Panicking about the clock is killing my score

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mirandasallyjean: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2014 6:47 pm

Panicking about the clock is killing my score

by mirandasallyjean » Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:13 pm

I've been studying for about 6 weeks using Kaplan and it seems to be working. When I'm practicing and reviewing sample questions I can answer both verbal and quant with about 80-90 percent accuracy, but when I take the practice tests online I start freaking out about the time and rushing through questions- skimming through them and then making impulsive answer choices. This is killing my practice exam scores- I drop down to the 55-65 percent accurate range. Afterward, when I review the questions I missed, the answers seem so obvious, stuff I could have gotten right if I had read more thoroughly.

Does anyone else have this problem? How can I stop panicking and read things accurately, but still be mindful of the time and stay on pace?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:13 pm

MartyMurray: Legendary Member; Posts: 2135; Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 9:26 am; Location: https://martymurraycoaching.com/; Thanked: 955 times; Followed by:140 members; GMAT Score:800

by MartyMurray » Wed Jan 28, 2015 6:38 am

I am wondering how much time per question you are taking when just going through questions. If you are not even thinking about time when you are doing practice questions, then naturally suddenly having to consider time changes everything.

So, if you are not already, do some of your practice with the clock running. This is easy with some of the question banks, which time every question you do. The Veritas question bank is one such option.

Another thing to consider is that guessing or skipping questions is not the same as quickly running through question after question. When you do the latter, you are not paying attention to much of anything and you can get many wrong that way. When you do the former, you are merely judiciously choosing to skip particular questions or leave certain questions before you are done and are thus giving yourself more time to really pay attention to other questions.

One thing that could calm you down is something I have experienced. Maybe I just don't like to be rushed, and so often I tend to do questions in a way that almost disregards the clock. Sure I am seeking to be fast, but on quant I often don't complete all the questions and end up guessing on the last few. My average quant score is still in the 49 - 50 range. Why? Because I get so many hard questions right along the way.

Right answers drive scores higher. So if you have a choice between rushing to keep up with the clock and going slowly to get more questions right, you might just be better off choosing the latter, within reason obviously.

One thing you could try is doing a practice CAT more carefully, without worrying about the clock much, and seeing how you do. You might be pleasantly surprised by the score you get, or you might not. Anyway, that could be your baseline. Then from THERE you could work on speeding up.

Marty Murray
Perfect Scoring Tutor With Over a Decade of Experience
MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.

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David@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2193; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pm; Location: Vermont and Boston, MA; Thanked: 1186 times; Followed by:512 members; GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Wed Jan 28, 2015 7:42 am

Marty is right that you need to focus on getting questions right and stop thinking so much about the clock!

Basically it comes down to this:

The key to scoring as well as you are capable of is Focusing on the question in front of you. If you think you can get the question right in 3 minutes or less then forget about the time and simply, efficiently solve the question. This way you do not miss the easy questions that are killing your score.

The key to timing on the quant section is to Know when you are not making progress on a question and then guessing at that question within a reasonable amount of time 60 to 90 seconds and moving on.

That really is it. Timing on the GMAT is not about looking at the clock. I turn off the clock in practice tests just so I do not get used to looking at it. Timing is question by question. Devoting time to questions that you will get right and not devoting time to questions that are not working for you.

Here is an article that should really help you to understand how to implement these rules. https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/04/ ... at-success

You are not alone in this problem. It is something that plagues many people. You can overcome it with some work!

Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor

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GMAT/MBA Expert

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by [email protected] » Wed Jan 28, 2015 11:08 am

Hi mirandasallyjean,

Since you've been studying for just 6 weeks with these materials, it's understandable that you would not have mastered everything just yet. Most Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) on the process and "improved pacing" is one of the LAST things that they fix. The "problem" that you describe is based on a variety of factors, including YOUR knowledge of the materials/concepts tested, your familiarity/experience with the tactics that can be used, how quickly you get to work, your "muscle memory" - linking new questions to past questions that you've already solved, etc. All of these skills take time to develop and it sounds like you have not put in enough time yet.

All that having been said, remember that almost nothing that you face on the GMAT will be "new ideas" - everything question you see will be based on something that you already know, so look for the "clues" in the prompts. What words, symbols, concepts stand out? For example, when a right triangle shows up in a question, you should be thinking "what do I know about right triangles? Some of those rules are going to apply here!" Then take some notes, connect ideas, do work on the pad. You'd be amazed how 'easy' most of the questions actually are - so stay calm, think about what each piece of information "means" and do the necessary work.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

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nic98007: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:58 pm

by nic98007 » Wed Jan 28, 2015 12:14 pm

David@veritasPrep,

I also have a pacing problem where I freak myself out a little during the quant section and rush things too much.

See my post from today: https://www.beatthegmat.com/quant-sectio ... tml#739260

You mentioned in your comments here "The key to timing on the quant section is to Know when you are not making progress on a question and then guessing at that question within a reasonable amount of time 60 to 90 seconds and moving on."

I think this may help solve my problem, would you agree?

Thanks!

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DavidG@VeritasPrep: Legendary Member; Posts: 2663; Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:25 am; Location: Boston, MA; Thanked: 1153 times; Followed by:128 members; GMAT Score:770

by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Wed Jan 28, 2015 2:21 pm

In addition to the excellent advice from David and Rich, I'd recommend checking out this comprehensive pacing-strategy post from a user at gmatclub:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/timing-strate ... 80176.html

Another tweak I might suggest is to incorporate some mindfulness meditation into your preparation regimen. The effects of such training on standardized test scores are fairly well documented: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi ... on/275564/

In your case, the hope is that the practice would allow you to cultivate a more intuitive sense of when you're nearing that 3-minute limit, so that you'd have the presence of mind to let go of some of these questions.

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JTuquero: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 29; Joined: Wed Sep 17, 2014 10:12 am; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 5 times; Followed by:1 members

by JTuquero » Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:20 pm

mirandasallyjean wrote:I've been studying for about 6 weeks using Kaplan and it seems to be working. When I'm practicing and reviewing sample questions I can answer both verbal and quant with about 80-90 percent accuracy, but when I take the practice tests online I start freaking out about the time and rushing through questions- skimming through them and then making impulsive answer choices. This is killing my practice exam scores- I drop down to the 55-65 percent accurate range. Afterward, when I review the questions I missed, the answers seem so obvious, stuff I could have gotten right if I had read more thoroughly.

Does anyone else have this problem? How can I stop panicking and read things accurately, but still be mindful of the time and stay on pace?

Try grouping five verbal questions together and spend no more more than 9 minutes on them. Use this strategy on both practice questions and simulation exams. If you fall behind schedule, make a strategic guess or two to catch up. Make strategic guesses on questions that you aren't confident on or that would take you much longer than two minutes to answer. By making strategic guesses, you can recover precious time that you can spend on questions that you have a better chance of answering correctly. You can use the same approach for quant, just in 10 minutes instead of 9.

Try not to sneak glances at the clock to look at the timer. The idea behind working in clusters of five questions is exactly that; only look at the clock after you answer all five questions.

Hope this helps in keeping you on track and less stressed!

Jessica

The Economist GMAT Tutor Representative
https://econgm.at/freetrial7

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Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pm; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; Followed by:1268 members; GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:37 pm

mirandasallyjean wrote: Does anyone else have this problem? How can I stop panicking and read things accurately, but still be mindful of the time and stay on pace?

If you're interested, we have a free video on the topic on overcoming test anxiety: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1252

As part of managing anxiety, it's crucial that you adopt the proper mindset and body language when taking tests. To this end, you may be interested in reading the following articles:
- https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/min ... -destroyer
- https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/jun ... g-big-gmat

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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VivianKerr: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1035; Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2010 11:13 am; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 474 times; Followed by:365 members

by VivianKerr » Sat Jan 31, 2015 3:53 pm

Hey Miranda Sally Jean,

Pacing is definitely a stressful aspect of the GMAT, so you're totally normal to feel this way! I find the best way to overcome this is Benchmarks -- have a piece of paper with timing guidelines for both Quant and Verbal in front of you for EVERY CAT you take, and check in with it regularly. If you're falling behind, no problem. Simply Guess/Attmept/Guess/Attempt until you're back on track. That way, you'll be able to spread out your incorrect answers.

I'd also suggest doing regular pacing drills. You can find 14 "levels" of pacing drills I recommend here: https://gmatrockstar.com/2015/01/31/sent ... ng-drills/

Finally, I think you may need to take a closer look at the strategies you're using for each of the five major question types: CR, SC, RC, DS, and PS. Do you feel like you have a solid, set way of attacking each question type utilizing your scratch pad to the best of your ability, or do you think there's still a degree of flail in your approach? You may want to work with a tutor to get your strategies in shape so you feel more confident.

I'd also recommend you identify what types of questions are slowing you down the most. In Verbal, it's probably RC. In Quant, for most people it's Word Problems. I'd do a LOT more of them, and really take on some daily pacing drills for these types of questions.

Your accuracy is really high, so I think you only have some minor pacing/strategy adjustments to make and you'll be moving about that 55-65 percent accuracy range.

Good luck!

-Vivian

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manyaabroadtpr: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 321; Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:04 pm; Location: B 7/2, Okhla Phase-II, New Delhi - 110020; Thanked: 41 times; Followed by:13 members

by manyaabroadtpr » Wed Feb 04, 2015 8:15 pm

mirandasallyjean wrote:I've been studying for about 6 weeks using Kaplan and it seems to be working. When I'm practicing and reviewing sample questions I can answer both verbal and quant with about 80-90 percent accuracy, but when I take the practice tests online I start freaking out about the time and rushing through questions- skimming through them and then making impulsive answer choices. This is killing my practice exam scores- I drop down to the 55-65 percent accurate range. Afterward, when I review the questions I missed, the answers seem so obvious, stuff I could have gotten right if I had read more thoroughly.

Does anyone else have this problem? How can I stop panicking and read things accurately, but still be mindful of the time and stay on pace?

Hi mirandasallyjean,

Maybe you could tell yourself that you are not looking to get all the questions right instead looking to get the ones that you are definite about turn out right. I mean, let accuracy be the determining factor while taking the test and not speed. In this way you may find yourself running out of time while nearing the end of the test, but this is when you guess a few and do the rest with accuracy. It is no harm to guess on a few questions as many experts have probably told you by now. Just do not guess questions in a row.!

Wish you the best.
www.manyagroup.com

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mindful: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 52; Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2015 10:57 pm; Thanked: 3 times; Followed by:1 members

by mindful » Tue Oct 27, 2015 9:31 pm

Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote:
mirandasallyjean wrote: Does anyone else have this problem? How can I stop panicking and read things accurately, but still be mindful of the time and stay on pace?
If you're interested, we have a free video on the topic on overcoming test anxiety: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1252

As part of managing anxiety, it's crucial that you adopt the proper mindset and body language when taking tests. To this end, you may be interested in reading the following articles:
- https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/min ... -destroyer
- https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/jun ... g-big-gmat

Cheers,
Brent