Practice Like You Play: GMAT Test Day Audio Script

If you’re looking for how to calm nerves before a test, one of the best answers is to practice like you play.

Let’s say you’ve studied every quant topic, you’re confident in your verbal technique, and your practice tests are going well. Despite all of this, you’re still nervous about taking your official GMAT test. Will you be able to hold it together when you get to the test center?

These kinds of doubts are completely natural and normal. Even professional athletes at the top of their game get nervous before stepping onto the court!

So, what can you do to prepare yourself for test day pressure?

Simulate Test-Day Pressure Before You Feel It for Real

One option is to simulate this pressure by making your practice tests as realistic as possible. The audio script below, created by Mental Performance Expert Jen Schumacher, will help you visualize arriving at the test center, going through the check-in process, and starting your official test.

Right before your next practice test, give it a listen and immerse yourself in the sights, sounds, and feelings of taking the GMAT at a test center. On test day, you’ll know that you’ve prepared yourself for the test day experience.

Transcript

Find a quiet, relaxing place with few distractions and settle into a comfortable position. Begin to observe the breath, noticing how it feels as you inhale slowly, completely filling the lungs and expanding the abdomen, and exhale fully, allowing the muscles to relax and the tension to melt away. Take a couple of slow, deep, deliberate breaths, allowing the thoughts to center around nothing but your breathing.

Now imagine yourself arriving at the testing center. You arrive plenty early with ample time to spare, so you can become familiar with the environment. You grasp the cool metal handle to open the door of the nondescript building, reminding yourself that you have done everything to this point to put yourself in the best position possible.

You enter the lobby area, greeted by fluorescent lighting and boring office paraphernalia. There are video cameras everywhere and other test takers in varying states of nervousness waiting to take their tests, sitting in rows of chairs. You walk up to the desk and check in, show your ID, and receive a pamphlet explaining the center rules.

You go sit down and read over the information until they call you back up to the desk, scan your palm, and take your photo. As you go through the familiar movements, you feel the usual jitters of test day building up. You turn off any electronics, place your belongings into the locker, take the key, and are ushered into the testing area.

A board proctor is stationed outside the test area. You scan your palm again and do a self pat down. Then the proctor will take you into the air-conditioned testing room and shows you your testing booth, a desk with dividers that feels like you’re in a little cubicle, your back turned towards the rest of the room, an abnormally large monitor in front of you.

You’ll have a wet erase notebook and two black markers, which you test right away before your exam begins, so you can let your proctor know if one doesn’t work. The proctor signs into the computer and then leaves you there to get started. The familiar wave of nerves and butterflies washes over you. The test is here now.

You wipe your sweaty palms and feel your heart pounding in your chest, and then remind yourself that these feelings of anxiety are there because you care deeply about your performance and that you’ve performed well despite the nerves before, and that you’re ready.

You align your posture in the poorly designed office chair, place your earplugs or noise-canceling headphones on, take a few deep breaths, and get started. First, you choose whether to send your score report to schools and fill out the relevant information. Then you choose your section order, which you’ve carefully selected ahead of time.

Finally, you view the screen instructions for your first section, and then you begin. As you progress through the three screens, you feel strong in your knowledge and you manage your time appropriately. Even when you hit difficult questions, you stay focused on eliminating the incorrect responses, and you remain committed to your choices, refraining from second-guessing or living in the past.

When there are distractions, the clock, sounds of other students typing, chairs creaking, thoughts about your future or your score, you are able to refocus on the next question, knowing that you’ve put in the work and all you need to do is take care of this question in front of you right now. If you choose to use a break, you raise your hand and a proctor ushers you back to the lobby area to access your locker or use the restroom, then brings you back through the same initial process to reenter the exam. As you progress through the test, you are aware of time, yet completely locked into the task at hand.

You feel challenged yet composed, moving from one section to the next, taking it one question at a time. While there are always ways to improve, you remain confident in your knowledge, selections, and performance throughout the test.

As soon as you finish the exam, your unofficial score report pops up on the screen. You smile, knowing what effort went into earning this score and that this reflects your ability at this point in time. Although you may desire or even know you are capable of a higher score, you know you stayed out of your own way to allow your best performance to come through today.

You go back out front, get a printout of your unofficial score report, gather your belongings from your locker, and exit the building with a grin and sigh of relief. You are on your way to accomplishing your goals.