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.

The GRE, MCAT and LSAT tests in large part try to assess and measure your problem-solving, logical, and analytical abilities. These skills all make demands on your fluid or innate intelligence and have little to do with question practice or test strategies. For a long time it was thought that fluid intelligence was fixed and immutable, but researchers have now shown that you can increase your fluid intelligence and general problem-solving ability with the right kind of brain training.

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.

The other good news is that the team only published its research findings in April 2008, and so far most of your graduate-school competitors won’t be tuned in to this new test prep method. And whereas typical test prep helps you increase your test scores but won’t help you do better in school, this novel working-memory training boosts your attention and general problem-solving ability leading to overall enhancement in your thinking.

But before you rush off to buy brain training software, make sure you’re looking for the right kind. The working-memory training protocol used in the study is called “dual n-back” working-memory training. (To make your search easier, and in the interest of full disclosure, I was so inspired by the team’s findings that I incorporated the dual n-back training method into the Mind Sparke brain training software, Brain Fitness Pro.)

With the economy tightening and jobs becoming more competitive, it’s smart to increase your marketability with an advanced degree. And with the new findings on working-memory training, it’s even smarter to prepare for your graduate entrance test with a good dose of brain training.