Okay, yes, you did have some timing problems with the verbal, and I assume the same was true for your official test (especially given what you described).
Here's the problem: when you go way over time on some problems, you're not any more likely to get those problems right (in fact, the longer you spend, the more likely you are to get them wrong!). Then, you're behind on time, so this causes you to get other problems wrong toward the end of the test - it's like you get hit twice.
You need to let that first question go so that you still have a reasonable shot at that second question, later on in the test. If you don't let the first one go, all you've really done is guarantee yourself that you're going to get that later one wrong... and you might not even get the earlier one right.
If you only hung on too long once on the entire test, and it only affected you on one or two questions at the end, that would be no big deal. But, as you saw, that's not how it generally happens. You generally "hang on" to multiple earlier questions and then that hurts you on a whole string of questions at the end. And we haven't even talked about the negative effect that your nerves are having on you at that point because you know you're behind.
Everybody hates those boldfaced CR questions and nearly everyone would need to go over time on those - they can be terribly tricky. But the best test-takers do what they can in a couple of minutes, eliminate whatever answer choices they can eliminate, and then say, "Forget it - not worth more time" and pick something and move on. They don't let themselves get so sucked in that they blow 3 or 4 minutes on the one question, and then also get something wrong at the end due to lack of time!
You mentioned that you tend to make the most errors towards the end in the verbal section, and that you also tend to get a string in a row wrong somewhere in the middle or towards the end. That's not a surprise at all given your pacing patterns. You're rushing. You make more mistakes when you rush. You also make more mistakes when you're nervous / agitated. When the string of wrong answers happens more towards the middle, that's likely when you've noticed that you're way behind. You start to get agitated, you start to speed up... and you make mistakes. When it happens towards the end, it's more likely the case that you weren't SO far behind that you panicked towards the middle. Instead, your timing wasn't too terribly off, so you didn't panic yet... and then, towards the end, it became more apparent that you really were behind... and the same thing happened (nerves and rushing).
It's that string of questions in a row that can really hurt you. And the worst place for that to happen is at the end, because you don't have additional questions after that by which you can try to salvage your score. (It's not great to get a string wrong in the middle, either, but then, at the least, you have some more questions coming so you can try to recover a little bit.)
Okay, so what to do?
Your AWA score is excellent, obviously, so next time go for a 5.0 instead of a 6.0. Really! Try to use less mental energy so that you can save it for the verbal at the end of the test.
You mentioned that you logged your incorrect questions but didn't spend time understanding why you'd made the mistakes you made. Time to start doing that. Some questions to ask yourself:
- why did I get this wrong? very specifically, what mistake(s) did I make?
- why is this choice so tempting - what's the trap here?
- why is this choice wrong even though it's so tempting? (be as specific as possible)
- why did I eliminate the right answer - why did I think it was wrong? Why is it actually right? (again, be as specific as possible)
- how can I remember both pieces of this lesson for future - why the wrong one was tempting but wrong, and why the right one seemed wrong but was right?
If you have someone else with whom to study, that can be very helpful when doing the kind of analysis I've described above. You guys can do the same set of problems separately, then get together to discuss. Otherwise, make use of the forums here to discuss - you can post your analysis and see whether others agree, you can ask others for their opinions as to why something is so tempting even when it's wrong, etc.
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!
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