{"id":10836,"date":"2017-10-11T16:49:08","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T16:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/?p=10836"},"modified":"2019-08-30T16:40:30","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T16:40:30","slug":"perfectionism-enemy-of-the-gre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/blog\/perfectionism-enemy-of-the-gre\/","title":{"rendered":"Perfectionism is the Enemy of the GRE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Manhattan<\/p>\n

You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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<\/i><\/b>Do you consider yourself a perfectionist?<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe you wouldn\u2019t normally use that word to describe yourself, but be honest, didn\u2019t the typo in the sentence above drive you at least a <\/span>little bit<\/span><\/i> crazy?<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not such a bad thing to have a drive for fixing errors, for flawless problem-solving, and for generally holding oneself to tip-top standards. Perfectionism has its darker side, too, though. When studying for the GRE, an urge to solve problems perfectly can keep you from doing what you really should do: get them correct in an imperfect way and then just move on. At its worst, perfectionism can keep you from even picking up the pencil to get started.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just Start<\/b><\/h4>\n

When I was in college, I had such a hard time starting my essays that I often avoided putting my fingers to the keyboard until the night before the essays were due. Sometimes I\u2019d start a 10-page paper at midnight and have no choice but to power through until 5 a.m. to get it done. I was so worried about writing the perfect paper that I couldn\u2019t write anything at all. <\/span>Perfectionism and procrastination go together.<\/b><\/p>\n

If you have an urge to get everything perfectly, beautifully correct in your GRE study, you may never start at all. When you do open a book, it might be tempting to spend most of your time reading rather than solving; it\u2019s a lot easier to hear something explained than it is to put oneself to the test and try solving problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best way to start? Jump into an <\/span>actual practice exam<\/span><\/a>. Take it cold. Guess on problems you don\u2019t know. Figure out as much as you can while you go along. It\u2019s not as daunting as it seems, I promise.<\/span><\/p>\n

As you go forward, set easily-attainable <\/span>completion<\/b> goals. Shoot for 5 problems finished every day. If you\u2019re using the <\/span>Manhattan Prep Strategy Guides<\/span><\/a>, start at the back of the chapter, try out 5 problems, and then read about them afterwards if you need to. When you make the goal \u201cgetting it done\u201d rather than \u201cgetting it right\u201d you\u2019ll have a much easier time getting started. And you\u2019ll be spending your time doing what\u2019s most helpful for you: practicing on actual problems. Strange as it might seem, even if you\u2019re getting them totally wrong, you\u2019re doing more to build your mental muscle than if you just sat and read about how to do them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scrappy Problem-Solving: Let It Go<\/b><\/h4>\n

Quick quiz: How should you solve a problem like this one?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Manhattan<\/p>\n

The answer is\u2026 skip it. In all likelihood, this is the smartest move to make. Unless you\u2019re some kind of function-crushing math machine (and even if you are), the costs probably outweigh the benefits of solving this problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seriously, envision what you\u2019d have to do to solve it. Every step along the way requires a check of whether a sum is even or odd. Depending on the result, the numbers then have to be plugged in for <\/span>x<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>y<\/span><\/i> according to the rules given at the top. After doing some arithmetic, one then has to evaluate some equations and an inequality. Because it\u2019s a check-box question, there are 7 different ways to answer it. (You can check any number of them, but you\u2019ve got to check at least one.)<\/span><\/p>\n

When I did this one out all the way, I counted 25 arithmetic moves it took me. It was all simple addition and subtraction, but it was a heck of a lot of it. And after all that work, I saw the 5 and 3 in the bottom left, thought to myself, odd<\/em>,\u00a0and used the wrong function. I blew all my hard work on that one little mistake.<\/span><\/p>\n

But what about the few, the valiant, who make it through and get the correct answer? What\u2019s their grand reward for this meritorious achievement? <\/span><\/p>\n

1 point.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the record, that\u2019s the same 1 point you\u2019d get from answering any other question out there. Whether a question takes 5 minutes or 30 seconds, it\u2019s worth the same in the end. The perfectionist in you might really want to solve every problem, and that urge to solve might feel almost irresistible. But trust me, the correct move is often to plug in a random guess, skip it, and come back at the end if you\u2019ve got time left over. I\u2019ve skipped questions every time I\u2019ve taken the real GRE and I\u2019m confident it\u2019s been the right move.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is nothing to prove by biting off more than you can chew. Take it from this guy…<\/span><\/p>\n