Can someone please give me some advice?

[Hedge_Fun15]

Let me start off by saying, I hope this is the proper place to post this.

I am probably one of the most hardcore people you will meet when it comes to this test, mainly because I aspire to attend a top B-school very badly.

When I start a practice test I feel confident, as i am writing my essays, ideas are just flowing! But as soon as that timer starts for that next section my heart literally starts pounding out of my chest, number, exponents, rules, etc just start rushing through my head and I can't think straight. Kinda sorta w/ verbal but not so much. To make a long story short I do very poorly test, I mean poorly enough not to even say.

After walking home from my office (where i take the test on weekends) completely embarrassed and ashamed, I sit down at my computer and open the test I just took. I set my iphone timer for 2.5 minutes per question (i know its suppose to be 2) and I go through the questions 1 by 1. As I come up with the RIGHT solutions I look at my response on the test and guess what? WRONG, and I ask myself where did I get that answer from?

Conclusion, I don't know what to do, i'm very worried my nerves won't let me get through this test. Please any advice you have, I would greatly appreciate. I am even considering looking into a therapist, that is how serious I am.

FYI if interested: A day in the life...
Weekdays:
Wake up at 6am, walk to the office while reading the Manhattan GMAT strategy guides on my ipad
7am: At the office, do about 10 or so problems based on what I read on my way in.
8am: Do the Kaplan GMAT question of the day in my email
8am-7pm: On the trading floor.
7:30-11pm: Mid-manhattan Library studying/doing problems
12am-1:30ish AM - Doing practice problems
DO IT AGAIN THE NEXT DAY

Weekends:
Pretty much study all day, occasionally taking a 1-2hr trip to do some shopping.

[StaceyKoprince]

Hmm. My first thought is: it doesn't matter how much you study if the stress kills you during the test. So obviously we have to figure out what to do about that. Next, your schedule sounds like you're adding to the stress yourself: all work and study, nothing else, everything depends on this, ahhhh! Need to find a way to reduce your own stress / type-A-ness here, and it is possible that a therapist could help you with that.

Here's a stress management article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

But I also notice that you have a high-stress and demanding job... yet you are presumably handling the pressure just fine there. My guess is that you have a confidence there that you lack when taking the test.

So. The more you know about how the test works, how best to take it, and how to prepare, the more confident you'll likely feel that you're doing the right things. And I'm guessing that at least part of the lowered confidence right now is likely due to the fact that you DON'T know enough about the way the test works, and that's leading to some serious uneasiness when taking it.

Here's one big thing: most people take the same school mindset into the test: the goal is to get everything right, or as much right as I possibly can. But if you take this mindset into the GMAT, you will NOT score as well as you can and you will likely seriously stress yourself out - because this isn't how the test works.

Read this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-win-it/

Seriously, right now. Then come back here. I'll wait. :)

You are learning to play a new game. This new game is a lot more like real life and what you're already doing for work than is the old school test mindset - so that's good news. You can learn to master this game, but you've GOT to follow this mindset. (If you don't know what I'm talking about right now, it's because you didn't actually go read that article. So go read it!)

Next, most people mess up the timing on this test (and good timing is EQUALLY as important as accuracy on this test - there are times when it's better to get something wrong quickly than to get it right slowly).

this will help with timing:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

You can use this article to analyze your practice CATs:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

But you may not want to (or you may want to do so just for verbal). That will give you a good sense of strengths and weaknesses, which will then help you to develop a study plan:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... tudy-plan/

But for the quant, you may want to work out the anxiety, mindset, and timing issues, and then take another CAT and analyze those results. (Note: don't expect the issues to disappear by the time you take your next CAT. You just want them to be a bit better each time, that's all.)

Finally, because you're struggling on your own and this is causing so much anxiety, you may want to look into taking a class. That kind of support could help you manage the stress. If you do pursue some therapy, you may also want to take a few weeks off (or with a much lighter study load).

[Hedge_Fun15]

Thank you for the advice, sorry for the delayed response even though I saw your reply and read the book several weeks ago.

Reading that book really gave me a different perspective, I don't want to say a new perspective because I kinda had an idea about the scoring. But understanding that it is more about staying in the range is more important than the number of questions right helps alot.

I have also come to the realization that some of my stress may be coming from the pressure i'm putting on myself to get my target score on my first shot before the test changes. I think I may just have to face the fact that I will need to take the new GMAT and give myself more time to study. I never planned on even applying to business school until at least 2014.

So by accepting that I will be taking the new GMAT I am essentially giving myself a lot more time to get better.

[StaceyKoprince]

Yeah, I think that mentality is a lot better (not rushing, giving yourself the time).

You don't need to study new content for IR - it's the same quant and verbal content and reasoning - but you do need to study the new question types. The good news is that IR is a pretty even mix of quant and verbal, so whichever one's your strength, you'll be able to bring that strength into IR.