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Take GMAT Monday - Take Another CAT?

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Take GMAT Monday - Take Another CAT?

by mstone » Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:12 pm
I'm taking the GMAT on Monday morning. My practice tests are kind of all over the place ranging from high 400's to mid 600's. Pacing in the quantitative section is by far my biggest issue. Is it worthwhile to take another full practice test between now and Monday? Maybe just take some full length quantitative sections?

How can i best utilize these last few days leading up to the test?

thanks in advance.
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by money9111 » Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:59 pm
I think taking another Cat might be in order since you've stated your issue is timing. I wouldn't take it on Sunday night, but maybe in this case Friday/Saturday. Try to take the Cat around the time when you'll be taking the actual exam.
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by mstone » Wed Feb 24, 2010 3:06 pm
cool, thanks. well what do you think i should try to do during the cat to improve pacing / timing? any advice?
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by money9111 » Wed Feb 24, 2010 3:15 pm
Well I may not be the best one to answer this question as I have a tendency to speed through my CAT exams. I finsihed each section 10 minutes early. I think there was an article posted in the article section re: pacing. I know that you should estimate your time instead of calculate. On Sentence correction give yourself a strict 1.5 minute (some say 1 minute) time limit.

Just hone in your guessing strategy because if you see that you've spent too much time on a question, it's time to throw in the towel rather than run out of time.

Also a something that either my GMAT instructor said, or Brian@Veritas said when I was participating in a webinar - only give yourself those extra seconds on a problem when you've banked enough time. Meaning... let's say you were planning on giving yourself 2 minutes for 3 Quant questions... if you finish the first 2 questions in a minute and then need to spend 4 minutes on that 3rd question, it's not that bad.

Do not go into it thinking, oh I'll spend my time on this question and then rush through the rest.

Hope some of this helps
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by mstone » Wed Feb 24, 2010 3:19 pm
would you/anyone recommend actually looking at the timer before / during / after each question to see how quickly you're moving? i am in the habit of looking at the timer every 10-12 minutes or so and re-evaluating where i am.
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by money9111 » Wed Feb 24, 2010 3:31 pm
I wouldn't suggest looking at the timer after every question... If you're in the habit of looking every 10-12 minutes (5-6 questions), maybe cut that in half to looking at the timer every 3 minutes. Have you been running out of time on both sections?
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by mstone » Wed Feb 24, 2010 3:40 pm
just quantitative. verbal i'm decent at timing...although i feel rushed on the last 5-7 questions, i typically finish verbal on time.

quantitative i tend to get through 25 questions or so and then it is a free for all that last 5 minutes of the test rushing through and guessing.
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