. Look around, see what others are doing at your age and inspire yourself. Choose wisely between the tradeoffs. Such as choosing to study instead of partying. Giving a short talk to yourself every day will make you more enthusiastic about reaching your objectives. A recent scientific study has shown that talking to yourself dwindles anxiety and stress while boosting performance. This is no less true for exam and test prep. Give yourself motivational and instructional speeches and reiterate the same order daily. Both methods promote positivity as motivational talks cheer you up and keep up the eagerness to study and strive for more, while self-instructional talk directs detail-orientation and accentuates what exactly you need to do for that particular day. For example, start every day by loudly stating what should be done for the day. It helps with thinking about the mechanisms of every individual task and visualizing methods to complete them correspondingly.
7. Be your own critic
Of course, you need all the encouragement and self-support to reach your goals, but especially during GRE exam preparation, you need to criticize yourself. If you need a 330+ GRE score, you should be aware that it will not come effortlessly. Give yourself credit on what you are doing right, but also consider aspects of the GRE problems that you need to elaborate on and master additional skills. The GRE is not the only requirement in applying to an MBA program. Top graduate schools do not come easy, which is why learning to grow from the beginning will come in handy even after taking the GRE and being admitted to the desired university. The dominant thing is separating the action from the person because you are criticizing your actions and not you as a person; you should not humiliate yourself, detect the triggers of low performance and failure and make yourself accountable for such actions. Ultimately, the ability to discern your flaws and work on personal evolution is an inherent quality for capacitating your abilities and aptitudes and pulling it off in life.
8. Strategy is important
As you already might know from applying to an undergraduate program, preparing for a test that measures your critical, analytical, and problem-solving abilities is bothersome. Coming up with a plan puts you on a strategic path. Your organization efficiency and strategizing skills will be the first and foremost things to aid in your success and aim. You need to think like you are taking the test in 12 hours for example. Which sections would you work on the most? How fast can you adapt yourself to the exam pace? In order to have the answers to these questions, you must spend huge amounts of time on your strategy review and have a clear mindset on what you are working on.
9. Be confident and remember that everything is in your hands
Have you ever thought about the law of attraction? It is basically a belief that everything you imagine is accomplishable. As positive thoughts bring in positive outcomes you should believe in yourself. Of course, maintaining a solid focus on your weaknesses is important, but you should intuitively know that you are the one who is capable of transforming weaknesses into strengths. Sometimes during practice tests and even the exam, you can trust your gut feeling, because if you have studied enough your instincts may sometimes subconsciously rationalize your final decision. So whenever your consciousness hesitates, the subconscious mind comes into play by literally forcing you to choose the correct answer. Just make sure to dedicate enough of yourself to set up a study and practice plan for executing some of the most significant strategies. The thing is to never doubt confidence and face the situation with your head up.
We do understand that you may be struggling with GRE preparation. However, make sure to follow our recommendations. Create a daily checklist and think of other tips that may be useful to you. GRE prep will help you use time more productively and make you become strategic. Of course, physical preparation is essential, but the mental direction is just as important, as you need to have the mental focus on your goal and the determination of how you will reach it. Whether you have a GRE private tutor or not, you are your tutor, and it is on you to maintain motivation during the entire process and ace the exam. We suggest you develop a GRE strategy along with these nine tips to attain greater productivity, address your weaker points, and eventually manifest superb performance. Make studying for the GRE a daily habit, and keep yourself posted on the GRE advice, techniques, and instructions APEX always provides you with as concentrating only on the score will not amplify the methods and techniques you use to approach each question. Building up more practice is something that will retain your track and focus.
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