{"id":8157,"date":"2012-02-25T11:37:18","date_gmt":"2012-02-25T17:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/?p=8157"},"modified":"2022-01-26T13:15:25","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T18:15:25","slug":"gmat-impact-too-many-decisions-can-drive-you-crazy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/gmat-impact-too-many-decisions-can-drive-you-crazy\/","title":{"rendered":"GMAT Impact: Too Many Decisions Can Drive You Crazy"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this weekly blog series,\u00a0Manhattan GMAT<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0Stacey Koprince<\/a>\u00a0teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense.<\/em><\/p>\n

Have you ever experienced the \u201cpanic stare”? That\u2019s when you stare at a problem for way too long without really doing anything besides thinking that you don\u2019t know what to do. Or you sit down to study, but you\u2019re not sure where to begin, and so you take way too long to get started, while you shuffle your papers aimlessly.<\/p>\n

The more decisions we need to make, or the more options we have, the harder it is to act, or the more likely we are to act rashly or make snap decisions. Last year, the New York Times<\/em> published an article on this topic entitled “Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue<\/a>?”<\/p>\n

During a test like the GMAT, decision fatigue can manifest as the \u201cpanic stare,\u201d or as a feeling of \u201cnot caring\u201d any longer, so you begin to answer too quickly without checking your work or being careful.<\/p>\n

This can also happen while you\u2019re studying. There\u2019s a lot<\/em> to study. You\u2019re having to make constant decisions: What am I going to study next? How am I going to study it? Should I write this down on a flash card?<\/em> And this doesn\u2019t even include the decisions we have to make while answering the questions themselves!<\/p>\n

One of your tasks while studying is to figure out how to minimize the number of decisions that you have to make while taking the test. Hmm, I could do the problem this way or that way. Which way should I do it\u2014how do I decide?\u00a0<\/em>That\u2019s a great question to ask while you\u2019re studying<\/span> because then you\u2019ll be prepared to make a quick decision during the test.<\/p>\n

So, when you\u2019re studying, think about ways that you can reduce the number of decisions that you need to make, and ways to make those decisions simpler. In general, yes\/no or binary decisions are easier than decisions that require us to formulate actual sentences and complete thoughts. (For example, don\u2019t ask: Hmm, which difference should I examine first in this Sentence Correction problem?<\/em> Instead, ask: Do I know how to deal with the specific difference I\u2019m looking at right now? Yes or no?<\/em>)<\/p>\n

One more thing that might seem obvious now that you’ve read this: don’t make a bunch of decisions about a lot of other random things on the same day before you take your real exam. Know what you’re going to eat for breakfast, know how you’re going to get to the exam center\u2014basically, decide everything ahead of time so that your brain is as fresh as possible for the start!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this weekly blog series,\u00a0Manhattan GMAT\u2019s\u00a0Stacey Koprince\u00a0teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. Have you ever experienced the \u201cpanic stare”? That\u2019s when you stare at a problem for way too long … Read More  <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGMAT Impact: Too Many Decisions Can Drive You Crazy | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting<\/title>\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\/gmat-impact-too-many-decisions-can-drive-you-crazy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GMAT Impact: Too Many Decisions Can Drive You Crazy | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When it comes to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this weekly blog series,\u00a0Manhattan GMAT\u2019s\u00a0Stacey Koprince\u00a0teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. Have you ever experienced the \u201cpanic stare”? That\u2019s when you stare at a problem for way too long … Read More  \" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/gmat-impact-too-many-decisions-can-drive-you-crazy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-25T17:37:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-26T18:15:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mbam-yoast-fallback-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeremy Shinewald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeremy Shinewald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"GMAT Impact: Too Many Decisions Can Drive You Crazy | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","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\/gmat-impact-too-many-decisions-can-drive-you-crazy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"GMAT Impact: Too Many Decisions Can Drive You Crazy | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","og_description":"When it comes to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. 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