GRE exam’s stress: How to deal with it?

Your score on the GRE is absolutely necessary if you want to attend a reputed graduate school abroad. When it comes to an exam that will define your future, the amount of pressure that you’ve to face can be tremendous. In such a scenario, you shouldn't take your mental health for granted. Anxiety is blamed for the poor performance of more than half of all test takers, who then go on to take the examination more than once.

A moderate amount of stress can improve performance, but it can have the opposite effect if it gets in the way of someone's capacity to study. If you are the type of person who tends to worry about your GRE score or feels nervous while taking the GRE, we have a variety of strategies that are both simple and effective. It can assist you in overcoming GRE test anxiety and performing to the best of your ability on the test.

If you are the type of person who tends to worry about your GRE score or feels nervous while taking the GRE, you will find that these strategies can help you perform to the best of your ability.

Anxiety Before Taking the GRE Exam: What Is It?

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is an exam designed by Educational Testing Service (ETS) to assess a candidate's readiness for graduate study. Because of its significance, it's easy to see how this exam could make some people nervous.

Experiencing some anxiety is a normal reaction to potentially harmful situations that call for more vigilance. Worry heightens our capacity to take in information, process it, and respond to both visual and auditory stimuli.

However, as stress levels increase, students' ability to engage in the sort of higher-order thinking necessary to succeed in the GRE declines. Anxiety during the GRE might trigger the body's "fight or flight" reaction, which can make it difficult to maintain attention.

Conquering Your Fear of the GRE: A Step-by-Step Guide

Any GRE student can benefit from these tried-and-true strategies for calming exam nerves and raising performance.

Get ready ahead of time

The most obvious and undervalued strategy for lowering GRE anxiety is just knowing the material well. Do your best to study for the test so that the material will not be a source of anxiety. If you feel prepared for the GRE, you might actually start to enjoy it.

Take daily mock tests

Reduce your anxiety by taking (and reviewing) all of the GRE practice tests before you take the GRE. Through the use of problem sets and timed practice, you will become more familiar with and at ease on the GRE.

You can alleviate yourself to the GRE procedure and make the real test feel like a practice test by taking full-length practice tests under realistic conditions. This will help you perform better on the actual test.

Observe how far you've come.

In most cases, we grossly underestimate the impact that our mental habits have on our performance. If you do not have confidence in your capacity to succeed, you run the risk of sabotaging your own efforts before putting your abilities to the test. If you convince yourself that you have nothing to lose, you'll work harder.

15 minutes a day should be spent visualizing yourself succeeding on the GRE, providing accurate answers to questions, and achieving high scores. To practice, all you need to do is think positively for a total of fifteen minutes per day, three times.

Take a Few Steps Back and Relax

The practice of controlled breathing is yet another effective method for bringing you back to the present and calming nervous emotions. Since we already know that a common sign of exam anxiety is rapid breathing, it only makes sense that taking slow, deep breaths can help you feel less anxious.

When you relax, your body does too. Instead of taking chest breaths, multiple abdominal breaths should be taken if you want to put yourself in a relaxed state that is conducive to learning and finding solutions to problems. This particular method of breathing is helpful in lowering anxiety.

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

When studying for the GRE, it is natural to evaluate your performance in comparison to that of your peers. However, the comparison has the potential to divert your attention away from the goals you have set for the GRE; therefore, you should only compare yourself to your best self. When taking the GRE, it is important to avoid the anxiety-inducing distraction of comparing oneself to others. Keep your eye on the prize.

Rabbit: Your GRE preparation partner

In order to succeed in the GRE, you need to put in the time and effort required to follow this plan. Rabbit is the first global, community-driven practice platform for competitive exams, and it offers free online GRE preparation for its users. Make sure you're putting in the time and effort required to improve your chances of acceptance into your preferred program.

Frequently Asked Questions Concerning Methods to Manage Anxiety Caused by the GRE

Ques. Is taking the GRE at home a more difficult option?

Ans. There is no difference between testing done at home and testing done at a center. Both are the same in terms of length, complexity, and organizational structure.

Ques. Should I be concerned about my performance in the GRE?

Ans. Anxiety over the GRE is typical. Try not to allow the anxiousness to get the better of you. Instead, recast it as an opportunity for excitement. This could improve the score that you get.

Ques. What are some common signs that someone is experiencing test anxiety?

Ans. Pain in the stomach, a racing heartbeat, and shortness of breath are some of the symptoms that may be experienced. Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea may also be present.

Ques. When it comes to tests, why do pupils blank out?

Ans. Anxiety about an upcoming exam causes the body and brain to prepare for either a fight or a flight response. Because of this, the memory-retrieval prefrontal cortex is inhibited, and as a result, we forget what we have previously learned.