How to Set up Your GMAT Scratch Paper
A student in one of my classes recently asked me how best to set up his scratch paper while taking the exam, so my first task is to give a shout-out to Robert and thank him for giving me the topic for this article!
I shared a few things with him during class and Ill share these things with you below. Plus, now that Ive had a chance to reflect, I have some other ideas for you.
Whats the Scratch Paper like?
Youll be given a bound booklet of 5 sheets of legal-sized paper (thats the overly long paper often used for legal documents). This yellow graph paper will be laminated, so youll use a special marker to write on it. (If youre in one of our classes, then you received your very own scratch paper booklet as part of your books and other materials.)
While the booklet technically has 10 faces (front and back of 5 pages), the first page has a bunch of writing and instructions on it, so in practice youll have 9 faces on which to write. You can have only one booklet at a time, but you are allowed to exchange the booklet for a new one during the test.
AWA (essay)
The test is divided into four sections. Chances are that you wont need much scrap paper, if any, during the essay section. In fact, I recommend typing your notes right onto the screen as you read the essay prompt. For example, every time I find a flaw in the argument, I type up a note, then hit enter. When Im done, I look through the list of flaws, decide which ones to keep, and cut and paste to reorder them. Now, I have a template for what Im going to write for each paragraph.
Integrated Reasoning (IR) and Organizing Your Page
You will definitely use your scrap paper during the IR section, but there are only 12 question prompts and 9 sheets of paper, so you should have plenty of space.
Organization, though, will be important, since most IR question types have two or three parts. Plan to spend about half a page per problem and keep that work discrete. In fact, I recommend drawing a horizontal line halfway down the page to force yourself to work in a discrete space and keep your steps organized.
Have you ever done this?
[Internal monologue] Hmm, theres not a lot of room left on this page, but I think I can squeeze one more problem in here. Oh, there isnt quite enough room after all, but if I turn the paper sideways and write in this blank space between some other work over here, I can finish it off. Argh, none of the answers match. I mustve made a mistakelet me check my work Wait, am I looking at work from this problem or from the last problem?
Im one of the worst offenders on this on quant. Check this out. I just went and found an old piece of scrap paper (I did not create this just for this articleI promise!):
I dont even know whether thats one problem or two different problems. Either way, that is NOT good scrap paper practice. I think this might have been one of our challenge problems and I was definitely struggling to figure the problem out.
However, when Im working under testing conditions, Im super anal about writing much more neatly and uniformly. I make sure that my work is line by line so that I can easily review the steps if need be.
I also clearly delineate the given information (from the question stem) versus the work that Im doing to try to solve the problem. The given info comes first. Then I leave a blank line before I start working. If I need to back up, I know that I only need to back up to that line; the given info doesn't change.
Of course, that last part depends upon the assumption that I wrote down the given info correctly in the first place. To that end, when Im done writing down what I need from the question stem, I quickly glance back over the question on screen to make sure that I hit everything and that its all correctly transcribed.
Quant and Timing
Next up, youll have an 8-minute break before you start the quant section. Turn in your scratch paper now and get a fresh booklet.
(Note: I have had occasional reports from students saying that the test center proctors sometimes dont want to give a fresh pad if you havent used up the existing pad. I spoke with GMACthe organization that owns the GMATand you are allowed to ask for a fresh pad even if you have not used up the existing pad. If your proctor balks at this, tell them that you specifically asked about this and GMAC affirmed that you are allowed to get a new scratch booklet at the break even if its not yet full. Of course, be super nice to the proctor while having this conversation.)
For the quant section, your scratch paper organization method is also going to let you keep track of your timing; how awesome is that?
Okay, heres what youre going to do:
That graphic contains 9 sheets of scrap paper. Flip to the last page and draw a cross on the page, dividing it into 4 quadrants. Then give yourself a smiley face or a Done! in the lower-right corner.
Flip to the second to last page. Divide that one into quarters, too, but this time write 8 in the lower-right corner. Keep doing this, counting up by multiples of 8, until you reach the first page.
On that first page, divide the page into 5 sections, not 4. (But youre still counting by multiples of 8, so the final number youll write is 64.)
Now, youve got 37 discrete spaces in which to complete your 37 quant problems. Whats more, as you finish each page, youll know how much time should be left on the clock. If youre more than about 2 minutes off in either direction, take action!
If youre going too fast, slow down and start writing out all of your work and checking that youre answering the right question.
If youre going too slowly, do two things: guess immediately on the next hard question that pops up, and start being more careful about spending extra time on problems.
One more important thing: when do you set up your scratch paper this way? You cannot do so over the break or before the proctor starts up your test againyoure not allowed to use the scratch paper at that time. So heres what you do: at the beginning of the section, there is a 1-minute instructions tutorial that tells you basic instructions for working through the section. Set up your scratch paper during this timepractice ahead of time and it wont take you more than a minute!
Verbal: the Annoying One
Again, ask for a new scratch booklet between the quant and verbal sections.
Verbal is annoying for a couple of reasons. First, the average question time is different for each question type. Second, the amount of what we need to write also varies by question type. Since we dont know the order in which were going to get questions, there isnt an easy set-up, as there is for quant.
Heres how to set up your scratch paper:
You dont have to turn the booklet sideways and open up two pages at once, the way I do, but I do so because then when I write the timing benchmarks (see below for more), its good for two pages. Try it out and see what you think.
To the left, I write ABCDE with some space in between each letter. The scratch paper is graph paper, so gridlines are already set up. Then, I assess each problems answer choices underneath, moving to a new line for each new problem. You may notice that I didnt number the problems. Its unnecessary: the only thing that matters is the problem up on the screen right now!
Then to the right of the answer grid, I start taking notes whenever I need them. When I finish a problem, I box off the notes, so that I know Im done with the notes. The writing that doesnt have a box around it is the stuff Im working on right now.
When I move to the right side, I do typically re-draw the ABCDE thing, because I find it annoying to go all the way back to the left-hand side to use the answer grid. Others dont, though; play around with it and see what you like.
Now, heres what youre going to do for the timing. Split the verbal test into four quarters. Youre going to spend approximately 19 minutes on each quadrant, so you have to memorize 3 somewhat annoying numbersbut only 3:
Notice that the tens digit goes down by 2 each time and the units digit goes up by 1 each time. Memorize those rules plus the first number, 56, and youve got the three numbers.
Okay, now heres the more annoying part. Those numbers assume that you start exactly one new RC passage in each quarter. So youre going to keep track of your RC passages by drawing a little dot or line on your hand each time you start a new passage.
When you glance at the clock for your first check, you should have one dot on your hand. At the second mark, you should have two dots, and at the third, three dots.
If you have fewer dots than expected, then you need to have MORE time left on the clock than your standard benchmark timea few minutes more. If you have more dots than expected, then your remaining time should be a few minutes lower than youd be expecting by the standard benchmark, because you've started more RC passages than expected at this point in the test.
As with quant, if you discover that youre off by more than 2 minutes in either direction, take action right away!
Key Takeaways: Organize Your Scratch Paper
(1) Think about this! Good scratch paper technique will help you to minimize careless mistakes, use less mental energy, and keep yourself on track throughout the test. Work on this throughout your studies so that you've had a chance to figure out what works for you and practice it before test day.
(2) Use the above suggestions as a starting point, but feel free to try other techniques or configurations that occur to you as youre studying. Above all, be consistent. Find methods that work for you and stick with them!