Study and Strategy questions relating to the GMAT.
chetan86
Students
 
Posts: 85
Joined: Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:26 pm
 

How to approach last 2 options?

by chetan86 Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:39 am

Hi Stacey,

I need one help from your side.
Could you please let me know what one should do if he/she stuck in 2 last options after POE?
While clock is ticking, it becomes very difficult to spend more time on question, and we have to unnecessarily guess the answer and move on.

What thing we should do after arriving at last 2 option?
Sometimes we are fatigued and reread the text multiple times.
Could you provide some tips for SC, CR and RC questions?

Thanks!!!
StaceyKoprince
ManhattanGMAT Staff
 
Posts: 9360
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
Location: Montreal
 

Re: How to approach last 2 options?

by StaceyKoprince Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:18 pm

Great question. While the clock is ticking, when you get down to the last two, compare them ONCE. Then pick something and move on. Do NOT go back and forth multiple times. At that stage of the game, you either know the answer or you don't.

Where you learn to get better is when you're studying.

When you're reviewing, review everything. Identify ALL of the questions on which you narrowed to two and guessed, even when you guessed right. Answer these questions:

1) why was the wrong answer so tempting? why did it look like it might be right? (be as explicit as possible; also, now you know this is not a good reason to pick an answer)

2) why was it actually wrong? what specific words indicate that it is wrong and how did I overlook those clues the first time?

3) why did the right answer seem wrong? what made it so tempting to cross off the right answer? why were those things actually okay; what was my error in thinking that they were wrong? (also, now you know that this is not a good reason to eliminate an answer)

4) why was it actually right?

In other words, teach yourself how they trick you into thinking that a very tempting wrong answer is better than the right answer. Then, you won't be as likely to fall into those traps. :)

Remember, though, that you're only going to answer about 60% of the questions correctly (unless you're scoring at a VERY high level), so you should still see a number of questions on which you have to guess. If you can narrow down to 2 before you make that guess, then you are in a fantastic position, since you only need about 60% correct!
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep