concentration

[max]

Hi Erin,

I have one problem that can take away many points from my future result. I am all eyes to gaze at the monitor during CBT listening section because I am nervous that I can miss a useful picture on the screen. Therefore, I cannot concentrate during the listening section and miss essential points.
The questions are:
- Can I close my eyes (for better concentration) during dialogs?
- Is any useful information on the screen during the dialog (graphics, words, etc.)?
- Are the methods of concentration which are useful in the CBT listening section?

I have read this forum for a long time and I know that your explanations are very useful.

Max

[Erin]

Hi Erin,

I have one problem that can take away many points from my future result. I am all eyes to gaze at the monitor during CBT listening section because I am nervous that I can miss a useful picture on the screen. Therefore, I cannot concentrate during the listening section and miss essential points.
The questions are:
- Can I close my eyes (for better concentration) during dialogs?
- Is any useful information on the screen during the dialog (graphics, words, etc.)?
- Are the methods of concentration which are useful in the CBT listening section?

I have read this forum for a long time and I know that your explanations are very useful.

Max

I can tell you one thing for sure: Your state of mind is almost as important as anything else in getting the highest score possible.

"Test anxiety," or jitters, or whatever you want to call it, is a well known phenomenon in test prep. And if you look at all the posts in these Groups, you'll see that there are almost as many questions relating to one's emotional state as there are about the actual test questions themselves.

So, yes, concentration is vital. In my years of test coaching, I've come to think of test prep in pretty much the same way that others think of athletic competitions. I see them as very much similar, the only difference being the type of performance (mental/physical) being measured.

As for your question, *most* of the pictures are useless; in fact, you will see many of the same pix over and over again for different conversations.

Furthermore, because of the American idea of "political correctness," you can't use stereotypes to figure out who is who. For example, if we see a picture with a young person and an older person, we should NOT assume that the younger person is the student and the older person the professor.

HOWEVER, some of the talks will present a lot of information in a diagram, much as a teacher might draw something on the board. For this type of question, of course, you will need to look at the screen.

The best thing you can do, then, is to practice the PowerPrep a lot, and try experimenting with keeping your eyes closed or open, and see what works best for you.

Of course, please post back with results so that others might learn from you!!

Erin

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