Keep Going? Bail? Decision Making on GMAT SC - Part 2/3
Last time, we talked about decision-making and time management on the quant section. Its time to talk about verbal! Today, well talk about Sentence Correction. Next time, well dive into Critical Reasoning and Reading Comp.
The SC Decision Tree
Youre going to use two of the same three categories that we discussed in quant. SC question sub-types arent immediately apparent when the sentence pops up on the screen, so the first category (bail immediately when you recognize a sub-type you hate) doesn't apply to SC.
Also note that SC questions should average about 1 minute 20 seconds; some will be faster and some slower than average but generally try not to go above about 2 minutes on one SC. (Note: all times below are approximate. Don't worry about 10 or 15 seconds here and there.)
(1) I get it
I understand whats going on with the original sentence.
(1a) Ive already spotted an error. Im on this!
Decision: Start eliminating! I get it, so I can choose to spend a little extra time if this one is longer / harder than average
Time taken to make decision: About 20 to 30 seconds (+ up to another 90 seconds to keep eliminating)
(1b) Ive spotted something that seems funnyjust not sure why yet.
Decision: Ill keep going, but Im not going to spend extra time on this one unless I suddenly realize I totally get it.
Time taken to make decision: About 20 to 30 seconds (+ up to another 60 to 90 seconds if finding solid errors)
(1c) I dont see a starting point yet.
Decision: Start scanning the answers vertically to look for differences. If I spot something, go to step 1a or step 1b. If not, guess and move on.
Time taken to make decision: About 20 to 30 seconds (+ up to another 60 to 90 seconds if finding solid errors)
(1.5) I narrowed down but am now stuck
This one follows Decision Path (1); its not a separate path. Ive eliminated some answer choices, but Im not sure how to handle any of the remaining differences
Decision: Pick from whats left and move on!
Time taken to make decision: Up to about 1m30s to get to this pointand then 1 second to pick and move on
(2) Huh?
Ive read the sentencetwice!and cant understand the underlying meaning. The whole thing seems nonsensical. Perhaps Ive even tried to plug answer (E) into the full sentence, but Im still lost.
Decision: Is there a good way to make an educated guess? (This is not super common on SC.) If so, I take a little time to think that through and then guess. If not, I pick my favorite letter right now and move on.
Time taken to make decision: About 30 seconds (+ up to another 30 seconds to make an educated guess)
Sentence Correction questions are supposed to average just a little over 1 minute, so how does the 1-minute time sense play out here?
Whats a 1-minute time sense?
Its the ability to know that you started working on the problem approximately one minute agowithout actually having to look at the clock every minute. Youre going to train yourself to know roughly how long one minute is!
If you havent already, read part 1 of this series to learn how to develop your 1-minute time sense.
How do I put together the decision tree and the 1-minute time sense for SC?
Thats the key! Heres what youre going to do.
Your overall keep going or bail decision point is still around the 1-minute mark, but it works very differently on SC than on Quant. Since SC is supposed to average only about 1 minute 20 seconds, you should be close to done with most SCs at the 1-minute mark.
There are three scenarios:
First, you really are almost done. In this case, finish off the problem and move on.
Second, you arent almost done but you understand the sentence, you know whats going on, and you still have more things that you can address. In this case, you may decide to invest an additional 30 to 60 seconds (up to about 2 minutes) in this problem.
Third, you arent almost done and you arent feeling good about the problem. Maybe you dont know how to handle the remaining differences. Maybe you dont feel confident that you understand the full meaning of the sentence. Whatever it is, if youre having an uneasy feeling at this point, then your best strategy is to pick an answer from whatever you havent crossed off yet and move on to the next problem.
How long will it take to master this?
As with quant, expect to spend a solid 4 to 6 weeks working through and practicing the different pieces before it starts to come together and feel more natural. Youll also need to develop a solid sense of when you know how to handle certain differences in the answer choices and when you really dont. Dont get sucked in by the But! feeling.
Eventually, you will have internalized the Business Mindset approach to the GMAT and youll be able to make effective decisions about when to invest extra time on SC and when to move on.
Read the third part of this series to learn about the verbal decision-making process for Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension.