Hi, Dear Instructor,
I took a GMAT before and I found that the time for verbal session is very limited. I wanted to ask which time management strategy I should adopt: 1) check remaining time frequently (every three questions I suppose) and if the remaining time is not quite adequate, skip one or two questions by randomly selecting answers and move forward 2) do the best to answer all the question towards the end of the test and randomly select all the answers for questions that there is no adequate time left for.
Between these two strategies, which one is better and can help me earn higher scores.
I also wanted to generally ask any tips that can help me improve the pace of answering verbal questions.
Appreciate and thanks!
Sun
GMAT Forum
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- XIAOJINGX552
- Students
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2015 2:26 pm
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9360
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
Re: Test Taking Strategy
Hello! Of those two approaches, you want to do something like the first one.
First, though, you want to try to change your overall mindset. The test will *always* give you questions that are too hard or will take too long. Your goal is to be able to identify when a question is too hard and let that question go within the first 30 seconds or so - just guess and move on.
If you can learn to do that, then you won't find yourself running out of time at the end. Think of it this way: you will ALWAYS have to guess on something like 5 to 10 questions in the verbal section. The only choice you have is WHEN to do this. You might as well choose to do so on the ones that you think are hardest as you see them throughout the test - since you're probably going to get those ones wrong anyway.
On verbal, check your time every 5 questions. (For others reading this, you can check every 10 questions if you are stronger at verbal / don't have many timing issues.)
If you realize that you are more than about 2-3 minutes behind the time you should be at, then guess immediately on the next hard question that you see - within 10 to 15 seconds of the question popping up on screen.
How do you know what's a hard question? Simple: you look at it and think, "Ugh." :) It's really long or the language is hard or whatever just jumps out at you as annoying.
Next, let's get better at this overall. First, read this:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
And this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/2013/ ... -to-do-it/
You may discover that, if you fix your mindset and start guessing on those too-hard questions, that will be enough to fix your timing problems.
This article will help overall with your timing:
http://tinyurl.com/GMATTimeManagement
Are you slow on all three types of verbal questions? Or only certain types?
SC and CR each have a certain "process" that will help you work efficiently. Here's SC:
http://tinyurl.com/scprocess
And CR:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... g-problem/
If you have our books, the CR process is discussed in both the 5th edition and 6th edition CR guides. The SC process is discussed in the 6th edition SC guide.
Try that all out and let us know how it goes.
First, though, you want to try to change your overall mindset. The test will *always* give you questions that are too hard or will take too long. Your goal is to be able to identify when a question is too hard and let that question go within the first 30 seconds or so - just guess and move on.
If you can learn to do that, then you won't find yourself running out of time at the end. Think of it this way: you will ALWAYS have to guess on something like 5 to 10 questions in the verbal section. The only choice you have is WHEN to do this. You might as well choose to do so on the ones that you think are hardest as you see them throughout the test - since you're probably going to get those ones wrong anyway.
On verbal, check your time every 5 questions. (For others reading this, you can check every 10 questions if you are stronger at verbal / don't have many timing issues.)
If you realize that you are more than about 2-3 minutes behind the time you should be at, then guess immediately on the next hard question that you see - within 10 to 15 seconds of the question popping up on screen.
How do you know what's a hard question? Simple: you look at it and think, "Ugh." :) It's really long or the language is hard or whatever just jumps out at you as annoying.
Next, let's get better at this overall. First, read this:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
And this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/2013/ ... -to-do-it/
You may discover that, if you fix your mindset and start guessing on those too-hard questions, that will be enough to fix your timing problems.
This article will help overall with your timing:
http://tinyurl.com/GMATTimeManagement
Are you slow on all three types of verbal questions? Or only certain types?
SC and CR each have a certain "process" that will help you work efficiently. Here's SC:
http://tinyurl.com/scprocess
And CR:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... g-problem/
If you have our books, the CR process is discussed in both the 5th edition and 6th edition CR guides. The SC process is discussed in the 6th edition SC guide.
Try that all out and let us know how it goes.
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
2 posts Page 1 of 1