{"id":30071,"date":"2022-02-06T10:00:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T15:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/?p=30071"},"modified":"2022-02-07T06:41:51","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T11:41:51","slug":"stressed-out-meditate-to-lower-your-anxiety-and-boost-your-gmat-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/stressed-out-meditate-to-lower-your-anxiety-and-boost-your-gmat-score\/","title":{"rendered":"Stressed Out? Meditate to Lower Your Anxiety and Boost Your GMAT Score"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stressed<\/a>With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything.\u00a0<\/em>Manhattan Prep<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Stacey Koprince<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense.<\/em><\/p>\n

Are you feeling overwhelmingly stressed out when you sit down to study for the GMAT?\u00a0Do you find that concentrating on the task at hand is difficult?<\/p>\n

Researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara published the results of a study following 48 undergrads preparing for the GRE. Jan Hoffman\u00a0details the research in a blog post<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The motivation for the study<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had already found that mind-wandering underlies performance on a variety of tests, including working memory capacity and intelligence,\u201d said Michael D. Mrazek in the\u00a0NYT<\/em>\u00a0blog post.<\/p>\n

We have all had this experience. We are taking a test, the clock is ticking, and we keep finding ourselves thinking about something other than the question we are supposed to be answering at that moment. Maybe we are stressing about our score. Maybe we are thinking about applications. Maybe we are even distracted by work, significant others, family, or other issues that have nothing to do with the test!<\/p>\n

How do we stop fixating on other things and concentrate on the task at hand? This study tried to find out.<\/p>\n

The study<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, the students were given some \u201cbaseline\u201d tests, including one verbal reasoning section from the GRE (yes, the GRE, not the GMAT).<\/p>\n

The students were then split into two groups. One group (group M) attended meditation classes four times a week; these students learned lessons on \u201cmindfulness,\u201d which focuses on breathing techniques and helps minimize distracting thoughts.<\/p>\n

The other group (group N) attended nutrition classes, designed to teach the students healthy eating habits.<\/p>\n

Afterward, the students did another GRE verbal section. The performance of students in group N stayed the same; the nutritional studies did not make a difference.<\/p>\n

Group M students, however, improved their GRE scores by an average of 12 percentile points! The students also reported (subjectively) that they were better able to concentrate the second time around; they felt that their minds wandered less than they had before. Here is the best part: the study took just two weeks.<\/p>\n

How did that happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The students did not become smarter or learn (much) more in that time frame. Rather, the mindfulness techniques helped the students perform closer to their true potential by reducing negative thoughts or habits that were interfering with performance. Think how much better you could do if you could turn off, or at least minimize, all those distracting thoughts that interrupt you when you are trying to concentrate!<\/p>\n

How can I use this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That short, two-week time frame is both good news and bad news. The good news is that you can achieve results without having to study meditation for six months. The bad news is that we do not know whether this provides only a short-term boost\u2014the effects may fade over time.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s speculate that the effects will fade unless you keep up with a regular meditation schedule. Let\u2019s also assume that most people are not going to make meditation a regular part of their daily life; most will try it for a time and then drop it.<\/p>\n

Here is what to do, then: Start learning some of these mindfulness techniques about eight weeks before you plan to take the test. Give yourself enough time to learn what to do, and then make these meditation sessions a part of your regular study schedule until you take the test. (If you would like to continue after that, great!)<\/p>\n

Here is a resource to get you started: the\u00a0Mindful Awareness Research Center<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0at UCLA. They offer free meditation lessons and podcasts. They also periodically offer a six-week online course (for a small fee, roughly $200 at the time of this publication); in addition to the prerecorded classes, you will be able to take advantage of live chats with an instructor. If you would rather meet with someone in person, run a Google search to find someone in your area.<\/p>\n

Take a deep breath, exhale, and start learning how to minimize distractions and concentrate on the task at hand. Good luck!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything.\u00a0Manhattan Prep\u2019s\u00a0Stacey Koprince\u00a0teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. Are you feeling overwhelmingly stressed out when you sit down to study for the GMAT?\u00a0Do you find that concentrating on the task at hand … Read More  <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[125],"tags":[104,175,327],"class_list":["post-30071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","tag-gmat","tag-manhattan-prep","tag-study-tips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeditate to Lower Your Anxiety and Boost Your GMAT Score<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are you feeling overwhelmingly stressed out when you sit down to study for the GMAT?\u00a0Do you find that concentrating on the task...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/stressed-out-meditate-to-lower-your-anxiety-and-boost-your-gmat-score\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meditate to Lower Your Anxiety and Boost Your GMAT Score\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are you feeling overwhelmingly stressed out when you sit down to study for the GMAT?\u00a0Do you find that concentrating on the task...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/stressed-out-meditate-to-lower-your-anxiety-and-boost-your-gmat-score\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-06T15:00:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-07T11:41:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/yoga-774243_1920-300x168.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Manhattan Prep\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Manhattan Prep\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meditate to Lower Your Anxiety and Boost Your GMAT Score","description":"Are you feeling overwhelmingly stressed out when you sit down to study for the GMAT?\u00a0Do you find that concentrating on the task...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/stressed-out-meditate-to-lower-your-anxiety-and-boost-your-gmat-score\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meditate to Lower Your Anxiety and Boost Your GMAT Score","og_description":"Are you feeling overwhelmingly stressed out when you sit down to study for the GMAT?\u00a0Do you find that concentrating on the task...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/stressed-out-meditate-to-lower-your-anxiety-and-boost-your-gmat-score\/","og_site_name":"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","article_published_time":"2022-02-06T15:00:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-07T11:41:51+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/yoga-774243_1920-300x168.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Manhattan Prep","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Manhattan Prep","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/stressed-out-meditate-to-lower-your-anxiety-and-boost-your-gmat-score\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/stressed-out-meditate-to-lower-your-anxiety-and-boost-your-gmat-score\/"},"author":{"name":"Manhattan Prep","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4b2a8ec4cbe1464b93590bd4621ebb9b"},"headline":"Stressed Out? 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