26 GMAT Test-Day Tips

Reading Time: 29 minutes

Last Updated on November 23, 2023

So, you have your sights set on a top business program, you’ve followed a rigorous and comprehensive GMAT study plan, and now the only thing standing between you and the MBA program of your dreams is a top GMAT score. You’ve got your GMAT test date scheduled, and now you’re seeking some test-day tips. We’ve got you covered!

GMAT Test Day Tips

To help you ace the GMAT, in this article, we’ll share some valuable test-day GMAT advice, wisdom, and strategy, and perhaps impart some inspiration as well.

Here are the topics we’ll cover:

  1. Prioritize Well-Being in the Days Leading Up to Your GMAT
  2. Should I Study or Practice on the Day Before My GMAT?
  3. Should I Take Practice Tests in the Few Days Prior to the Test?
  4. Should I Study or Practice on Test Day?
  5. Eat a Healthy Breakfast on the Morning of Test Day
  6. Jam to Something That Will Pump You Up Before Your GMAT
  7. Mentally Prepare Yourself for Some Ups and Downs
  8. How Early Should I Arrive at the GMAT Test Center?
  9. What Should You Take to the GMAT Testing Center?
  10. What Items Are Not Allowed at GMAT Testing Centers?
  11. Check Your Wet-Erase Markers Immediately
  12. Don’t Worry About Running Out of Notepad Space
  13. How to Handle Problems That Arise During the GMAT
  14. How Can I Maintain Focus for Almost Four Hours on the GMAT?
  15. Remember That You Are Not Playing the GMAT Game Against the Computer
  16. Manage Your Time Properly on the GMAT
  17. Stay Engaged in the Moment – Compartmentalize – Focus
  18. Don’t Try to Determine How Well You’re Doing While Taking the Test
  19. Don’t Think About a Section You’ve Already Completed
  20. You Don’t Have to Answer Every Question Correctly to Earn a Good GMAT Score
  21. Guess Judiciously and Intelligently When You’re Stuck
  22. Don’t Worry If You Struggle With the First Question or Two
  23. Do Some Warm-Up Questions Before Entering the Test Center
  24. Take Your Breaks and Use Them Wisely
  25. Remember That You Can Cancel Your Score and Retake the Test After 16 Days
  26. Be Confident!

Let’s begin with a discussion of what you should and should not do in the days leading up to your GMAT.

1) Prioritize Well-Being in the Days Leading Up to Your GMAT

The healthier you are and the higher your level of well-being, the better you’ll perform on the GMAT. Thus, the days leading up to your GMAT should center on the things that will prioritize your health and well-being.

Here are some tips:

Hydrate Properly

Your brain and body perform at their best when they are properly hydrated. In the days leading up to your test, make sure to drink enough water and other healthy fluids. On test day, drink an amount of water that you can comfortably tolerate, considering you’ll be sitting for a long test.

Get Some Exercise and Eat Healthy Food

Two great ways to optimize your well-being are two get sufficient exercise and eat a healthy diet. These two tasks should be at the top of your list in the days leading to your GMAT. In fact, don’t wait until the days leading up to your GMAT to begin making these health-promoting additions to your life. Start now!

Keep Your Stress Low

In the days leading up your GMAT, do your best to minimize your stress. Stick to the people, things, and activities that keep your stress low.

Sleep Well

Getting healthy sleep will be critical to your success on the GMAT. Now is not the time to go to bed late or wake up extra early. Do your best to maintain a healthy sleeping schedule.

Visualize Your Success

Michael Jordan, one of the best basketball players of all time, would practice shooting hoops even when he was not on a basketball court. He’d visualize the net, the ball, the distance he was from the hoop. Then, he’d visualize making shot after shot.

As it turns out, the brain responds very well to practice by visualization. So, in the days leading up to your GMAT, spend some time visualizing your success on the test.

Relax the Day Before the Test

If you’ve been properly preparing, the day before the GMAT is not the time to try to cram in final details. Rather, use the time to relax and prepare yourself for the test. Do something fun, but not overly strenuous. Get some light exercise. See a movie. Go out for dinner. Do anything that makes you feel good – but don’t spend the day immersed in GMAT books. You’ll need a fresh brain tomorrow. If every bone in your body is telling you to study on the day before your exam, think of our advice this way: the GMAT is the mental equivalent of a marathon. Would a marathon runner ever run 25 miles the day before her marathon?

2) Should I Study or Practice on the Day Before My GMAT?

One of the best GMAT tips that we can share is this: the best preparation you can do on the day before your GMAT is actually no GMAT preparation. In other words, don’t do any GMAT studying the day before your GMAT.

If you’ve followed a comprehensive plan of study, there is nothing more that you’ll be able to add to your knowledge and skills on the day before the exam. In fact, counter to what most people think is best to do (studying), the best thing that you can do for yourself on the day before your GMAT is to relax and take good care of your mental and physical health.

Think of the day before your GMAT as your self-care day. Instead of studying for the GMAT, do some things that increase your well-being and energize you. For example, go out with friends for a healthy breakfast, have some green juice, go for a walk at the beach, do some yoga, meditate, visualize your success on the test, or do anything else you can think of that you enjoy.

TTP PRO TIP:

Don’t do any GMAT studying the day before your GMAT.

What If Not Studying the Day Before My GMAT Makes Me Nervous?

If the idea of not studying on the day before your GMAT makes you nervous, you can engage in some light studying.

However, it’s important to ensure that whatever GMAT prep you do on the day before your exam does not make you tired. A mistake that we’ve seen people make over the years is to study so much on the day before the GMAT that they go into the test tired.

Don’t make this mistake. It’s important that both your body and your mind are well-rested on test day.

Here are some study ideas that you could consider for the day before your GMAT:

  • Review your notes for a few hours (not all day).
  • Review quant formulas that you’ve memorized.
  • Run through some flashcards (not 2,000 of them).
  • Solve a few quant or verbal questions (not 300 questions).
  • Go over your test-day timing strategies.
  • Read some inspirational stories about other people’s success on the GMAT.

If you’re the type of person who tends to feel anxious when thinking about the GMAT, check out this comprehensive list of practical strategies for conquering GMAT anxiety leading up to your exam and on test day.

3) Should I Take Practice Tests in the Few Days Prior to the Test?

Practice tests serve as a valuable tool in your GMAT prep. However, taking full-length GMAT practice tests right before your official test is not a wise move.

Remember that practice tests are barometers of your skill at a certain point in time. In other words, a primary function of a practice test is to see how you are scoring at a particular point in your prep.

However, much of the learning that comes from taking practice tests has little to do with taking the practice test itself. The core learning comes from reviewing what you did well and not so well, and then designing a plan to shore up your weak areas. With just a few days before the exam, you probably won’t have time to effectively study these weak areas.

In addition, it takes a lot of energy to take a full-length practice test. As we’ve mentioned, you don’t want to wear yourself out in the days leading up to your GMAT.

If you’ve studied properly and strategically, these last few days will provide you little value as far as learning new information. Instead of trying to cram new knowledge in the days before your exam, do some light studying and review, reinforcing what you already know. Give your brain and body a break; you’ll need them to be well-rested come test day.

TTP PRO TIP:

Taking full-length GMAT practice tests right before your official test is not a wise move.

Let’s now turn our attention to test day itself.

4) Should I Study or Practice on Test Day?

Just as your most strategic move on the day before your test is not to study, the same goes for test day itself. There is very little benefit to waking up the morning of your test and studying for the GMAT. Doing so would be analogous to a marathon runner getting up on the morning of her marathon and running 7 miles. Just as no sane person would run 7 miles before a marathon, no person taking the GMAT should engage in GMAT prep in the hours before the exam. As we’ve discussed, you want to go into your test fresh and energized.

The best things you can do on test day are things that get you to the test center on time and in the best possible state of mind. Many of these things center on keeping yourself healthy and happy.

For example, you could:

  • Wake up early and have a healthy, delicious breakfast.
  • Meditate and visualize your success.
  • Stretch or do some light yoga.
  • Make sure that you are sufficiently hydrated.
  • If you regularly drink coffee, make sure you have your morning Joe.
  • If you’re taking the GMAT online, make sure that your room and your desk are prepared.
  • If you’re taking the GMAT at a testing center, make sure that you leave early and arrive at the testing center on time.

TTP PRO TIP:

There is very little benefit to waking up on the morning of your test and studying for the GMAT.

5) Eat a Healthy Breakfast on the Morning of Test Day

Your brain is a major consumer of nutrients, including glucose, so test day is not the day to go on a low-carb diet.

Unless you have dietary or medical reasons not to do so, be sure to fill up on healthy, energy-rich foods such as steel-cut oatmeal, whole wheat toast, bananas, peanut butter, or blueberries.

In fact, you may choose to begin preparing your body with good, healthy food right away. Why wait until test day!

At the same time, it’s probably not wise to eat something new on the morning of the test, like a crazy peanut butter wheatgrass smoothie that your stomach is not used to digesting.

Test day is not the day to go on a low-carb diet.

To Caffeinate or Not to Caffeinate?

We personally love coffee. However, whether you drink coffee on the morning of your test is up to you. If caffeine helps you perform better, go for it. That said, it’s probably not the best idea to slam down a venti caffè americano right before the test. After all, you have only a few breaks, and the entire experience will likely run about four hours from checking in to receiving your unofficial score report.

Gum or No Gum?

There are studies that show that chewing gum improves test-taking performance. I guess it can’t hurt. Just make sure that your test center allows gum. Some explicitly prohibit chewing gum during the test.

6) Jam to Something That Will Pump You Up Before Your GMAT

This is a big day — it’s your Super Bowl, your World Cup, your Olympic gold-medal match. Get excited about it! Look forward to showing the test what you can do. Be resolved to dominate the questions!

There is no better way to get in the zone and pump yourself up than to listen to some inspirational, feel-good tunes on the ride to the test center.

Jeff Miller, head GMAT instructor at TTP, recommends “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC.

Amaury Peniche, VP of engineering at TTP, prefers Csárdás – Vittorio Monti (Violin & Piano).

I enjoy a good ole fashioned Rocky 4 Montage culminating in “Eye of the Tiger.”

Whatever your taste, from Beyoncé to Beethoven, find a way to get yourself excited to take the test.

7) Mentally Prepare Yourself for Some Ups and Downs

Think of the GMAT as a long journey. As with all journeys, expect to encounter some ups and downs.

To quote Mary Schmich from the Chicago Tribune, “Sometimes you’re ahead. Sometimes you’re behind. The race is long….” Take the time to prepare yourself mentally for this fact.

Don’t get overly excited when you recognize concepts and questions. Similarly, and more importantly, don’t be waylaid when you hit some rough patches during the test. Instead, stay level and focused. Be cool, calm, and confident.

TTP PRO TIP:

Before your GMAT, take some time to mentally prepare yourself for some ups and downs.

Now, let’s discuss some tips for when you’re actually at the test center.

8) How Early Should I Arrive at the GMAT Test Center?

If you’re taking the GMAT in person at a test center, it’s important that you arrive a little early.

A good rule of thumb is to arrive between 30 and 45 minutes before your scheduled test time. One of the worst things that can happen is for you to hit unexpected traffic or other delays en route, and as a result, arrive at the test center flustered.

By planning to arrive 30 to 45 minutes before your test, you provide yourself with an ample time buffer just in case your drive or commute to the test center takes a little longer than you planned.

And if your commute goes smoothly and you arrive 45 minutes before your test, there is no problem. You can use a little time to warm up with a few easy GMAT questions or do some light review of your notes or flashcards.

Just as it’s important not to arrive late, it’s important not to arrive too early. For example, I would not plan to arrive at the test center 90 minutes before the exam. Arriving that early could potentially cause you to worry or become anxious. You could better use that time getting a little more sleep or doing something relaxing at home before leaving for the test center.

Just remember that if you arrive more than 15 minutes after your scheduled GMAT appointment time, your appointment may be canceled. Don’t arrive late.

TTP PRO TIP:

If you’re taking the GMAT in person at a test center, a good rule of thumb is to arrive between 30 and 45 minutes before your scheduled test time.

9) What Should You Take to the GMAT Testing Center?

Make sure to bring the following:

  • A face mask. You may need to wear a face mask during your GMAT. However, the rules may differ by test center, so you give the folks at the test center a call to determine the face mask policy, or bring a mask to be on the safe side.
  • Valid and acceptable identification. At the time of this writing, acceptable forms of identification are an International Travel Passport, a government-issued driver’s license, a government-issued national/state/province identity card (including European ID card), and a military ID card. Your name, date of birth, and country of origin must match the information you provided when signing up for your GMAT. If the information does not match, you will not be allowed to take your GMAT.
  • Your GMAT appointment confirmation. Although it’s not required, it couldn’t hurt to print your appointment confirmation, just in case you have any issues checking in for your exam.
  • A sweater or jacket in case it’s cold in the testing room.
  • Some water. Remember that you will have only one real opportunity to use the restroom (during your 8-minute break), so be careful not to over-hydrate before your exam.
  • Some healthy snacks, such as a banana, trail mix, or protein bars.
  • Prescription eyeglasses. If you are someone who needs to wear glasses when sitting at a computer, make sure not to forget your glasses.
  • Confidence and swagger! The GMAT is a grueling exam, but if you can walk into the test center with confidence, you’ll be one step closer to hitting your target GMAT score.

You’ll Get a Locker for your Personal Items

In case you’re wondering where you can store some of the items mentioned above, you’ll be provided with a locker to use during your testing appointment. If you need to, you’ll be able to put your sweater or jacket in your locker. Water, other drinks, and your snacks must be placed in your locker; they are not allowed to be in the testing area with you.

You can read more about what to bring to the GMAT testing center here.

10) What Items Are Not Allowed at GMAT Testing Centers?

When preparing for your trip to the test center, it’s important not to overpack. Sure, you will be provided with a locker at the test center. However, the locker does not have unlimited room, so just bring what you can fit in your backpack and what you need during your 8-minute break, such as a snack or water. I suggest leaving most nonessential items at home.

Some items are not allowed at the testing center or in your locker. Do not bring any of the following items with you to your GMAT appointment:

  • Firearms, knives, or any other weapons
  • Testing aids, including study materials, notes, calculators, blank sheets of paper, stopwatches, and flashcards

You can read more about what to expect at the GMAT test center here.

11) Check Your Wet-Erase Markers Immediately

If you’re taking the GMAT at a test center, you’ll be provided with wet-erase markers and a notepad. It’s not uncommon for the markers to work less than perfectly. So, as soon as you get them from the proctor, inspect them, making sure that they have good tips and write smoothly. If you don’t like the markers you’re given, immediately ask your proctor for new ones.

If at any point during your GMAT you’d like new markers, raise your hand and ask the proctor for them. I tell my students to keep working on whatever they’re doing while they have their hand raised, so they don’t lose time. For example, if you are in the middle of a Reading Comprehension passage and you raise your hand to get fresh markers, just keep reading the passage until the proctor arrives.

TTP PRO TIP:

As soon as you get your wet-erase markers from the proctor, inspect them, and if they don’t have good tips and write smoothly, immediately ask your proctor for new markers.

12) Don’t Worry About Running Out of Notepad Space

If you’re taking the GMAT in person, the scratch paper that is provided to you at the test center is actually a spiral notepad containing 5 laminated pages. The pages look like yellow graph paper, and each sheet is about the size of a sheet of legal paper.

You can write on both sides of each page. As you already know, even though each page is laminated, the marker provided to you is a wet-erase type, so you won’t be able to erase the board while you are testing. If you’re properly getting your work down on the pad (and not doing the work in your head), you may run out of room on the notepad.

Don’t worry: you can request a new notepad. As you see that you are down to one clean page, raise your non-writing hand and continue to work, writing with your other hand. When the proctor comes to you, tell her that you’d like a new pad, but keep working.

As soon as she provides you with the new pad, quickly make the transfer and resume working. Do not wait until you are out of space to request a new notepad.

TTP PRO TIP:

Do not wait until you are out of space to request a new notepad.

If you are a test-taker who typically needs a new notepad during the Quant section, alert the proctor prior to the start of your exam that you will most likely raise your hand at some point to ask for a new pad. You are also allowed to request a fresh notepad during one of your breaks, even if your old one is not completely used up.

13) How to Handle Problems That Arise During the GMAT

One of the easiest ways to help ensure that you don’t have any issues during your GMAT is to test all of the necessary items before you begin. For example, make sure that your chair and desk are comfortable. Make sure that your markers and notepad are functioning properly. Make sure that your keyboard and computer mouse are working as expected.

TTP PRO TIP:

One of the easiest ways to help ensure that you don’t have any issues during your GMAT is to test all of the necessary items before you begin your test.

Most of the time, things go very smoothly for people taking the GMAT in person. However, in the event that you have any issues, under no circumstances should you try to fix the problem by yourself.

For example, if you have issues with your computer, chair, desk, or anything else that belongs to the testing center, do not attempt to fix any of these items on your own. Instead, raise your hand and alert the proctor right away.

TTP PRO TIP:

If you have issues with your computer, chair, desk, or anything else that belongs to the testing center, do not attempt to fix any of these items on your own. Instead, raise your hand and alert the proctor right away.

14) How Can I Maintain Focus for Almost Four Hours on the GMAT?

There is no doubt about it: It’s going to take a concerted effort to maintain your focus for the entire GMAT. So how can you accomplish this?

There are two answers to this question.

You’ve Already Built Your Stamina

The best way to maintain your focus on the GMAT is to have already built up your ability to do so. The good news is that if you’ve been studying properly, you’ve already built your stamina over time.

For example, when you first began your GMAT preparation, perhaps you could study for only 30 minutes before you began to lose focus. As time went on, you probably increased your focused studying to 45 minutes or an hour. Near the end of your prep, you may have been able to maintain your concentration for most of the day on a Saturday.

Similarly, perhaps when you first started, you did problem sets of 5 questions. But by the end of your training, you were doing sets of 40 questions or more.

You also build stamina by taking all 6 of the official GMAT practice tests. When you took practice test 1, you may have lost your focus at some point during the exam. However, you were probably a little bit stronger on test 2. By the time you reached test 6, you probably noticed that you were able to sit through the entire test without losing your concentration.

So, you can be confident that you’ve already prepared yourself well to focus for almost four hours on test day.

If you’ve been studying properly, you’ve already built your stamina over time.

The Things That You Can Control on Test Day to Keep Your Focus

Let’s discuss some things you can do to have some control over your test-day experience, and thus better maintain your focus.

You Decide the Time of Day to Take Your GMAT

The first thing under your control is what time of day you take your GMAT. Your most strategic move is to schedule the test for a time of day when you are most alert and most energized.

For example, if you’re a morning person, it would be best to schedule your GMAT in the morning. In fact, if you’re a morning person, I would go as far as saying that you should not schedule your GMAT for the afternoon or evening. Doing so would seem to be putting yourself at a focus disadvantage before you even sit for the test.

Similarly, if you tend to focus best and have the most energy in the afternoon or the evening, be sure that you schedule your GMAT for the afternoon or the evening. Don’t schedule it in the morning. Hacking your own biorhythms is one of the best ways to help ensure that you have sufficient stamina on test day.

TTP PRO TIP:

Schedule your GMAT for a time of day when you are most alert and most energized.

Think About the Times of Day When You Eat

It’s all too important to think about what times of day you fuel your body. If you’re used to eating a large lunch at 2 p.m., it would probably be a mistake to schedule your GMAT for that time because you would miss that lunch. As a result, you’d probably be hungry, and being hungry can be very distracting, especially if your blood sugar begins to drop.

In general, you don’t want to take your GMAT when your body is going to be waiting for something else.

Get Proper Sleep Leading Up to the GMAT

Make sure that you get into the habit of going to bed early and getting sufficient sleep in the weeks or months leading up to the test. Getting a good night’s sleep will be imperative the night before your GMAT. A good night’s rest will make all the difference in the world in your ability to focus the next day.

Fuel Your Body Properly

The morning of the GMAT, be sure to eat a healthy and high-energy breakfast. Avoid anything that would lead to an energy spike followed by a crash. For example, avoid sugary cereals or sugary protein drinks. Don’t eat junk food. Stick to the things that work well with your body. For example, if a big hot bowl of oatmeal helps you to focus, that is what you should have. Don’t all of a sudden start eating avocados because you read that they are good for your brain.

Make sure to bring some healthy snacks, such as a protein bar, water, a banana, or trail mix, to the testing center. Again, these snacks should be personalized to your tastes. Don’t bring an energy drink that you’ve never consumed before to your GMAT. You don’t want to be a guinea pig on the day of the exam.

15) Remember That You Are Not Playing the GMAT Game Against the Computer

A lot of students imagine that they are taking the GMAT against the computer. That is, they somehow feel that they are scoring against the computer, that the computer is the opponent.

Remember that this is not true; your score is being compared only to those of other GMAT test-takers. It’s comforting to know that you are not playing against a computer that can’t be beaten. The computer is simply there to facilitate the game and provide you with a score.

KEY FACT:

When taking the GMAT, you’re not “playing the game” against the computer. The computer is there only to facilitate the game and provide a score.

16) Manage Your Time Properly on the GMAT

A major component of earning a good GMAT score is savvy time-management.

Although different students use different time-management techniques, whatever strategy you use, don’t let yourself get behind on the clock. Be disciplined. If you have practiced spending between two and two-and-a-half minutes per quantitative question, don’t suddenly start spending five minutes or more on a given question. If you’ve been spending 90 seconds on each Sentence Correction question, don’t suddenly spend four minutes on them.

If you can’t answer a question in the allotted time, quickly eliminate any answers you can and take your best educated guess from the remaining answer choices.

It’s important to avoid incorrectly answering a consecutive string of questions. If you spend four or five minutes on a few earlier questions, you’ll likely end up having to blindly guess on the last four to six questions. There is reasonable evidence to suggest that guessing on these questions will likely lower your score.

So, be disciplined with your time-management on test day.

Check out these articles for some helpful GMAT Verbal timing strategies and some tips on how to effectively manage your time on GMAT Quant.

Should I Over-Invest My Time on the First 10 Questions of Any GMAT Section?

Over-investing time on the first 10 questions of the Quantitative or Verbal Reasoning sections of the GMAT is a losing strategy. Do not make this mistake.

Take a few minutes to read this article that discusses in more detail why you should not over-invest your time on the first 10 questions on the GMAT.

TTP PRO TIP:

Over-investing your time on the first 10 questions of the Quant or Verbal sections of the GMAT is a losing strategy. Do not make this mistake.

17) Stay Engaged in the Moment – Compartmentalize – Focus

Staying engaged in the moment is essential to your success. When you begin solving the first question on your test, don’t think about anything else but that problem. Don’t worry about the questions that lie ahead. Don’t worry about those final few formulas you couldn’t master. Certainly don’t worry about how other students in the room are doing. Just focus. Be in the moment; own it. This is your time to shine.

Similarly, as you begin each subsequent problem, don’t ever think back to earlier problems. Don’t think about anything but what you’re working on at that exact second in time.

18) Don’t Try to Determine How Well You’re Doing While Taking the Test

To the detriment of their GMAT scores, many students attempt to determine how well they’re doing while taking the GMAT. Don’t make this mistake.

No matter what you think you know about the GMAT, no matter how much experience you have with it, you’ll never know how well you’re doing until the test is over.

KEY FACT:

No matter what you think you know about the GMAT, no matter how much experience you have with it, you’ll never know how well you’re doing until the test is over.

It’s important to realize the following:

  • Despite your best intuition, you have absolutely no way of determining whether a question is easy or hard for the purposes of your score.
  • You have no way of knowing how other students did or are doing on a question.
  • What seems easy to you may be hard for the majority, and what seems hard to you may be easy for the majority.
  • You won’t know which questions are experimental.

Thus, your best move is to get busy answering the questions presented to you. Don’t spend even a minute of time wondering how you’re doing.

You Will See Experimental Questions

On the GMAT, you’ll be blindly exposed to experimental questions, which won’t count toward your score. In other words, you’ll see these experimental questions just as you see all of the other questions, so you won’t know they’re experimental.

Perhaps that Critical Reasoning question that is worrying you so much won’t even be counted. Maybe that “easy” Quant question you just saw is an experimental question that was inserted into your string of 10 hard Quant questions that you correctly answered.

The point is that a reasonable number of the questions you’ll see won’t even be counted. This is all the more reason not to worry about any questions you see on the GMAT!

KEY FACT:

On the GMAT, experimental questions do not count toward your score.

19) Don’t Think About a Section You’ve Already Completed

Do not try to guess how well you did on a particular section. You may feel like you really bombed the math section, but you have no real way of knowing. Worse yet, if you get down on yourself because you assume that you messed up on the Quant section, those feelings may negatively affect how you perform on the Verbal section.

There is no way to know how you performed on a section until the exam is over!

Focus on What You Can Control: Getting Correct Answers to Questions

Why waste your limited energy thinking about things you can’t control? Just focus on doing the absolute best you can. The only thing that trying to determine how you’re performing will do is help you to earn a lower GMAT score. Instead of worrying about things that can only serve to harm your score, stay focused on getting correct answers to questions.

20) You Don’t Have to Answer Every Question Correctly to Earn a Good GMAT Score

Too many students experience anxiety regarding the number of questions they have to answer correctly to earn a good GMAT score.

First, worrying about your performance never improves your performance; only being alert to the problem at hand can do that.

Worrying about your performance never improves your performance

Second, realize that you can probably get more questions wrong than you think and still get a good score. The GMAT is a computer-adaptive exam. That is, in general, the questions you face become more difficult as your performance improves. So, at some point, you’ll face questions that will be very difficult or impossible for you to answer, and you’ll likely get them wrong.

That’s OK — you should expect that to happen. It happens to almost everyone. To be clear, your goal is to answer as many questions correctly as you can. However, don’t expect to answer all questions correctly, and certainly don’t lose focus over doing so. You can incorrectly answer a bunch of questions on both the Quant and Verbal sections and still earn a great GMAT score!

KEY FACT:

You can incorrectly answer a bunch of questions on both the Quant and Verbal sections and still earn a great GMAT score!

Now, if you’re one of the rare folks like TTP’s Marty Murray (the only person on GMAT Club with a verified GMAT score of 800) who is seeking to score 800 on the GMAT, then unfortunately you’ll need to correctly answer all 58 of the GMAT’s counted questions (28 of the 31 Quant questions are counted and 30 of the 36 Verbal questions are counted).

KEY FACT:

To earn an 800 on the GMAT, you’ll need to correctly answer all 58 of the GMAT’s counted questions.

21) Guess Judiciously and Intelligently When You’re Stuck

Let’s be crystal clear about one thing: if you find yourself having to skip and guess on a large number of questions, you are probably not as prepared for the GMAT as you should be.

With that said, almost all test-takers will encounter some problems that are just too difficult for them to solve. Recognize the problem types that you know are difficult for you, take your best guess on them, and move on.

For example, maybe you didn’t have the time to study functions sufficiently. Furthermore, let’s say you tend to incorrectly answer roughly 80 percent of all function questions you attempt. If you see what appears to be a difficult function question on the test, would it be wise to spend three minutes trying to solve it? Probably not. Instead, guess and move on to the next question, armed with the extra time that you just gained by not wasting time on a likely miss. In other words, use strategic guessing to enhance your score. Fight the battles you can win.

TTP PRO TIP:

Use strategic guessing on the GMAT to enhance your score.

Never Leave Any Question Unanswered

No matter what it takes, don’t let the clock time out on a section, leaving you with one or more unanswered questions.

Let’s say you lost your focus early in a section and have struggled to regain your concentration. You’re finally on a roll, and you’re answering questions carefully and consistently. However, you look up and, to your horror, discover that you have just two minutes to answer 4 more questions. What do you do?

No matter what, do not leave any question unanswered. You might have to blindly guess one or two of those 4 remaining questions, but that strategy is generally better than not answering them. After all, you have a 20% chance of correctly guessing. So, you have a measurable chance of getting at least one of the questions correct.

Additionally, if you use those two remaining minutes strategically, you very well might find that, for some of the questions, you can eliminate one or more of the answer choices, thus increasing your chances of getting the questions right.

TTP PRO TIP:

Don’t leave any question unanswered. Use educated guessing where possible, but even blindly guessing is generally preferable to leaving a question unanswered.

22) Don’t Worry If You Struggle With the First Question or Two

Often, students who perform below their goals on the GMAT say that they had a hard time with the first few questions and, as a result, lost their focus on the subsequent questions.

Of course, it would be desirable to recognize and easily solve the first few questions you encounter. However, if you can’t, or if the first few questions seem unusually abstract or difficult, don’t worry.

Just keep your focus. Put your energy into the questions to come; don’t ever think back. Stay engaged. Even if you did in fact get the first few questions wrong, you could still earn a great GMAT score!

KEY FACT:

Even if you get the first few questions of any section wrong, you can still earn a great GMAT score.

23) Do Some Warm-Up Questions Before Entering the Test Center

Warming up by doing some practice questions before you go into the test center can help prepare you for the test in many ways.

Warming up by doing some practice questions before you go into the test center can help prepare you for the test in many ways.

Now, we aren’t suggesting that you spend hours doing questions on test day; that could be counterproductive. Rather, the point we want to make is that by doing a few, or even a dozen, Quant questions and a similar number of Verbal questions before you go into the test center, you can get yourself into an optimal mode for taking the test.

Doing practice questions gets your brain warmed up and gets you thinking in the way you need to in order to correctly answer GMAT questions. It can help you to relax and can even make taking the test seem like merely an extension of your practice.

TTP PRO TIP:

Doing practice questions just before your exam will get your brain warmed up and get you thinking in the way you need to in order to correctly answer GMAT questions.

Just remember, bringing study materials into the test center is against the rules. So, you will have to warm up in your car, at home, or at some other location where you can leave your study materials. Alternatively, before you enter the test center, you could use your cell phone to access practice questions online.

24) Take Your Breaks and Use Them Wisely

On the GMAT, the breaks are short (8 minutes after the IR section and 8 minutes after the Quant section). However, they still represent an opportunity to let your brain take a little rest, even if you just sit with your eyes closed. Relax. Refocus.

You can also use this time to go to the restroom, eat an energy bar, drink some water, etc. Use this time to prepare yourself for the section to come.

Just don’t expect anyone to tell you when the break is over. Take note of the time your break started and watch the clock carefully. Any extra time taken will be deducted from the time you’re allotted for the next section.

Make sure that you do not pull out any study materials or use your cell phone, which should be powered off after arriving at the test center. Also, leave time for the process of being readmitted to the testing area. For instance, getting the palm scan to work can take a few tries.

If you want a little more break time, once you are back at your desk in the testing area, you can sit quietly during the time the test allows for reading the directions for the upcoming section. Since you will have prepared, you won’t need to read the directions. So, you can instead rest and recharge for a few minutes. Just don’t go over the time allotted for reading the directions. The test will let you stay on the directions after the allotted time is up, but any extra time you take will be deducted from your section time.

TTP PRO TIP:

Although the breaks on the GMAT are short, you can leverage this time to relax, refuel, and refocus.

25) Remember That You Can Cancel Your Score and Retake the Test After 16 Days

In the old days of the GMAT, you could not cancel your test once you had peeked at your scores. In addition, if you did cancel your test, admissions committees would see that unsightly “C,” for canceled score, next to the test date on your score report. In other words, everyone would know that you canceled your score. Furthermore, you’d have to wait at least 31 days to take the GMAT again. Thankfully, that’s all ancient history.

As of July 19, 2015, you can (1) see your scores before you choose to keep them or cancel them, (2) cancel your scores without anyone knowing that you did, and (3) retake the exam after 16 days.

So, as they say, a great plan A is backed by a good plan B. If for some reason the test does not go as planned, you can always cancel your scores and take the test again.

For more information about these policies, see this article from GMAC (the Graduate Management Admissions Council).

26) Be Confident!

A positive attitude never hurt anyone. In fact, the power of positive thinking can go a long way toward helping you perform at your best. Start telling yourself that you own this test.

Hopefully, you found these tips useful. I wish you the best of luck on your exam!

GMAT Exam-Day Tips: Frequently Asked Questions

Is it better to take the GMAT in the morning or afternoon?

The best time to take the GMAT is the time of day that you’re mentally sharp and full of energy and stamina. Thus, if you’re a morning person, plan to take the GMAT in the morning. Alternatively, if it takes you some time to wake up and you perform better in the afternoon, schedule your GMAT for the afternoon.

What should I do 3 days before the GMAT?

You should begin to seriously taper down your GMAT prep. Now is the time to let your brain rest up for test day. Don’t do anything strenuous in the 3 days before your GMAT.

What should I do 1 day before the GMAT?

On the day before your GMAT, your goal is to maximize your health and well-being. You’ll want to be in top shape on test day.

Should I study 1 day before GMAT?

The best move for most people is to avoid studying on the day before the GMAT. If not studying 1 day before your test makes you anxious, do the lightest amount of studying possible.

What’s Next?

Seeking more tips to help you prepare for the GMAT? Here are 25 tips to help you earn a higher GMAT Quant score.

Looking for more GMAT test-day tips? Here is a great article to help you get in the test-day frame of mind.

Need to improve your Integrated Reasoning score? We’ve got a bunch of Integrated Reasoning strategies for you.

Interested in GMAT Tutoring? Sign up for a free consultation to see whether private GMAT tutoring can help take your GMAT prep to the next level.

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