Strategy for Time Crunch in the G-MAT??

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bsandhyav: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 116; Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2008 10:22 am; Location: Mumbai,India; Thanked: 1 times

by bsandhyav » Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:22 am

Hi

I have exactly 10 days for my G-MAT (Oct14). However i generally face a problem with my time management. On an average 4-5 mins for the last 10 Q's in Verbal(too slow) and 5 mins for last 3-5 Q's in Quant

I try and follow the following startegy mentioned in one of the posts:

VERBAL:
LAP1:1st 10 Q's-57 mins remaining
LAP2:After 20Q's-38 mins remaining
LAP3:After 30Q's-20 mins remaining

QUANT:
LAP1:After 13 Q's :50 mins remaining
LAP2:After 26 Q's :25 mins remaining

However i wanted to know whether it is better to pace yourself strictly according to the above criteria i.e in case you find yourself lagging behind schedule during the Lap 2 in verbal ex: You are on Q17 with 38 mins remaining guess the Q's 18,19,20 to meet the 38 mins remaining deadline or is it better to stick to your pace solve as many Q's as possible until the last 5 mins and guess the remaining Q's?

Please advise me on this. I really am facing a huge problem with timing and want to know which startegy would help me maximize my score ?

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:22 am

gabriel: Legendary Member; Posts: 986; Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:07 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: India; Thanked: 51 times

by gabriel » Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:20 am

Well I used to use a very simple strategy for time management. On an average I used to give every question around 2 minutes (that is what you get when you divide the total alloted time for each section with the total number of questions in each section), within that time if I did not get an answer I used to guess and move on. I used to give it another minute or so depending on if I am near to an answer. It is important that you give yourself more than 10 minutes for the last 5-6 questions. I was very comfortable with this strategy and it worked well for me.

Cheers

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bsandhyav: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 116; Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2008 10:22 am; Location: Mumbai,India; Thanked: 1 times

by bsandhyav » Sun Oct 05, 2008 6:39 am

gabriel wrote:Well I used to use a very simple strategy for time management. On an average I used to give every question around 2 minutes (that is what you get when you divide the total alloted time for each section with the total number of questions in each section), within that time if I did not get an answer I used to guess and move on. I used to give it another minute or so depending on if I am near to an answer. It is important that you give yourself more than 10 minutes for the last 5-6 questions. I was very comfortable with this strategy and it worked well for me.

Cheers

Thanks Gabriel. I am aware that one has 2 mins for each Q in quant and 1.75 mins for each Q in Verbal but find it difficult to track my test by the minute or by each Q....in that case i end up looking at the clock too often which hampers my concentration on the test. So i prefer the strategy of grouping Q's and timing them.

But from your suggestion i understand that one must have atleast 10 mins for the last 5-6 Q's. Does that mean it is better to rush through a few Q's in the middle so as to be left with 10 mins for the last 5-6 Q's? Do the last 5-6 Q's have a higher weightage as compared to some of the Q's in the middle or the Q's just preceding them?

I am sorry if my Question is too limited in scope but i wanted to know this because generally i have to guess the last 5 Q's randomly on account of shortage of time. In case the weightage for the last 5-6 Q's is more i would prefer making an educated guess for the few Q's preceding them so that i get the last Q's right.

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