Taking Distance from the GRE
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Studying for the GRE can be challenging—both at an intellectual and a personal level. As you study, it’s easy to feel like your whole value as a person is on the line.
But taking the test too personally can be a bad thing—both for emotional and practical reasons.
On an emotional level, taking the results of the test personally can lead you to high levels of stress and anxiety. And it’s just not worth it to beat yourself up about it.
The GRE is only one factor in the whole picture of you as a grad school applicant. Admissions committees know this and keep this in mind as they evaluate candidates. They also look at your background, your interests, your grades, your recommendations, and your personal essay. A strong personal essay—one that reflects your unique personality and tells a convincing story about why you’re interested in graduate school—is often enough to put you at the top of the pile. A good essay counts for more than any GRE score.
But there are practical reasons to keep a good emotional distance from the GRE, too.
If you get too wrapped up in the results of the test, it can make it difficult to focus on the areas that you are weak in. And these are the areas that might need the most attention.
For instance, suppose you are very comfortable with geometry, but keep running into roadblocks when you solve percent problems.
In this case, you may be tempted to do the thing you are comfortable with, because it feels good. You’ll get problem after problem correct, and you’ll have an illusion that you are making progress toward your goals.
But the reality is, you’re not. By studying the thing you’re good at, you’re just treading water. Your score will not improve.
Instead, success on the GRE depends upon doing the thing you hate the most.
If you hate doing percent problems, it’s probably because you are bad at them. That means there’s the most room for improvement!
We tend to spend the most time doing the thing we’re good at, and we tend to shy away from things we’re bad at.
So the more honest you can be with yourself about the areas that need the most improvement, the better off you’ll be.
This means evaluating the results of your practice tests like an impartial observer. Imagine what your teacher would say. Which areas need the most work? Which areas are you already strong at? Where should you invest the most time?
Psychologists call this sort of attitude psychological distance. The idea is to imagine your situation from the perspective of a fly on the wall, rather than from inside your own head. This sort of removed perspective can help you to make logical, rational decisions about your own study plans without being too swayed by the demands of emotion. Ultimately, this will help you to buckle down and focus on the issues that need work, even if they’re not fun to do.
Being honest with yourself is the best way to improve your score. ?
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Daniel Yudkin
is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in New York, NY. He has been a test prep instructor for over seven years and is currently in the final stage of a Ph.D. program in social psychology at NYU. In his spare time, Daniel writes popular science articles about psychological phenomena and is a devoted jazz pianist and vocalist. Check out Daniel’s upcoming GRE prep offerings here.