Yes, it is a myth that you should spend more time on the early questions. The full evidence to refute the myth is too long for me to present on the forum, but I'll give you the most important piece.
If you do not finish the questions in a section, the computer will mark every remaining question wrong. This is a HUGE penalty for not finishing the test. If you spend more time on earlier questions, that time has to come from the questions later in the section, so you're less likely to finish.
Further, spending extra time on a really hard question does not actually increase your chance of getting the question right. Every question on the test is designed such that someone can do it in two minutes - maybe not you, but someone. Spending four minutes on a question designed to be done in two minutes is an indication that you don't really know how to do the question. Spending more time on a question you don't know how to do is a waste of time.
AND, that extra time that you spend is also costing you other questions later on the test, because you will either run out of time (and any that you don't finish will be marked wrong) or you will rush at the end to try to finish and make mistakes on questions that you really do know how to do.
I strongly encourage people to attend one of our free workshops (we also hold them online, if you don't live in a city in which we hold classes). We go into great detail on this topic.
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!
Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT
Contributor to Beat The GMAT!
Learn more about me
