Verbal Timing?

[doclkk]

I've been through the speed labs and class and I'm still not the proper time allotted for each question should be.

In class we typically do

1:30 for SC
2:30 for CR
6:00 for Short Passages
8:00 for Long Passages

The lab says the optimal method is 1:00 for SC and 2:00 CR and 6:00 for SP and 8:00 LP

If its two short / two long

12 + 16 = 28.

So the remaining 27 questions are split between SC and CR.

If you pair them that's 4:00 min per pair (13 pairs) - that's 52 minutes + 28 minutes is too much.

Can someone comment on the optimal speed?

I've got a strong hit rate on CR but it takes me about 2:30. Any faster and I'll lose comprehension, but 1:00 on SC seems really short.

Any thoughts on pacing?

[rohittk]

optimum speed is the speed with which you complete 41 questions in 75 mins getting all of the questions correct.

[gmatmachoman]

optimum speed is the speed with which you complete 41 questions in 75 mins getting all of the questions correct.

Exactly..but getting tat is the wonder!!

[shadowsjc]

i dont have any rule of thumb... i just sorta had a vague notion of how to work on verbal problems:

- reading comp: read the passages thoroughly. don't speed through it in an effort to save time. read through it and understand the point each paragraph is making.

- reading comp questions: less than 1 min per question. if you're taking more than 1 min per question, it means that you're having to go back and re-read everything you already read, and that's going to affect your score.

- critical reasoning: these i tried to do in under 2 mins per problem. however, on the 'harder' ones, i didn't mind taking 3 mins so i could analyze all the answer choices and definitively decide which one was correct - and why the other 4 were incorrect

- sentence correction: these i would originally do really quickly, but towards the end of my study course, i tried to slow down here. i also read the MGMAT SC book and that helped me improve in this section. i think with this section, more so than any other one, it's important to read through all the choices. after you read through all the choices, you can see which ones are definitely out, and work by process of elimination, rather than by choosing the one that sounds right to you. about 2 mins per problem should suffice

now obviously, you cant do 2 mins per every problem as you'll run out of time on the section. but as you go along, you'll have to make a mental note to speed up during easier questions so that you can have 2 mins to spend on the harder CR and SC problems.