Study and Strategy questions relating to the GMAT.
yamini
 
 

unable to do all in verbal

by yamini Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:21 am

I am not fast enough to answer all verbal questions. I mean in last 5 minutes I have to answer almost 10 questions.
so mostly I am gussing the answers for them.

which is correct method?
tryig to do middle questions (10-30) fast to get enough time for the last questions, But this may cause errors which can be corrected if I spend some more time.

or try to give priority to first 30 questions and leave last 10 questions for guess work or fast reading?
mostly we get one reading comprehension after 30 th question which will take more time.
StaceyKoprince
ManhattanGMAT Staff
 
Posts: 9360
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
Location: Montreal
 

by StaceyKoprince Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:32 pm

Do not spend extra time on any questions anywhere on the test. You need to work at a steady pace all the way through. If a question is too hard, pull the plug - make an educated guess and move on when your time is up.

You will never be able to finish the test if you spend extra time on earlier questions - no matter how good you get, the test will give you things you can't do. Your ONLY feasible strategy is to pick out the hardest ones as they show up, make an educated guess, and move on.

Notice that I'm saying this without knowing your scoring level. Your scoring level DOESN'T MATTER. What I wrote above is true for everyone, at every level.

DO NOT leave the last 10 for guesses. Getting any one question wrong will not seriously impact your score, even if it's the easiest question on your test. Getting a string of questions wrong in a row, on the other hand, will absolutely kill your score - and that's exactly what will happen if you continue not to have enough time on the last ten. If you get all ten of those wrong, your percentile will drop by something like 20-30 percentile points! And for every question you leave blank, your percentile automatically drops 3 points (that is, 10*3 = 30).
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep