A method to prepare samples for four point bend testing is reported in this paper. The traditional method of sample preparation involves time-consuming steps of sawing with a diamond saw followed by polishing with fine grit to remove the roughness of the sidewall. The new method uses cleaving along the 〈100〉 crystallographic direction, which renders smooth surfaces and eliminates the polishing steps. Load–displacement curves comparing polished versus cleaved samples show that the new technique provides improved results. Elimination of fracture-inducing defects is the primary benefit of this method, which also leads to data with tighter distributions.