so I thought I can spend more time on difficult questions. I had a feeling that I will be able to answer
subsequent questions in lesser time.
This strategy / thinking will NEVER work on a CAT. Think about why.
Your goal in spending more time on the difficult questions is to answer them correctly, right? And what happens when you answer them correctly?
You get harder ones.
Now, you're already spending more time on these difficult questions. You get them right. You get even more difficult ones. Are you going to be able to answer those in LESS time than you took on the previous ones? No. Well, not correctly, anyway.
Be vigilant in managing your time! Do not let them suck you into thinking that you are the one person in the world who can "beat" the test / "beat" the time requirements. Quant = 2m average, max of 2.5 on any Q. Period. You can't get it in that timeframe, you
move on!
You should also have a minimum time limit, by the way, to make sure that you don't go SO quickly that you make a lot of careless mistakes. On quant, my minimum time is 1m; if I finish in less time than that, I do it again.
Because I think the probability of getting the answer wrong on probability question is very high
lol! Good strategy; I approve.
Rate problems:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/05/ ... e-problems
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/05/ ... te-problem
Timing for verbal per question:
SC - about 60-75 sec; max of 90 sec
CR - about 2m; max of 2.5m
RC - about 2.5m (short) to 3.5m (long) to read; about 1 min for general purpose questions; about 1.5 to 2 for everything else
Timing guidelines for the entire section:
Quant:
Q10: 55 min left
Q20: 35 min left
Q30: 15 min left
Verbal:
This is trickier because it partially depends upon where the 3 or 4 RC passages begin. The below assumes that one new passage starts within each quarter of the test (Q1-10, Q11-20, Q21-30, Q31-41).
Q10: 56 min left
Q20: 37 min left
Q30: 19 min left
You may have to adjust the above if the passages don't start in the way described above. For instance, if by the time you get to Q10, you've actually had 2 passages start, not just one, then you should expect to have fewer minutes left - maybe 53 instead of 56. If, on the other hand, you get to Q10 and you've had no passages start, then you should expect to have more - maybe 59 left. Every time a new passage starts, I keep track with a tick mark on the first page of my scrap paper. If you're worried about losing that or having to flip back to find the tick marks, then keep track on your hand - maybe with dots, so that you don't have as much skin to scrub later.
but if I am stuck between two options I am really stuck there. I usually take a lot of time in deciding between those two.
I'm guilty of this, too - this was a hard habit to break. Here's what I do: Once I've narrowed any verbal Q down to 2 answers, I allow myself to examine each choice ONE more time. That's it. Then I have to pick. (I've found that whatever our instinct is at that point, it doesn't change much if we keep going back and forth. So we might as well go with our instinct right away rather than 45 seconds from now!)
I made only 1 mistake in the first 20 questions. ie. I made 16 mistakes in the later half, where I had to rush to avoid penalty. Therefore I believe that there is more room for improvement if I can set my pacing along with the accuracy.
You do have to fix the pacing. You can't keep that accuracy. Even people scoring in the 99th percentile are not getting only 1 question (or 2) wrong on the entire test. If you take more than 30sec beyond what you're supposed to spend in order to get something right, then you have wasted your time even if you get that Q right - because you have just guaranteed yourself something else wrong later in the test. And if you do that enough to result in multiple in a row wrong, then that will be even worse.
Change your mindset. You are NOT trying to get everything right. Think of this as a tennis match, not a test. You're going to win some points and the other guy is going to win some points; you're not going to win them all, right? Your goal is to put yourself into position to win the LAST point. Translated, that means you have to put yourself in position to answer the last question - you have to have time to address it. Otherwise, you've lost the last point, and by extension the match. When the other guy hits a winner, don't go running after it so fast that you hit the fence and injure yourself, thereby hurting your chances on the later points. (Translation: don't go way over when the problem is too hard.)
now I think I will write one exam each day and will review the wrong answers.
I think this is an extremely inefficient strategy. CAT exams are really good for (a) figuring out where you're scoring right now, (b) practicing stamina, and (c) analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. The actual act of just taking the exam is NOT so useful for improving. It's what you do with the test results / between tests that helps you to improve.
Make a distinction between "doing" and "learning." When you take a test or do a set of practice problems, you are doing. When you review, when you analyze what went wrong and figure out how to get better, and then practice, that is learning. You learn between tests. Then you use what you learned when you take a test. You learn a bit when you take a test - but most of what you learn is from your review, analysis, and study.
