The only time that you have for yourself where you are at the computer, with your notepad and pen and the clock is not running against you is during the 4 minute "tutorial" at the beginning of the test.

Since this tutorial comes before the AWA and then the Quantitative it is better to use this 4 minutes to write down any notes for those sections - particularly Quant. In many cases your notepad will be replaced between the Quant and the Verbal sections (whether you want it to be replaced or not) or you might even raise your hand during the Quant to have it replaced because you are out of space. In any case it is not too likely that you will have the same notepad to begin the verbal that you had at the start of the tutorial.

So you will likely have to devote time from the beginning of the verbal section if you want to make a 41-question A - E elimination grid. I think that it is better to wait and make a new grid at the beginning of each question. That is your time to cleanse your mind of the previous question. We are talking less than 5 seconds to write A - E and in that time you shift your mind from the previous question to the one that is upcoming.

That is my take on it.

Thanks. I just called the test center and they told me that I will be given 10 pages for the test. Therefore there will be enough space to write down those 41 verbal answer choices during those 4 minutes and I think I'll go with that option, because it's really frustrating,at least for me,to write down those A B C....'s at the beginning of every question. What kind of notes do you suggest to write down for Quant? I don't write any notes for that one.

It's not what I suggest that you write down...it is formulas that you might often forget or things that you want to remind yourself in terms of timing or strategy.

Maybe you have nothing to write down because you never forget the formula for the area of an equilateral triangle or the list of number properties to remember for data sufficiency.

By the way, it takes nearly 4 minutes to write down 41 ABCDEs so you won't have too much time anyway. Just remember not to use up the entire pad for the Quant section -- if you run out and ask for another set of sheets you will lose your ABCDEs.

Wow, I didn't even know that there's a special formula for the area of an equilateral triangle. Thanks to you I know it now and I'll try to learn it cold as well as the other formulas.