![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2018\/06\/visualization-exercise-beat-gre-chelsey-cooley.png\")
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When I\u2019m not teaching the GRE or writing this blog, I like riding my bicycle absurdly long distances. For the last five months, I\u2019ve been training for one of the hardest bike races of my life: the 206-mile, 14-plus-hour <\/span>Dirty Kanza<\/span><\/a>. And now I want to share the best piece of advice I was given while training, because it applies to GRE test day just as much as it applies to bike racing. <\/span><\/p>\n A couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to get to chat with a woman who\u2019s won Dirty Kanza a couple of times\u2014including a win on her very first attempt. The conversation turned to the strategies she uses to succeed on race day. When she brought up visualization, I immediately assumed that I was supposed to visualize myself winning. If you want to overcome an obstacle, whether it\u2019s a 200-mile bike race or the GRE, you should picture yourself overcoming it, right?<\/span><\/p>\n Maybe not. Instead of picturing myself succeeding, she invited me to picture myself <\/span>failing<\/span><\/i>. I was supposed to imagine rolling across the finish line hours late, having had a terrible race. \u201cNow,\u201d she said, \u201ctry to think of all of the excuses you might be making if you don\u2019t do well.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n I imagined trying to explain that my back was bothering me, that my bike had gotten a flat tire, or that I had forgotten to bring enough water. Any number of things could send my race completely off the rails. <\/span><\/p>\n Each of those imaginary excuses, she explained, was actually something that I could fix right now, before race day. If I thought I might run out of water, I should start measuring how much water I needed during my training rides. If I was worried about back pain, I should start stretching and work on my posture on the bike. Almost anything that could put an end to my race could be prevented, <\/span>if I started working on it before race day<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n So, let me extend the same invitation to you. Imagine finishing the GRE, and getting a score that you\u2019re really unhappy with. What excuses can you imagine making? Make a list on paper. For each excuse, there\u2019s probably something you could do to help right now, before test day. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For instance, here\u2019s one I often hear: \u201cI didn\u2019t have enough time to finish a section.\u201d That doesn\u2019t mean the GRE should have given you more time on test day. Running out of time isn\u2019t something that happens <\/span>to <\/span><\/i>you\u2014it\u2019s a consequence of actions you take on and before test day. It means you <\/span>didn\u2019t guess enough<\/span><\/a>, or you should have practiced your pencil-and-paper arithmetic, or you didn\u2019t identify the problem types that take you the longest. There\u2019s so much you can do prior to test day to avoid having to make this excuse!<\/span><\/p>\n Or, you might picture yourself saying, \u201cI got really anxious during the test, and it threw me off.\u201d A little anxiety might be unavoidable, but you can take steps <\/span>now<\/span><\/i> to ensure that it doesn\u2019t derail your GRE. Read this article about <\/span>anxious reappraisal<\/span><\/a> and give it a try. Check out these <\/span>tricks for staying calm during the GRE<\/span><\/a>, and plan to use one or more of them on test day. <\/span><\/p>\n Something <\/span>could <\/span><\/i>happen during your GRE that you can\u2019t predict. For all you know, a meteor might fall through the roof of the testing center! But it\u2019s more likely that if you start thinking of the excuses you might make if you fail, you\u2019ll come up with the situations that are most likely to cause you problems on test day. If those situations are unexpected, they could hurt your score. But if you anticipate them ahead of time, you can make sure they won\u2019t cause you any problems. <\/span><\/p>\n What are you most worried about on test day? Feel free to share or offer your own advice in the comments. ?<\/span><\/p>\n See that \u201cSUBSCRIBE\u201d button in the top right corner? Click on it to receive all our GRE blog updates straight to your inbox!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Chelsey Cooley<\/a> When I\u2019m not teaching the GRE or writing this blog, I like riding my bicycle absurdly long distances. For the last five months, I\u2019ve been training for one of the hardest bike races of my life: the 206-mile, 14-plus-hour Dirty Kanza. And now I want to share the best piece of advice I was given […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[474284,921840,6,449765,733451,733445,154333],"tags":[1362580],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-11774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-studiers","category-gre-prep-2","category-gre-strategies","category-learning-science","category-life-hacks","category-study-tips-2","category-taking-the-gre-2","tag-visualization-exercise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11774"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11795,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11774\/revisions\/11795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11774"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n![\"Chelsey](\"https:\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/11\/chelsey-cooley-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Chelsey")
<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/i><\/b>Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master\u2019s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170Q\/170V on the GRE.\u00a0<\/em><\/i>Check out Chelsey\u2019s upcoming GRE prep offerings here<\/a>.<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"