Here are the per-question timing guidelines:
SC - about 60-75 sec; max of 90 sec
CR - about 2m; max of 2.5m
RC - about 2.5m (short) to 3.5m (long) to read; about 1 min for general purpose questions; about 1.5 to 2 for everything else
quant - about 2m; max of 2.5m
The "about" stuff is what you need to average on those question types. The "max" stuff is the point beyond which it's pretty much not worth it no matter what the question is, where you are on the test, or what you're hoping to score.
Further, if you do want to go beyond the "average" expected time on any problem, the only acceptable reason is when you know exactly what you're doing, you know how to finish the problem, you're confident that you'll get it right, but it just happens to be an extra-long problem in some way and so it will take a little more time.
If what you're thinking is, "I'm SURE I can figure this out if I can just have a little more time" or "I really can't let this one go; I have to get it right" - stop. Make a guess (educated, preferably, if you still have the time to do so). Move on.
I'm guessing, on the verbal, that you had a combination of brain fatigue and this thing I was talking about re: distinguishing between the very tempting wrong answers and the right ones. You're right that we (and all of the other test prep companies) attempt to mimic this on our own test questions - but here's the thing. This is a verbal test. The way the language is put together is specific to the person writing the question. We (the test prep people) are not the same people who are writing the test. So, yes, you're getting our best mimics, but they're not exactly the same, because we're simply not the same people.
For someone who's at this point (where the deciding factor on the hardest questions is really all about separating out the very tempting wrong answers from the less-tempting right answers), your best source is official materials. And you really have to pick this stuff apart, all the way down to the individual words, in order to understand how they can write a wrong answer that seems right to you and a right answer that seems wrong to you.
In terms of stamina and getting the most out of your study - don't take tests more than once a week. But when you do take a test, make it the full official deal - essays, etc, all in one sitting, at the same time of day as you plan to take the real test. Make sure to stick to the time limits on the breaks.
By the way, GMAC is shortly going to reduce the breaks from 10 minutes to 8 minutes (supposedly this is going to start in the next few days). So plan that into your practice tests too.
In quant, the general pacing rules are:
Q1 75m (left)
Q10 55m
Q20 35m
Q30 15m
Verbal's a bit trickier because of RC. The below template assumes that you'll have one new RC passage start in each of the 4 "quartiles" of the test: between questions 1 and 10, 11 and 20, 21 and 30, and 31 and 40.
Q1 75m (left)
Q10 57m
Q20 38m
Q30 19m
If the start of your RC passages comes more quickly (eg, by the time you hit Q20, you've started 3 passages, not 2), then expect to be a bit "behind" - meaning your time should be a few minutes lower than your expected marker. In this example, maybe you'd be at 35m instead of 38.
If the start comes more slowly (eg, by the time you hit Q20, you've started 1 passage, not 2), then expect to be a bit "ahead" - in this case, maybe you'd be at 41m instead of 38.
In terms of when to guess, the 1m mark is really the magical mark for any question. For most questions, that represents the half-way point. At this point, you should be fully on track and know what you're doing (but still have work to do, obviously). If you're not on track, if you don't know what to do, if you're still figuring out what the stupid question is asking... stop. Make an educated guess (which can actually take 30-60 seconds) and move on.
For SC, the 1m mark is close to the time limit already. At that point, if you have not eliminated anything (rare on SC), make a random guess and move on. Typically, though, you've eliminated at least some things on SC by the 1m mark. So ask yourself: is there more stuff here that I know how to deal with? Then deal with it. Or am I sitting here agonizing, trying to remember something or comparing two choices over and over? Pick and move on.
You can certainly get OG12 at the point that you want some new problems, but I would actually do the analysis that I talk about above (and you quote me on, further above!) on problems you've already done from OG11. Basically, you've left some learning on the table by NOT doing all of this analysis on all of those OG11 problems. So go do that before you start with a bunch of new problems. That way, you'll actually be able to test how well you know / remember your new knowledge when you get to OG12.
At this point, do continue to work on any primary sources you haven't finished yet (eg, PowerScore Bible), but after that, let your results on tests and problems drive what you review. Maybe take your first MGMAT practice test this week-end, analyze the results and individual questions thoroughly, and use that analysis to figure out where you need to return to the strategy guides, or where you need to find more of the same type of problem to practice in OG.
