{"id":5636,"date":"2013-08-05T10:07:11","date_gmt":"2013-08-05T14:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/blog\/?p=5636"},"modified":"2019-08-30T16:41:40","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T16:41:40","slug":"stop-taking-so-many-practice-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/blog\/stop-taking-so-many-practice-tests\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Taking So Many Practice Tests!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ManhattanDid you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE\u00a0courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s talk about the Do\u2019s and Don\u2019ts to get the most out of your practice tests.<\/p>\n

Know WHY You Take Practice Tests<\/h4>\n

Practice tests are very useful for three things:<\/p>\n

(1) Figuring out your current scoring level (assuming you took the test under official conditions)<\/p>\n

(2) Practicing stamina and\/or timing<\/p>\n

(3) Analyzing your strengths and weaknesses<\/p>\n

The third one on the list is the MOST important\u2014that\u2019s how we actually get better at this test!<\/p>\n

Practice tests do not help us to improve while<\/i> taking the test. If you have been training to run a marathon, you don\u2019t learn how to get better while you\u2019re running the marathon itself; you\u2019re just trying to survive. ?\u00a0Rather, you learn how to improve in between races while doing all kinds of training activities and analyzing your performance.<\/p>\n

DO Take a Test at the Beginning of Your Study<\/h4>\n

Many people put off taking their first test, often because they say that they haven\u2019t studied yet so they know they won\u2019t do well. Believe it or not, your goal in taking your first test is NOT to \u201cdo well.\u201d Your goal is simply to get a handle on your strengths and weaknesses. Whatever they are, you want to know that right away so that you can prioritize your study.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to familiarize yourself with the various question types before that first exam (particularly Quantitative Comparisons and the formatting for the Vocab answers) but don\u2019t worry about learning all of the formulas, idiomatic expressions, and vocabulary. Your first test performance will tell you what you do and don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

One caution in particular here: a decent percentage of the people who put off their first test do so because they\u2019re feeling significant anxiety about taking the test. These are exactly the same people who do need to take that first test early\u2014pushing off the practice tests will just exacerbate your anxiety.<\/p>\n

DON\u2019T Take a Test More than Once a Week<\/h4>\n

Have you ever had this happen? You take a practice test and you get a score that you don\u2019t like. Maybe you even really mess things up\u2014run out of time or finish 10 minutes early\u2014and your score plummets. So, a couple of days later, you take another test to \u201cprove\u201d to yourself that the bad test was just a fluke.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever done that, you wasted your time and a practice test, both of which are very valuable.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that bad test was not<\/i> a fluke. Something<\/span> happened to cause that performance. Figure out what it is and fix it before you spend another few hours taking a second test.<\/p>\n

In fact, whether you like the score or not, whenever you take a test, don\u2019t bother to take another until you\u2019ve addressed whatever issues popped up during your analysis of the first test.<\/p>\n

Most of the Time, DON\u2019T Take a Test More Frequently than Every 3 Weeks<\/h4>\n

There are two broad modes of study: the \u201ctrying to improve\u201d phase and the \u201cfinal review\u201d phase. Most of our study is the first phase; the final review phase kicks in for just the last couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

During the \u201ctrying to improve\u201d phase, it is a complete waste of time to take a test more frequently than about every 3 weeks<\/i>. Really! The whole point of taking practice tests is to figure out what needs to get better. Once you do that, go get better! Until you\u2019ve made substantial progress towards whatever issues were uncovered, taking another practice test is just going to tell you that you still have those same issues.<\/p>\n

That even applies when you are trying to improve timing or stamina issues; there are other ways to address these issues besides taking a test. If you\u2019re struggling with timing, set up longer sets of questions for yourself (starting in the 5-question range and building your way up). Read this Time Management article<\/a> for more.<\/p>\n

You can practice building stamina every time you study. Figure out everything that you\u2019re going to do for the next hour or two hours (I try to set up what I think will be three hours\u2019 worth of work, just in case I finish faster than I think; if I don\u2019t finish, I save the rest for the next day.) Then, GO for 1 hour without stopping\u2014no email, no smart phone, no food, nothing. If you want to do a second hour, then take a 15-minute break and GO again for a second hour without stopping.<\/p>\n

After that second hour, do take a substantial break (at least one hour, ideally two) before you study any more that day. Making new memories is more mentally fatiguing than recalling memories (you only need to recall memories during a test), so don\u2019t do this exercise for more than about 2 hours in a row or your study will suffer.<\/p>\n

Once you hit the \u201cfinal review\u201d phase, you can take a test once a week for the last couple of weeks; at this point, you want to do a general review of all of the question types and content areas. You\u2019re no longer trying to improve your score. (You may have just thought, \u201cWell, wait a second, what if my score isn\u2019t where I want it?\u201d If that\u2019s the case, then you\u2019re not ready to take the test in a week or two. Postpone it.)<\/p>\n

DON\u2019T Take a Practice Test within 5 Days of the Real Test<\/h4>\n

You wouldn\u2019t run a practice marathon a few days before a real marathon, would you? You risk tiring yourself out or (mentally) injuring yourself (by reducing your confidence) just before the real test.<\/p>\n

If your score isn\u2019t where you want it to be, postpone the test; you\u2019re not going to change it substantially by taking a practice test at the last minute (or doing anything else, for that matter!).<\/p>\n

DON\u2019T Go Months without Taking a Test<\/h4>\n

When someone does this, the impetus is usually anxiety. You\u2019re nervous that you won\u2019t get the results that you want, so you avoid getting any results at all. Alternatively, maybe you think that you\u2019ll study everything and then<\/i> when you take the test, you\u2019ll get the score that you want\u2026 but practicing without any CAT data is going to cause you to build bad habits (such as spending too much time on a question) and fail to build good ones (such as learning how and when to cut yourself off and guess).<\/p>\n

If your last test was so long ago that you\u2019re no longer sure what your strengths and weaknesses are under testing conditions<\/i>, it\u2019s time for another test.<\/p>\n

Takeaways<\/h4>\n

In short, do take a test pretty early on in your study process. Then analyze the results and use that analysis to inform your study plan. When you have addressed a substantial proportion of the major issues identified via that analysis, it\u2019s time to take another test. Most of the time, you should be able to find at least two to three weeks\u2019 worth of issues to address after every test.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve got your score where you want it to be, you\u2019re going to start your final review. During this phase (which typically lasts a couple of weeks), plan to take one test two weeks before and another test one week before your real test date. In between, review everything: the question types, the content areas, and your major strategies (including timing and educated guessing strategies).<\/p>\n

Good luck and happy studying!\u00a0?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Want more guidance from our GRE gurus? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE\u00a0courses absolutely free! We\u2019re not kidding.\u00a0Check out our upcoming courses here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"stacey-koprince\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Stacey Koprince<\/a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California.<\/strong> Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT \u00a0for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE\u00a0courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. Let\u2019s talk about the Do\u2019s and Don\u2019ts to get the most out of your practice tests. Know WHY You Take Practice Tests Practice tests are very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[474284,921840,6,7,733445],"tags":[1362411,265],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-5636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-studiers","category-gre-prep-2","category-gre-strategies","category-how-to-study","category-study-tips-2","tag-gre-practice-tests","tag-practice-tests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5636","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5636"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10360,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5636\/revisions\/10360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5636"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=5636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}