General Testing Strategy, Pacing Technology

Question

Is there any general pacing strategy? Some people say that getting earlier, and supposedly easier problems will guarentee the CAT keeps giving you difficult problems and other say the problems will be randomly given with different ranges of difficulty throughout the test, not just the beginning.

How can one learn to pace for the test then? Basically should I save 30 minutes to do the last 17 problems out of a math section of 37 problems?

Also any good pacers, especially on the computer (open to android too)?

A good overall strategy, past prepping your weaknesses and familiarizing yourself with the test doesn't seem definite. All I know is through other threads that testing resulted in missing the first 10 questions was the hardest whole to dig out of statistically

Vercules · Answer

Hi manimgoindowndown, There is no definite pacing strategy for the test; however sticking to 2 minute rule for quant and slightly less than 2 minutes per question for quant could be the general strategy. Yesterday we discussed the same thing during the verbal chat and I have uploaded a pacing chart that I used during my prep, you will find it at the link below. verbal-chat-this-wednesday-feb-13th-9-a-m-pst-147125.html#p1181996 GMAT does through random question throughout the test, but these random questions are experimental ones, which do not count towards your overall score. And yes, the initial questions are easier and if you answer them correctly you will keep getting tougher questions, building a higher level for your score. Well, how do GMAT decide the difficulty of a question? The question answered incorrectly by most will be the toughest and the one answered correctly by most will be the easiest one. The test starts with a mid difficulty level; if you answer this correctly you will get a tougher question. But, I would not advice anyone to spend a lot more time on the initial question, just be careful and not get the easy questions incorrect. I think easier questions are more dangerous if someone commits silly errors in them. You should move fast but carefully on the initial easier questions so that you get some buffer time to handle the tough questions later during the test. I paced myself for the test using the chart (in the link above), you can give it a try. GMATClub toolkit has a timer, which you can use, the timer in MGMAT could be customized i.e. you can set 2 minutes per question during the test. Whichever way you use, your end goal should be to develop a time sense, when you go beyond 2 minutes for a question your mind should be able to assess that. Yes, I and Bunuel have conducted tests like these; in our scenarios we have taken 10 question in quant and 11 questions in verbal. But, these are extreme tests, and it is highly unlikely that one would get 10 very easy questions incorrect in a row. I have conducted a little more realistic test by taking 6 questions, you can find the results HERE . To make your self familiar with the test and the GMAT language, try to do multiple retakes on GMATPrep software in the last two weeks of your prep. Hope that helps, Vercules

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