The idea of purposefully engaging in positive self-talk sometimes makes people cringe. I would cringe myself if I didn’t know just how effective positive self-talk is for confidence-building.

Your internal self-assessments matter big time when it comes to your belief in your GRE abilities. If you never tell yourself you can succeed, or you frequently tell yourself you won’t succeed, low confidence and high test anxiety are basically foregone conclusions.

One way you can train yourself to start thinking more positively about the GRE, and thus build your confidence, is by creating a confidence-boosting mantra and repeating it daily.

For example, your mantra could be something like one of the following:

• In all ways, I will CRUSH the GRE.
• Nothing can keep me from a [insert score goal here].
• I can handle this. I am prepared.

Find a mantra that makes you feel more confident and repeat it to yourself until you believe it. Any time negative thoughts about the GRE or your ability to succeed on it creep in, repeat your mantra. You can use your mantra while you’re prepping for the GRE and, if you need to, during the actual exam.

Remember, the more negative self-talk you engage in, the more negative you’re going to feel. So, logically, if you tell yourself you’re confident over and over again, eventually you’ll really start to feel it!

Reach out to me with any questions. Happy studying!

Warmest regards,
Scott