If you're planning on applying to graduate school you may be groaning at the thought of taking yet another standardized test, and wondering to what lengths you should go to prep for it. If you're smart (which I'm guessing you must be) you'll be wishing there was a way to optimize your score without wasting your time. That's where brain training comes in.
Graduate school entry tests such as the GRE, MCAT and LSAT focus to a large degree on measuring your problem-solving and analytical skills. Scoring well on these sections requires that you exercise your fluid or innate intelligence and the questions don't succumb to rote practice or strategy. Until recently scientists thought that fluid intelligence couldn't be changed, but last year a team of university researchers turned this idea on its head by demonstrating that you can increase your fluid intelligence and general problem-solving ability with a novel kind of brain fitness training exercise.
With a test group comprised of graduate students from the University of Bern the research team used training software to progressively increase the students' visual and aural working-memory. With 20 days, the fluid intelligence for each person in the trained group increased by at least 40% over and above that of a control group. A dramatic increase promising great benefits to students everywhere.
Since the team released its findings just last Spring, most of your graduate-school competitors won't yet be aware this new test-prep approach. And, as an added bonus, working-memory training, unlike regular test prep, will give you an advantage in school as well as in the test, since it boosts your overall attention and general problem-solving skills.
If you decide that you'd like to take advantage of this test prep approach, it's very important that you purchase the right training software. The researchers developed a particularly effective working-memory training protocol called "dual n-back." (In the interests of full disclosure, and to shorten your search, I was so impressed by the research that I employ the dual n-back method in my company's brain training program, Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro.)
With the economy receding and the job market tightening, signing up for an advanced degree is a smart move. Preparing your brain for the tests ahead by training your working-memory and increasing your problem-solving ability is doubly smart.
Graduate school entry tests such as the GRE, MCAT and LSAT focus to a large degree on measuring your problem-solving and analytical skills. Scoring well on these sections requires that you exercise your fluid or innate intelligence and the questions don't succumb to rote practice or strategy. Until recently scientists thought that fluid intelligence couldn't be changed, but last year a team of university researchers turned this idea on its head by demonstrating that you can increase your fluid intelligence and general problem-solving ability with a novel kind of brain fitness training exercise.
With a test group comprised of graduate students from the University of Bern the research team used training software to progressively increase the students' visual and aural working-memory. With 20 days, the fluid intelligence for each person in the trained group increased by at least 40% over and above that of a control group. A dramatic increase promising great benefits to students everywhere.
Since the team released its findings just last Spring, most of your graduate-school competitors won't yet be aware this new test-prep approach. And, as an added bonus, working-memory training, unlike regular test prep, will give you an advantage in school as well as in the test, since it boosts your overall attention and general problem-solving skills.
If you decide that you'd like to take advantage of this test prep approach, it's very important that you purchase the right training software. The researchers developed a particularly effective working-memory training protocol called "dual n-back." (In the interests of full disclosure, and to shorten your search, I was so impressed by the research that I employ the dual n-back method in my company's brain training program, Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro.)
With the economy receding and the job market tightening, signing up for an advanced degree is a smart move. Preparing your brain for the tests ahead by training your working-memory and increasing your problem-solving ability is doubly smart.
About the Author:
Oxford-trained scientist, author, and technologist, Martin G. Walker is a member of The British Neuroscience Association, Learning and The Brain, and MENSA. His company Mind Evolve Software publishes free information on the field of neuroscience and brain training as well as effective and affordable brain training software under the brand name Mind Sparke.
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