spenceryuan wrote:
This is my second time taking the test. Ive taken at least a dozen practice tests and have went through the entire Manhattan course and did all the problems about 5 months ago. I've covered most of the material and still run out of time on the quant. I am usually have about 7 questions left when time is done.
1st time i took the GMAT i knew i would be short of time and I rushed through it and finished with time to spare and it killed my score(36 score on quant). I actually do better if i take my time and guess the last 10 questions then rush through it ive realized.
I have about 9 days until test time and am somewhat panicking as I have not improved my speed much, but I have improved my ability to get questions right since last time.
Any suggestions? I'm going to memorize some basic exponents and perfect squares..that might be a start
You need to hunt what takes so much of time and then decide. Remember every single GMAT question can be solved under 2 minutes.
So following could be few ideas to increase speed:If your calculation speed is less,increasing it in such a short span will be difficult. It takes a lot of practise.
Know your tables 1-12 or up till 15 preferably. [very very important]
Learning squares and roots will help
Are you spending too much time reading the questions and then solving it ?
Try what I do - instead of just reading the question, read and write simultaneously. For example if a question stem says :
Jack has 2 more pens than Tom, immediately after reading this your paper should have
Tom = T pens
Jack = T+2 pens.
Doing this saves as much as 15-30 secs/per question which multiplied by 37, rest you do the math!
Use the benchmarks. For example an answer to a question could be say 20% of 63. You can quickly do this: 10% of 63 = 6.3 so 20% is 2 X 6.3 = 12.6 (6 secs).
Know how numbers work and estimate
For example you should know by now, that increasing the denominator of a fraction decreases the final answer, etc.
Don't solve DS questions, be confident and know that you can solve.
Most importantly be in control of your situation, don't wait till the 30th question to know that you are behind time. Its better to know it at the 15th question!
Instead of sovling perfectly till 30th and then guessing last 7 - Solve 8-9 perfectly, guess one or two, then again solve 7-8, guess one or two. Provided you know you are behind time.
Continuous mistakes hurt your score a lot. And if for some reason you feel that you have 2-3 mins and too many questions left, start guessing blindly but answer all 37 questions. Instead of getting 1-2 correct and not seeing as many as 5, its better to get 7 incorrect.
All this has been working for me. Hope it helps you too.
Cheers!