Managing Your Time on Test Day
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Brent is a GMAT Instructor with over 20 years of teaching experience. Click here to learn more about GMAT Prep Now's products and services. |
The scenario: For the past three months, you’ve worked hard to consistently answer practice GMAT questions within the recommended times. Test day has finally arrived, and up to this point in the test, things have gone okay. Sure, you ran out of time on the Quantitative section and had to guess on the last 2 questions, but you’ve already put that behind you. Now, as you near the end of the Verbal section, you glance at the clock and realize that there are only three minutes remaining . . . . and you still have eight questions to answer!! As you struggle to figure out what went wrong, your target score quickly slips away.
Perhaps you’ve already experienced this scenario.
If you’re lucky, these events happened during an unpleasant dream. If you’re not so lucky, they happened at the testing center.
This video provides a strategy to help you avoid unfortunate scenarios such as the one described above.
17 comments
theclimb on February 14th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
Great video, especially the guessing sooner than later tip and the examples of questions for optimal guessing. I have a timing issue on almost all my mocks , will definitely try this strategy.
Brent Hanneson on February 14th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
I'm glad to hear that you liked the video.
You're not alone on the timing issue. I think it's safe to say that most people struggle with the clock. The computer adaptive nature of the test practically ensures that people use up every second that they're allotted.
Cheers,
Brent
winniethepooh on February 19th, 2012 at 3:12 pm
Hi Brent, great tips in there! Its wonderful how you experts share such an insightful knowledge with us in this community.
I have a question, hope you don't mind answering.
You said that to cover up in the verbal section its better to guess for a long CR question OR a SC question in which the whole sentence is underlined.(I don't agree well with both)
What if the question we randomly guess on is an easy question which we can answer correctly most of the times?
Brent Hanneson on February 19th, 2012 at 4:42 pm
That's a good question, Winnie.
Each person has a different comfort level when it comes to guessing, and the last thing you want is to guess on a question that you could have easily solved. However, the computer adaptive nature of the GMAT ensures that test-takers are typically given questions that are very close to their upper limits. For example, if you typically score in the 650 range on verbal, then most questions you see will be at this level. As such, it's unlikely that you will see any super easy questions.
Sure, people have different strengths across the various verbal questions (CR, SC and RC) but once you've identified your weakest area, it's unlikely (although not impossible) that the question you guess on will be well below your upper limit.
Keep in mind that being 2 or more minutes behind is already a less-than-ideal predicament. This strategy is just trying to make the best of a bad situation. As such, it's not foolproof.
Now, if you want, you can always read the question first before guessing. That will take some time, but if that better fits your comfort level, then you should do that. As I mentioned in the video, everyone is encouraged to modify the strategy to fit their needs. The most important thing is to have a time-management plan for test day.
I hope that helps.
Cheers,
Brent
winniethepooh on February 19th, 2012 at 5:42 pm
Thanks for prompt reply Brent!
You don't think its a good idea to leave any RC question unanswered, right? Just curious!(Some are really irritating, especially ones with lengthy answer options, reading all of them takes a good amount of time).
Brent Hanneson on February 19th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
I'd avoid guessing on an RC question. Once you've invested all of that time reading a passage, there's no use guessing.
theclimb on March 29th, 2012 at 5:46 pm
Hi Brent, I am trying to mitigate my timing problem by using the 5 question check post suggested in the video, but how do I implement this strategy when I get two RC passages back to back? It recently happened during one of my mock tests- I was on time till question number 10 thereafter q11 to 14 was a RC and I was behind time by 2.40 secs and then again there was a long RC passage from q15 to q 18. This left me lagging by almost 6-7 mins by question no.20.To gain back lost time by question number 25 (the next time check) do I guess on the next 4 questions? ( that may lead to getting questions incorrect in a row). Suggestions?
Brent Hanneson on March 30th, 2012 at 4:58 am
It's best to think of the strategy as more of a heuristic that an algorithm. Most people will need to modify it to some degree to meet their strengths and challenges.
For you it sounds like RC questions eat up much more time that other questions do. This is okay as long as you are fast with SC and CR questions. If that's the case (and you've verified this), then you might be able to get back on track without guessing. It really depends on you.
Another factor involves mindset. How are you at coping with being 7 minutes behind? This would drive some people crazy, and this anxiety would make things even worse. Others might be okay with this and think, "No problem, I'm very fast at answering CR and SC questions, so I'll make up the time."
As you can see, the modifications that are needed to best suit you, depend on you.
The only suggestion I'd make is to work on your RC timing. 2 RC questions shouldn't put you 7 minutes behind.
Cheers,
Brent
theclimb on April 1st, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Thanks for the suggestion, I will try to improve my passage reading speed a bit (that has increased from 2.5 mins to about 4 mins) and surely this is eating up my time.
On this particular test I could solve most of the CR & SC questions correctly {2 CR and 3 SC incorrect from q21 to q40} in spite of the time lag, but in the end had to guess on the last 3questions with one question incomplete. I think with 7min lag this was bound to happen.I will need to modify the approach for such a scenario.
Ashish on April 14th, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Hi Brent,
Best strategy for time management, it takes pressure of me during the test..
You are the best.
Sincerely,
Ashish
Lala on April 23rd, 2012 at 10:06 am
Hi Brent,
Thank you for that great video.
I am always in a hurry. As a result, I finish a test some minutes before the required time.
I would like to use your strategy in my real test day. Is it allowed to write that chart on a scratch paper before a test begins?
Brent Hanneson on April 23rd, 2012 at 10:16 am
Hi Lala,
Unfortunately, you're not allowed to write anything on the scratch paper before the test begins. That said, it should take you less than 15 seconds to draw the milestone charts during the AWA section of the test, and the AWA section isn't nearly as time sensitive as other sections.
Cheers,
Brent
Choubeyrid on June 28th, 2012 at 1:25 am
Hi,
I took GMAT test last month and scored 680 (Q47, V33). I am planning to give the test again after two months. As per my analysis my low score on verbal section is due to my lack of time management. In all my practice tests and also on the D day I am left with almost 7 to 8 minutes when I reach the last question on the test.
I have tried my best to overcome this issue but have apparently failed. In-fact i gave a test today scored 680 (Q47, V33) and was left with 8 minutes when I was on the last question in the verbal section.
Brent Can you please suggest what measures do i need to take to ensure that I do not finish the test with time remaining with me?
Brent Hanneson on June 28th, 2012 at 5:23 am
Hi Choubeyrid,
The strategy for ensuring that you don't finish the test with time remaining is the same as the strategy for ensuring that you have enough time (as described in the video).
If you reach one of the milestones and you have too much time remaining, this is your cue to slow down and take the time to confirm your answers. Once you reach the next milestone, you can reassess the matter.
Cheers,
Brent
Pallavi Soni on July 9th, 2012 at 8:37 am
Great Tips!!!
Thanks...
Aditya on August 25th, 2012 at 10:09 pm
Just what I was looking for
Thanks Brent, and I will start implementing this strategy on my mocks!
Quick qn: Is it fine if I set this up on scratch pad during breaks?
Brent Hanneson on August 26th, 2012 at 6:01 am
Thanks Aditya.
Regarding the scratch pads, I'm pretty sure that you're not allowed to write on them during the breaks. Having said that, that might be a good question to post in the Ask the Test Maker forum (http://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-the-test-maker-f71.html )
Cheers,
Brent