How to Get Yourself to Study: How I Cracked the GMAT & the CAT

Dozens of my students over the past year were struggling with the same problem: they couldn't get themselves to sit down and study consistently.

Study tips, prep resources, and focus methods become useless when you can't get yourself to sit down to study in the first place. If you are someone who struggles with consistency, this post is for you!

I have taken both the CAT and the GMAT FE, scored above 97 percentile in both tests and contrary to what people think, looking at the scores, I also struggle with consistency.

Recently, I read about a study that gave me deep insight into what I was doing unconsciously and what allowed me to be rigorous and consistent with my study plan over months.

The study involved a group of children, told to do a task, but a group among these children was told to do the task as if they were Batman! "Be more Batman"

The Batman Effect, as it was called, allowed children in the Batman group to work for a longer time while being more confident and flexible in their problem-solving approach.

Read more about the study here: The Batman Effect - Happy Confident Kids

Interesting how the mind works. Unknowingly, at the time, I had created an alter-ego personality in my mind that allowed me to study for multiple hours a day without a break for the CAT exam.

My golden rules were (as I recall telling myself): "This exam is nothing, it's only a set of some questions, and I need to click the right area on the screen, and I will change my life. I will not lose, no matter who I'm competing against."

The result? I would study for 6 hours, no breaks, and I WOULD ENJOY THE PROCESS!

Similarly, I believe that before you decide to study for the GMAT FE, it's important to frame your mindset in a way that allows you to do something similar. Some things to start with:

1. Breaking down the test to its core minimum: "This is just an open-book test" For RCs
2. Remembering that your brain is the same as someone who is scoring a 705+
3. Looking back at your past achievements, bring forth the mindset of a high achiever

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In short, create a hyper-competitive alter-ego, frame your mindset about the test in a way that pushes you to enjoy the grind. Soon you will find that sitting to study for the GMAT is not too hard anymore 😄

Aakkash V90 Verbal Mentor
Building CentPrep