What to Eat Before Your GMAT Exam: Nutritionists’ Advice
While your diet may not factor high on your agenda in the run-up to your GMAT exam, thinking about what you’re eating and drinking is important before any test or stress-inducing event.
This is because foods fuel your brain—on the day of your GMAT exam, you want your mind sharp, your attention focused, and your head in the zone.
So, what’s the best food and drink to consume before the big day, and when?
Create a nutritious dinner
First, make sure you eat a nutritious meal the night before your GMAT exam.
Sue Roberts, a nutritionist, and vice president of strategic partnerships for Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), suggests foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, sardines, and herring, as these are excellent for brain energy.
She also advises cell-boosting antioxidants, found in red, green, and orange vegetables and fruits, and complex carbohydrates, providing lasting energy to concentrate and stay focused, found in whole-grains such as brown rice and whole-grain breads.
A tasty meal high in these nutrients would be wild salmon curry, with an onion, garlic, ginger, coconut milk, and fresh tomatoes base. You can also add in fiber-containing vegetables like capsicums, spinach, and kale.
If you’re vegetarian or vegan, swap the fish for protein-filled chickpeas, and finish with a scattering of omega-3 oil rich flaxseeds. Serve the curry layered on top of a batch of brown rice!
You’ll also want to make sure you’re hydrating yourself with water in the run-up to your exam. Drinking 300ml of water can boost attention span by up to 25 percent, according to one study, so get that water bottle filled up pronto.
Up your breakfast game
If you’re someone who feels they can’t focus until you’ve had breakfast, it’s a good idea to eat something to get your brain in gear on test day.
For breakfast, suitable foods are protein-rich ones like plain yogurt and foods which take longer to digest and will keep you fuller for longer, such as oats and fruits. You can incorporate these into a breakfast like overnight oats, using a low-fat milk or milk alternative, yogurt, topped with omega-3 packed chia and flaxseeds.
You can also sprinkle your oats with brazil nuts, a good source of protein, and antioxidant-rich blueberries, as well as bananas—potassium is a great source of energy.
For those coffee lovers out there, completely cutting out caffeine might spike withdrawal headaches. As a result, Sue from PHA recommends switching to green tea, which contains less caffeine and can be beneficial in moderation.
Contrary to the popular belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, research suggests skipping breakfast isn’t the end of the world.
“If you’re someone who doesn’t feel hungry in the morning or who doesn’t normally like to eat breakfast, then you may find that your performance is better without it. Only you are going to know the answer to this,” notes certified nutritionist Leah Rose.
Grab a protein and vitamin-rich lunch
If you choose to take the GMAT later in the day, a nutritious lunch is a great way to fuel your brain for the test.
For lunch, a bowl of green leaves salad, fresh lemon dressing, topped with avocado, will provide a dose of vitamins and minerals to keep your brain sharp. You can also add soft-boiled eggs for a dash of protein or add pumpkin seeds if you’re vegan.
To accompany the salad and up your brain game, serve up a batch of brown rice. For a hit of fiber, top your rice with toasted sesame seeds, and scatter with omega-3 containing toasted nori strips.
Now, here’s the fun part: if you want a quick sweet-tooth fix, a couple of squares of dark chocolate has been linked to boosting memory and cognition, but don’t go overboard, or you’ll risk a sugar crash.
Snacking during the GMAT
Once you’ve made it to your test day, remember that you can take two optional eight-minute breaks during your exam. At over three hours in length, the GMAT is also a test of endurance and business school admission experts recommend using these breaks to refuel.
Aside from staying hydrated by drinking water, some good snacks that are unlikely to cause brain fatigue or mental fog are proteins like nuts and citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruit, which have been linked to high mental performance.
If you’re worried about hunger-pangs getting the best of you throughout the lengthy exam, nutritionist Leah recommends a milk (or equivalent) based drink to provide that double boost of good hydration and intake of protein and nutrients to top you up during the test.
Whatever you plan to eat and drink before and during your GMAT exam, make sure to trial-run these foods in the weeks before your test. You don’t want to risk causing an upset stomach with foods that don’t agree with you right before the exam.
Factoring your diet into your revision plan can boost your performance and enhance your chances of achieving GMAT success.
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