Your GRE test day is around the corner, and to help you crack the exam, we have written this blog for you. After following our 22 valuable tips or strategies for GRE test day, you can enter the test center with confidence and a great spirit.
One of the most guaranteed tips of successful people is time management. If you have the skill of managing time, you can easily attempt the GRE without hurrying and worrying about a shortage of time. Different students have different techniques of managing time during the exam. Use your own strategy.
Although, all sections of the GRE demand excellence in time management. Spending more than one-and-a-half minutes on a quantitative question during practice is okay but doing the same in exams is not. It would be best to practice enough that quantitative questions don’t take much time during exam day.
If a question during an exam takes more than two minutes to solve, leave it for later. Be disciplined about your time. Manage your time effectively, and don’t let the clock hold you back.
Don’t waste your time understanding all the problems at once, and also, don’t let the difficult quantitative questions distract you. While solving a problem, don’t worry about the other questions and their complexities. In other words, when you are solving a question, keep your focus on it and stay engaged with it.
Don’t look around or waste your time assuming how other students are doing. GRE has limited time allotted for each section so, keep yourself focused and engaged at the moment.
Before sitting for the exam, warm up your brain. Revise and review the important material. If you feel the need to practice any quantitative or other problems, do them. Doing so will boost your preparation.
Some students have a bad habit of determining how well they are doing, counting scores, and assuming if the same section you find challenging is hard for everyone. You will never know any of these questions.
What seems complicated to others may be easy for you. You cannot assume, nor do you have any way of knowing. So, why waste your time and energy during the test. Know that the test time is way too precious to waste on guessing unnecessary things. If you ever caught yourself doing so during the exam, skip the thought immediately.
Remember, your goal of the GRE is to earn a good score by correctly answering as many questions as you can. The GRE is a computer-adaptive exam, and you will not always answer all questions correctly, and nobody does. Sometimes students get more questions wrong and still attain the targeted good score. So, don’t get anxious; stick to your goal only.
Sometimes students skip a question to solve it later but unfortunately forget to do so, or times run out. Don’t make this mistake; if you encounter questions that stump you, give them half a minute more, and if you still fail to solve that, make a guess. Yes! Make a guess and mark the answer.
You can mark it to review later, but if, unfortunately, you run out of time, then at least you have answered. And who knows, the guess turns right. Moreover, the GRE marking is straightforward, and it does not do negative marking on wrong answers. So, remember the tip of guessing instead of leaving questions blank.
Often students came out of test centers complaining how the first few complex questions had confused them, and they lost their focus on the rest of the questions. Don’t let hard times distract you or make you lose your hope during the test.
We understand, everyone desires to have an easy start, but if you encounter hard questions, you can either mark it for review or guess any answer and move on. Don’t waste your energy and time. Keep your hopes high and stay engaged throughout the day.
Students mostly take the GRE after attempting numerous mock tests, and they become experts in using an online calculator. Excessive use of calculators wastes time and distracts too. Use it only when you are confused between two values, but if you keep using it even to count 4+4, you are wasting your time.
Keep yourself calm so your brain can focus too. Wise use of a calculator can save you from marking wrong answers but don’t use it too much.
The pre-exam anxiety is natural. Often students skip meals before sitting an exam because they don’t feel like eating. But you cannot give your best in an exam with an empty stomach because if your brain does not consume enough nutrients, how will it help you properly? Even if you have medical reasons or a specific dietary plan to follow, be sure to eat a healthy breakfast before leaving for the exam. Say no to diet on the GRE test day!
We all love coffee but caffeinating before sitting in an exam is totally up to you. If coffee keeps you active and you believe it lets you perform better than take it; otherwise, it could be risky for you. Don’t eat or drink anything that could put your four hours at risk.
You must love listening to music to freshen up your mood. Do the same on test day. Listen to your favorite band, album, or singer and look forward to sitting in the test in a happy mood. After all, it’s a big day.
Make sure you schedule your test day so that you reach your test center before 30 minutes maximum. The test will start on time without waiting for any candidate. Don’t be late if you want to sit on your seat a few minutes before the exam and prepare your mind.
Another reason to be at test centers before time is the long check-in queue. For some obvious reasons, the security of GRE test centers is high, and they check each student’s valid identification cards or documents before entering the center. So don’t forget to bring your acceptable and valid identification like Government-issued state/national or province identity card, a Government-issued driver’s license, an International Travel Passport, and a Military ID card. Test centers offer lockers to all test takers to keep their value. But still, you should avoid bringing your mobile phones, gadgets, or digital watches into the test centers.
Don’t worry if you don’t like the system, tools, or pencils you are given. Instead of wasting time on fixing the problem on your own, ask your proctor for the change. Once you get the new ones, inspect them and make sure they work correctly.
The GRE might have short breaks but still, avail this opportunity to freshen up or relax your mind. Take 1-minute breaks to drink water and give your mind a little rest. You can sit with your eyes closed too in the testing centers. After the third section, the GRE gives you a break of 10 minutes, and you must use this time to eat or drink something, use the restroom, walk a little and prepare your brain for the next section.
We will not suggest you revise notes or go out to the testing centers, which could be risky. Also, you have to take care of your break time on your own because nobody will tell you that the break is over. Be careful; otherwise, your extra break time will be deducted from the following sections’ total allotted time.
Some students habit chewing gum or eating protein bars while studying or taking tests because they believe it boosts their performance. A few studies also state how chewing gums while giving tests improves performance. If you are one of such students, then make sure to take permission from testing centers because some explicitly prohibit such activities during tests.
GRE has a ScoreSelect feature, and at the end of the exam, you will be allowed to see your score. You can cancel viewing if you don’t want to see your score, but there’s no way back once you view it.
The ScoreSelect feature will ask you to decide which GRE score you want to send to graduate schools. If you don’t like the score, you will get an idea of the GRE, and next time, you can perform better. We know it’s a little tough to decide on the spot, like which graduate schools you want to report to. Don’t get anxious; you can send your GRE score later, but it will charge you extra.
The GRE ScoreSelect features give you the option to send scores from the last five year’s tests. You must choose a score that’s higher among all.
Taking care of your diet is essential for daily tasks. It is not a test day tip, but your body and brain need to consume healthy food items and enough water. Make sure to keep yourself hydrated and fit in the days leading up to the exam. On test day, consider that you will be seated for hours, eat good food and drink enough water.
Make sure your preparation is completely done a week before test day so you can fix your sleep schedule. You will not be able to perform well during the exam with a tired body and sleepy mind. Get 8 hours of sleep before test day, wake up and do some little exercise to warm yourself up, enjoy your favorite breakfast and then get ready for going to the test center. Don’t spend the night and time before the test cramming notes or GRE books.
Take GRE preparation courses or classes and give enough practice tests or mock tests to save yourself from the last-day struggle. Doing so will improve your performance, and chances of attaining the targeted score will get high. Don’t cram material without expert GRE tutor guidance or past papers reference; polish your skills. Work hard on getting better. Know that you are not preparing yourself for a competition, it’s your skill test, and you have to prove yourself. Make wise moves to achieve your academic goals.
The fundamental strategy to win any exam is self-belief and confidence. If you do not believe in your skills and ability to achieve a particular set of goals, then no power on earth can help you perform well. Always treat yourself positively, and don’t forget to tell yourself that you can ace the exam.
Remember, GRE is just a process of getting admission, and it is a long journey. Unfortunately, if you cannot score high, don’t take it as a failure or end of the world. Before sitting in the test center, prepare yourself for ups and downs. You can either attain a good score or the minimum, but there is always a second chance. You can retake the GRE exam five times, and the best part of retaking it is, you know where you need more practice. Learning from failure leads you to greater successes, as Bill Gates quotes:
“It’s fine to celebrate success,
but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”
Hopefully, our 22 valuable tips for GRE test day will work in your favor. You can also take the guidance of our GRE expert online or private tutors. They will help you prepare for the exam and the exam day. Read our GRE General Test Day Rules Blog to find more helpful test day tips.
WE WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK ON GRE!
