Have you heard the story of the GRE student who took 8 practice exams in the 8 days leading up to her exam and got just 5 hours of sleep each night? Are you at all surprised that her score went off a cliff on test day?

Overstudying in the week or leading up to test day is one of the most common mistakes GRE students make. It’s understandable! Everyone wants to be as well-prepared as possible for the GRE. That said, you want your mind to be fresh and your body to be relaxed when you walk into the test center. Cramming not only affects sleep patterns but also results in information overload, potentially burning you out before you even set foot in the test center.

Rather than thinking about your GRE 24/7 in the days leading up to your exam, do some fun, stress-relieving activities to keep your mind off the GRE: binge-watch your favorite show on Netflix, go for a bike ride or run, cook a nice meal. At that point, studying nonstop and fretting about your exam will probably do more harm than good.