Stress Management Quiz

Don’t be alarmed: this is not a GMAT quiz. It is important to your score, though. Imagine that there are two people with equal GMAT knowledge, skill, and practice. Why might one still outperform the other? The biggest difference will likely be that one manages stress and anxiety better than the other.

This quiz is a chance to reinforce and expand upon the ideas and advice you’ve read so far in this chapter. Have fun with it and think about how to apply the correct answers to your own life and study schedule.

  1. What is Test Day stress?
    1. A feeling of anxiety felt only by those aiming for a top score
    2. Any factor, physical or psychological, that impedes my performance on the GMAT
    3. A consequence of poor preparation
    4. A constant fear of not getting into my first-choice school
    5. Something that only poor test takers experience
  2. It is most helpful to my Test Day success when my friends and family
    1. push me to study more
    2. tell me how much more I have to learn
    3. compete with me over test scores
    4. have positive attitudes about my ability to achieve my best score and help me get my mind off the test whenever I am not studying
    5. care little about my performance and prevent me from getting sufficient time to prep
  3. In the weeks leading up to the exam, how can I reduce stress?
    1. List my weaknesses and create a study schedule to overcome them, one topic at a time
    2. Get some exercise
    3. Limit self-deprecating humor and keep a positive attitude
    4. Get sufficient sleep
    5. All of the above
  4. In the final days before my exam, I should worry about all of the topics that I still have trouble with or haven’t hit, rather than congratulate myself on how far I’ve come.
    1. True
    2. False
  5. The night before the exam, what can I do to reduce stress?
    1. Try to learn topics that I have not mastered yet
    2. Go to my local bar with my friends, drink a few pitchers of beer, and try to get my mind off the exam
    3. Briefly review the topics that I mastered but haven’t looked at in a while and get a good night’s sleep
    4. Stay up all night, memorizing the grammar and math concepts
    5. Panic
  6. On Test Day, what can I do to reduce stress?
    1. Make sure I know where the testing center is and allow plenty of time to get there early
    2. Eat a nutritious breakfast
    3. Dress in layers to be ready for any temperature in the testing room
    4. Expect a lot of paperwork before the test begins
    5. All of the above
  7. During the exam, if I don’t know how to answer a question and I begin to panic, I should
    1. keep rereading the question until I determine the correct approach, no matter how long it takes
    2. bite my fingernails and moan
    3. keep breathing, take a moment to get my bearings, and determine whether I should take a strategic guess or give the question another minute or two
    4. remind myself that if I miss the question, I will not get into business school, I will fail in life, and I will be forced to live with my parents forever
    5. choose an answer choice that I haven’t chosen much so far in that section
  8. During the GMAT, I should avoid worrying about questions that I have already answered.
    1. True
    2. False
  9. What should I do next to make sure that I am prepared to overcome the natural stress that comes with taking an important test?
    1. Understand that anxiety is a sign of weakness and suppress it ruthlessly
    2. Take control of my preparation by following a study schedule and cultivating a positive attitude
    3. Forget about Test Day stress until Test Day and then figure out how to deal with it
    4. Decide not to take the GMAT
    5. Nothing—this exercise has taught me all I need to know about Test Day stress management