Test this Saturday!!

[Guest]

Hi Stacey,

I know this is dumb. I studied really hard for the GMAT, worked through the OG twice, and scored a 700 on CAT 5 about 3 weeks ago. BUT, I got the party bug in my system recently, and I just went out drinking and boozing the last couple of weeks. Do you think one loses their ability within 2 to 3 weeks? I am planning to study a bit today, tomorrow, and Friday before the big day on Saturday 8am.

I may just redo the last quant problems and 1/3 RC 1/3 SC 1/3 CR.

I need a confidence booster - please provide some words of encouragement for me!

Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

It's unlikely you'll totally lose your preparation in just a few weeks but if you really haven't been doing anything, your performance might slide a bit. Or it may not - obviously it will eventually, but how long that takes is different for each person. In the past, have you been pretty good about remembering school material for a few weeks after the test? Or does it "go away" more quickly than that?

In my experience, most people who are capable of scoring a 700 can also usually retain the material pretty well for a few weeks of not-much-studying. It's hard to get a 700; if you've done it in practice, that usually means you understood the material well enough to really retain it! So go in there feeling confident - just do what you did on your last practice test!

Don't do a ton of study on Friday. That may sound odd, after I just told you that your performance may slide if you haven't been studying, but the big mistake to make now would be to try to cram all day / night on Friday, tire yourself out, and then really underperform on the test because you burned yourself out the day before.