Beat GMAT time limit

Question

Ok I have not taken the GMAT yet. But for the past few weeks I have encountered problems with time management. I tried to look for advices and tips from the internet and I got a good one.

Just keep practicing the GMATprep (reinstall it, install it to your friend's computer, whatever). I took the practice test almost everyday for one week. It really got me going.

I hope this helps you as much as it helped me.
Good luck!

JJ-MBA · Answer

of course we all have different strategies, but i have found that drilling myself section by section works better than doing entire tests. honing my skills at individual sections has helped me cut down on wasted time.

CrazyHorse · Answer

I don't think repeatedly retaking the GMATPrep test is going to help you on timing, because you're going to see the same questions again. That will actually throw OFF your timing.

alfyG · Answer

It seems to me that doing GMAT prep over and over again for the sake of reaching some time equilibrium per question is not a good strategy. As the above post mentioned, you get used to the questions over time. Therefore, this strategy will ultimately give you a fall sense of security. 

Although strategies on time managment vary, I still believe that there is one factor that underlies all effective time management - that is, becoming conceptually familiar with as many question types as possible. However, be aware that simply scanning different questions is not the same thing as having a conceptual understanding of them - a lot of people miss this point. Nevertheless, RC and CR require a lot of practice. Some even suggest that RC and CR require an inherent skill. In either case, doing the same thing over and over again will not lead to any improvement. The hardest part of all this is learning about yourself - that is, what works for you. I found that by adopting parts of different strategies (that people have posted here) works best for me.

ColumbiaDream · Answer

Well said Alfy G. One good way of "becoming conceptually familiar with as many question types as possible" is using the OG.

ajluberto · Answer

I really had trouble with timing as well...especially on the quant section.
 
Try these three tecniques, they are working for me:

1. On Data Sufficiency, you should hardly ever have to solve the problem until its complete end. Cut yourself short as soon as you have enough info.

2. Before each question, quickly subtract two to three minutes from the clock and jot it down. If you find yourself working on the question past the time you wrote down, make an educated guess with what you have and move on!

3. Unless you are shooting for a perfect or near perfect quant score, I found that guessing on one or two questions that you know will take you a really long time could be helpful. This could give you anywhere between 4 to 8 minutes extra to work on problems that you would have missed at the end.

rooder · Answer

Hi everyone,

While taking my practice tests, I came up with a timing strategy that worked really well for me. 

When you first sit down, create a separate space for each question using all of your wet erase sheets. So for the math, I partition each sheet into 4 question spaces. 

Then I give myself 2 minutes for each question (for the verbal, you need to give yourself a little less than 2 minutes for each -- with more time weighted towards the early questions).

In the bottom right corner, I mark my target "time remaining". So for the first sheet, I put the number 67  . Then on the next set of four, the number 59. And so on. 

It helps you keep track of lagging or extra time -- that way you can avoid panic and make better decisions when it comes to time management.

Mishari · Answer

rooder: that's pretty smart and creative :wink:

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