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Strategy Advice

by lagomez » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:37 am
2 part question

1. Some books say to spend extra time on the 1st few questions. Some say each question carries the same weight. What is your take?

2. What is the best strategy? I read a math question and I'm about 50-50% sure I can solve the problem, but it might take me a little long, 5-7 minutes. I'm halfway through the exam and more than half of my time is expired. Do I attempt the question or should I guess and move on? Remember I'm at the halfway point so I'm also assuming I'll see more difficult questions. I don't want to assume it's as easy as saying "I'll work the other questions faster".

Thanks for the advice.
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by mayonnai5e » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:18 am
On average, you should not spend more than 2 minutes per question. I say average because one question may take you 3 minutes while another takes only 1 - it depends on the topics you are strong on and weak on. One thing that worries me is that you have said you reach this sticking point halfway through the exam. Unless you are getting every single question right and rocketing to the hardest questions available, you should not be seeing questions that take that long unless you are really lacking some fundamental knowledge of certain topics. That is my initial impression - taking 5-7 minutes on a question in the middle of the exam screams out that you really don't understand the topic well enough. In other words, you may need to revisit the fundamentals for those topics.
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by lagomez » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:41 pm
Thanks for the advice. I'll keep going over the fundamentals. Funny thing is that I'll score between 640-680 on practice tests, however according to the MGMAT I'm answering 100% 600-700 50% 700-800, but something like 30%-60% with questions below 500. Any advice on that? Is this attributable to "silly mistakes".

I usually get two out of the first three questions wrong and then I'll run off about 8-10 correct answers in a row.

Failed to mention..I'm referring to math portion when I get stuck not verbal.
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by mayonnai5e » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:00 pm
30%-60% on 500 and lower questions is not good news. That is a significant drag on your score. Not only does it provide significant drag on your score, but it also means you will get fewer 700+ questions percentage wise. By that I mean, the algorithm will see that you are having trouble in the 500+ range and give you more 500+ questions and eventually 600+ questions. That means you'll see less 700+ questions and those are the ones you need to be getting to if you want to break 700 (if that's what you are really shooting for). Again, this goes back to what I said about fundamentals. Scoring 640 to 680 is very good considering how many 500 questions you are missing, but you should be aiming for 100% of the 500 questions - doing so will convince the algorithm that you have complete mastery of that question set. My advice is to look back at those 40-70% that you've gotten wrong on those questions and really analyze them - why did you get them wrong? Maybe they were all silly mistakes in which case you'll need to find patterns of silly mistakes and find ways to counteract them.

It sounds like you are doing strongly, just plug that little gap and you should see your score continue to go up.

Good luck.
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by lagomez » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:35 pm
great advice..thanks

i feel that I'm over thinking the easy ones. the data suff is the area that really kills me more than the p.s. any tips on those. i think i take too much time on data suff..
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by frantastic » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:28 pm
There's a thread on here where Stacey from Manhattan GMAT wrote about the scoring myth...if it's not a sticky, search for "score" and "myth" and see if you can find it. She essentially says that the first handful of questions aren't weighted more than the rest, but she explains how it works, so it's a good read.
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by lagomez » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:35 pm
great..found it..thanks

https://www.beatthegmat.com/my-blog-erro ... html#23962
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by lunarpower » Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:50 am
lagomez wrote:great advice..thanks

i feel that I'm over thinking the easy ones. the data suff is the area that really kills me more than the p.s. any tips on those. i think i take too much time on data suff..
ironically, it's often easier to guess on data sufficiency problems than to guess on problem solving.

on many data sufficiency problems, one of the 2 statements, by itself, will be clearly insufficient. (classic example: the question prompt asks for the value of some expression involving both x and y, but statement (1) involves only x so clearly can't be sufficient.) if that's the case, you can eliminate two answers right off the bat: if statement (1) is insufficient then a and d are gone, and if statement (2) is insufficient then b and d are gone.

that's about all that can be said for time management on DS problems in general; it's difficult to offer any more specific advice when you're trying to paint with such a broad brush.

general advice: if you haven't confidently found a solution method by the time 1 minute has elapsed, abandon ship and turn all your faculties to guessing and/or process of elimination.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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