GMAT Test Day Vision Issues?
A student from GMAT Terminator asked: “My GMAT exam order is Q->V->DI. When I got to V, my mindset completely fell apart, and I couldn’t absorb any of the text. How can I solve this?”
I believe this is a test order many students choose, and it’s a common problem. Therefore, I want to share with you the message I sent back to him, so you can see how Dustin dissects difficulties encountered during the exam and adjusts the corresponding study plan to help you overcome them:
Two Tendencies of Mindset Breakdown
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Based on my experience, there are two common ways a mindset breaks down during the GMAT:
Question-Based
This happens when specific question types trip you up. Maybe you sail through Reading Comprehension but get bogged down in Critical Reasoning, or you’re fine with Data Sufficiency but struggle with Geometry charts.
If it’s a question-based issue, you can fix it by:
- Refining your problem-solving process.
- Adjusting your study plan to practice that specific question type more.
These steps can help you get back on track.
Mind-Based
This is different. It’s when you get stuck and simply can’t process any questions for a while, no matter what type they are. The reasons behind this are usually more complex:
- Fear of repeating past mistakes.
- An anxious expectation of running out of time, which ramps up the pressure.
- Uncertainty about how you performed on the first few questions creates a nagging doubt…
Mind-based issues often have little to do with your actual ability. Here are some tips on “how to overcome nervousness.”
How to Diagnose Your Problem?
Why do I bring this up? You can check for yourself: If it’s an “English comprehension issue” as you described, did your score on the REAL (applied problems) section of the previous subject, Q, tank? Were you unable to comprehend the text? And in the subsequent subject, DI, were you unable to comprehend the word problems?
Consider this:
(1) Q was fine, but DI wasn’t
This suggests one of two things:
- You can handle the lower text volume in Quant, but the higher volume in DI brings on a fear similar to what you experienced in Verbal. → Increase the amount and length of your reading comprehension practice to build reading stamina.
- It’s not about ability, but rather that your mindset completely collapsed in Verbal, and you couldn’t recover for DI, leading to a partial shutdown.
(2) Neither Q nor DI was fine
This is a purely mind-based issue. The reading volume in DI isn’t actually less than in Verbal. Therefore, we need to increase your practice volume for V and practice “proactive loss-cutting” to reduce your panic about V.
