Math score high untimed - low timed

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aarthyk: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:39 am

by aarthyk » Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:38 pm

Hi folks,

I am finding that I'm getting around 50 in the Math if I do the problems untimed, but when I do them timed I only get to about question 28 and have to guess on the rest. That is lowering my score drastically obviously. I was wondering if you have any advice on how to tackle the timing issue. I hear that the first 10 are very important so I end up spending a lot of time on those questions to double check the answer,and if one of the first 10 is something I don't know then I spend a lot of time to find the answer. This results in me losing a lot of time for other questions later on in the exam. I'm afraid of losing points early on and never being able to recover.

So I guess my questions are:
1. What can I do to speed up math? I tried doing the problems in the Official Guide and practice exams, creating flash cards, etc.

2. What should I do if I don't know the answer to an early question?

Thanks so much for the help.

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:38 pm

4seasoncentre: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 211; Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 12:17 pm; Thanked: 12 times; GMAT Score:680

by 4seasoncentre » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:27 pm

Because timing is soo critical, I think part of being successful means having to determine when you honestly can not answer a question. Personally, I found some questions take mere moments to answer, so I don't feel bad spending 4 minutes or so on one or two questions. However I only do so if I honestly feel like I can answer the question. If I can't then I just eliminate any answer that I can and guess.

Remember, this isn't like writing a test in school where you theoretically should know all the answers. The GMAT is trying to access your abilities so there are bound to be some questions you don't know.

mharv: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 36; Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:14 pm; Location: Bangalore; Thanked: 2 times; GMAT Score:390

Guessing is required

by mharv » Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:51 pm

Hey

:!: Question 28 is a little early, you can probably guess 1-2 questions from 33-37 and you need to start well.

There is no maya if you get first 10 questions correct that you will get a 50. Try to get 8 correct, but not by spending extra time.

But if you get more than 2 wrong, you will need to make up in questions 15-30 and not getting any wrong.

@4seasoncenter is correct about the 4 minutes on a question .. it should not take that long atleast before question 30 to solve a GMAT problem.

Regards,
Arvind

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