Even the Best GMAT Tutors Struggle with Test Anxiety, Vol. 1
UPDATED FOR THE NEW GMAT IN 2024
In 2019, I retook the GMAT after a year of intensive study and six months as a GMAT tutor. I discovered something that surprised me (although it probably shouldn’t have): the same issues that affect my students affected me, even though I’m a full-time GMAT tutor. Read below for what my retakes taught me about perfectionism, pressure, test anxiety, and the best ways to prepare for the GMAT.
My First GMAT Exam
When I first took the GMAT in June of 2018 – before I became a GMAT tutor – I sailed to a 760 (48Q, 47V) on the GMAT without much pain. Looking back at this result, there were several things working in my favor that day:
I got lucky on quant. The GMAT quant topics that I studied showed up in abundance, and the ones I ignored didn’t make an appearance.
There was no pressure for me to do well. By the time I decided to take the GMAT for the first time, I had a pretty strong feeling that an MBA was not the right path for me. But I had already paid my $250 GMAT test-taking fee, so I figured that I might as well take it, right?
I was blissfully ignorant about how tricky the GMAT really is. I felt relaxed, prepared, and ready to get ‘er done.
The combination of these things led to a great result, and I walked away from the GMAT test room pleased with my 760. (Editor’s note: a certain GMAT tutor in Denver, Colorado was pleased too, even if he encouraged a retake or two.)
GMAT Retake #1: April 2019
Fast forward one year. After my first GMAT experience, I kept busy: I drove a camper van to Alaska, volunteered in a Cambodian children’s hospital for several months, and started working with GMAT Ninja. As part of the job, I studied extensively with one of the best GMAT tutors in the business, worked through hundreds of hours of GMAT problem sets, and taught my own GMAT and GRE students for half a year. After all of that hard work, I finally felt ready to get back into the GMAT test room.
So what happened on my first retake?
My GMAT score went down. I walked out of the test center with a 750 (48Q, 45V).
Why did all of my time and effort not translate into a better GMAT result? Without a doubt, I had a better grasp of GMAT quant and Sentence Correction this time than I had on my first attempt. So WTF happened?
Can we blame this GMAT-wrecking thing?
The Problem With GMAT Perfectionism
My GMAT underperformance can be summed up in two words: debilitating perfectionism. The days of blissful ignorance and no pressure were over. As a GMAT tutor, the stakes felt high. I desperately wanted to have an impressive GMAT score to show that I had mastered the GMAT myself and that I was therefore qualified to teach GMAT students to do the same.
I signed up for the GMAT a month in advance and carefully planned my every move until test day: diet, exercise, sleep, study schedule, meditation, everything. I’ve never been a nervous test-taker before, but I felt increasingly more anxious as my GMAT date approached.
So I doubled down on my plan, rigidly sticking to my schedule and tamping down any feelings of unease.
By the day of my GMAT exam, I was truly in a bad place. One anxious tic of mine is that I half-remember scientific studies and feel compelled to apply their findings to my own life. On the drive to the GMAT test center, a study showing that wearing sunglasses during the daytime makes people less alert popped into my mind.
Even though I knew it was silly, I took off my own pair and squinted my way to the test center on a blindingly sunny Colorado afternoon. What if THIS was the key to a great GMAT score? Everything had to be perfect today, so off the sunglasses went, retinal scarring be damned. (Of course, I can’t find this study anywhere, leading me to believe I completely made it up in my GMAT-addled state of mind.)
After I arrived at the GMAT test center and survived the usual ritual of palm scans and pat-downs, my very first quant question – a fairly standard sequence problem – totally stumped me. Within the first three minutes of my exam, my perfect 800 GMAT score went out the window.
It was all downhill from there. I refused to let go of that first GMAT quant problem and several more, leading to timing issues by the second half of the quant section. I knew that quant hadn’t gone well, and this failure loomed in my mind as I trudged into the GMAT verbal section.
About halfway through verbal, I came across a Reading Comprehension passage that did not seem to be written in English -- I really couldn’t glean anything from it at all. Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning are by far my strongest GMAT question types, so this was particularly distressing to me. It truly felt impossible. Who was the diabolical S.O.B. at GMAC who wrote this evil RC passage, and how does that devil-monkey question-writer sleep at night?
It was only after the test that I acknowledged that maybe — just maybe — my anxiety and state of mind might have played a role in my inability to absorb information and perform at my usual level on the GMAT.
When my GMAT score popped up on the screen, I was actually surprised that I matched my previous 48Q. I felt absolutely terrible on the quant section, and while a 48Q isn’t a great performance for me (I expected a 50Q based on my GMATPrep practice tests), it wasn’t the utter GMAT disaster that I feared.
The 45 on verbal, on the other hand, clearly showed that I was an anxious, unfocused mess. It was far lower than any of my GMATPrep test scores and not a reasonable reflection of my abilities.
GMAT Retake #2: August 2019
After my underperformance on my April GMAT exam, one thought kept circling through my mind: If I could just show up and put in an average performance by my standards, I would achieve my target GMAT score of 780.
So that’s exactly what I did. One day, I booked the next available GMAT appointment almost on a whim, and a few days later I rolled into the test center without any build-up: no practice tests, no warm-up problems, and no strange fixation on my sunglasses. I also didn’t tell anyone that I was taking the GMAT. I did make sure I had time for my pre-GMAT morning coffee, but other than that, I didn’t really worry about anything.
Based on my GMATPrep practice tests, I thought that on an average day I would score a 780. I treated this GMAT day like an average day, and guess what? I scored a 780 (49Q, 51V).
Here are my overall takeaways from these experiences:
Perfectionism is the enemy. Have a “go with the flow” attitude and don’t get bent out of shape by the small details.
Prepare so that you just need an “average” performance on your GMAT test day. Working through your anxiety won’t magically make you better at math or reading -- you need to put in the work up front so that you’re not praying for a miracle on the day of your GMAT.
Reduce pressure to improve performance. Really wanting a great GMAT score can paradoxically make it hard to achieve that score. Do what you can to reduce the pressure you’re feeling: allow yourself to take the GMAT multiple times, don’t have an obsessive build-up to your GMAT test day, and do whatever will help you arrive at the GMAT test center in a relaxed state of mind.
Want to learn More about test anxiety?
Do you have test anxiety? Read our Beginner’s Guide to Test Anxiety.
Another story about an experienced tutor who overcame test anxiety on his GMAT exam.