timing strategy for math

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timing strategy for math

by semidevil » Sat Apr 04, 2009 9:43 am
What is the best timing strategy for math?

I have been getting 24 to 26 on my quant for the past 4 mgmat exams. Will continue reviewing topics, but I notice that by question 28 to 30, I run out of time and need to start guessing the rest. what do you guys do in terms of time management? besides 1 minute and a half for each question, do you guys segment your time in any way? i.e, 10 minutes for the first 20 questions, etc etc.

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by canada_sms » Sat Apr 04, 2009 3:11 pm
My strategy.

50:00 - be starting question 14
25:00 - be starting question 27
0:00 - be done question 37

Note that the quant sections for MGMAT are a lot harder than the real GMAT. The nature of the questions aren't realistic in my opinion because there are way too many steps to crank through. They are still valuable however because it teaches you to develop a timing discipline and to make educated guesses instead of falling into time holes.

My MGMAT cat scores for quant were 47, 45, 46, 48. I got 50 on the real GMAT quant section.

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by VP_Jim » Sat Apr 04, 2009 3:17 pm
Another suggestion:

Have a "cut off" at three minutes for every question, unless you're sure that you're only a few seconds away from getting the answer. Usually, if you're going to get a problem right, it will happen in two minutes or less. If a problem takes you three minutes, chances are that you're doing it wrong and you'll just end up guessing, anyway - and it's better to guess sooner rather than later!

Yet another suggestion:

If there's a particular type of problem that you really struggle with (e.g., yes/no data sufficiency), wait for one of those to pop up - preferably later in the test - and simply take 30 seconds, take an educated guess, and keep going. Doing that twice can save tons of time without really affecting your score, since if you pick wisely, you will pick a question that you're likely to get wrong, anyway.

Be a smart test taker: you don't need to get every question right to get an awesome score!
Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep