Stamina Strategy for GMAT

[primapriya]

Hello,

I just did a sentence correction questions bank section, and I did pretty well for the first portion but began missing questions towards the end. In fact, I missed 4 out of the last 5! It was only 38 minutes long, so I'm guessing my stamina just sucks. Any concrete tactics I can work on to increase my focus and lessen mental deterioration during the GMAT?

[jp.jprasanna]

Hello,

I just did a sentence correction questions bank section, and I did pretty well for the first portion but began missing questions towards the end. In fact, I missed 4 out of the last 5! It was only 38 minutes long, so I'm guessing my stamina just sucks. Any concrete tactics I can work on to increase my focus and lessen mental deterioration during the GMAT?

Yes -Even I was going to post on similar lines, considering the new IR section we would need to have the same level of stamina / concentration for 4 hrs approx on whole is there way we can work to increase our focus and stamina?

Cheers

[StaceyKoprince]

Good question - stamina is a major factor on this test.

First, when taking practice tests, always make sure to take them under 100% official conditions (including the 2 essays or essay+IR, depending on which version you're taking, and including the length of breaks, etc.).

Next, when you sit down for a study session, plan out what you're going to do for an entire 2-hour period. Plan enough work for 2.5 hours, so that you're not likely to finish early unexpectedly.

Then GO for 1 hour. No breaks, no checking email, no getting something to eat, no going to the bathroom, etc. Pretend it's a test section; you can't stop. Take a 10 minute break and then GO again for another hour.

After the 2nd hour, take a substantial break (at least 1 hour) before studying more that day.

Why am I not telling you to study for 4 hours straight? Because it's actually MORE mentally fatiguing to study than it is to take the test. Isn't that funny? That's because, when you're studying, your brain is both trying to create new memories and trying to recall a bunch of old memories. That's really mentally fatiguing. When you take a test, you're not trying to make new memories; you're only trying to recall old memories.

So if you tire yourself out too much while you're studying, then your brain won't be able to create very good memories, and your study time will become very inefficient.