Anxiety is a big factor in how many Test Takers deal with the Official GMAT. It’s natural to be a bit ‘on edge’ while taking the GMAT, but it’s far better to think of it as being ‘excited’ – when used correctly, all of that adrenaline and energy can be funneled into your work.

When you learn to ‘see’ the GMAT in a different way, you can very easily improve your performance. With that end goal in mind, here are 7 aspects to the GMAT that actually work in your FAVOR:

1)   No one question will ever ‘kill’ your score if you get it wrong, so try not to get overly emotional about a prompt (especially one that you’ve already dealt with and has passed).

2)   In that same way, you can get the first question wrong in both the Quant and Verbal sections and still score 800, so you don’t have to be so ‘wound up’ about that first prompt. It’s clearly better for you to get those questions correct than not, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t.

3)   Most GMAT questions don’t require that much work to solve. Yes, there are some exceptions…. And you will have to read, take notes, and do some basic calculations (or logically ‘link’ ideas in Verbal)… (but what do you think you’re going to do in Business School?)

4)   You can see your scores, then immediately cancel them if you’re not happy (and no one will ever know that you even took the GMAT).

5)   With GMAC’s new ‘wait period’, you can retest in just 16 days (assuming that you’re not on your 5^th attempt in a rolling-year period).

6)   The actual worst-case scenario is that you have to apply for a later Round or the next application year. You’re never truly out of contention for Business School.

7)   The GMAT is a predictable, standardized Test, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. Thus, whatever ‘issues’ you might be facing right now, you can learn to properly deal with them – you just might need the right help to learn how.

GMAT assassins aren’t born, they’re made,