GMAT timing strategy for Verbal

Question

Hi guys,

I wanted to ask a few questions regarding strategy in verbal. I got v28 & Q50 on my 1st attempt in GMAT. I took a lot of time(the timer was at 37 mins) on the first 15 questions on the GMAT day. I was trying to get the 1st 15 correct so that I could be sure to get better score. But this resulted in really hard question between 16-28 which included at least 2 RCs which I could not pay attention to. In the last few questions I was completely exhausted and could not pay much attention and had 15mins remaining for 10 questions with 1 RC( which just took option C as guess). Could you please guide me as to how to go about the test. My acuuracy in CR is around 70%, RC 55% & SC 50% on an average test score of 34-37 as per GMAT Prep.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi subhsngh0,

Many Test Takers face pacing problems while dealing with either the Quant or Verbal section (or both). Pacing problems don't exist on their own though - they're the results of OTHER problems. Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?
5) When are you planning to retake the GMAT?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

You might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn't provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

DavidTutorexamPAL · Answer

Hey  subhsngh0 ,

First, congrats on the Q50!
It is an excellent score and is a great building block towards getting whichever score you need.

You've described in some detail how the Verbal section progressed during the exam itself, but haven't described at all how you've spent your prep time. As such, could you please provide a few more details? This would really help give advice.
1. What is your target score? You only need to boost your score up to the point where it is good enough for admissions...
2. Did you have the same timing problems during your studies (say, taking the GMAT Prep exams)? Specifically, taking 2.5 minutes per average on a question, finishing the Verbal section exhausted, etc.
3. What material have you used for studying so far? Self study / course / tutoring?
4. What do you think took you so long to answer questions on the exam? Reading all the answers? General stress? Obsessively double-checking? Something else?

subhsngh0 · Answer

Hello guys,

I have prepared for more than 2 months, I have done OG 2018. 
For SC I referred the MGMAT book and GMATclub questions on some specific topics such as Modifiers, Parallelism & meaning for 700 level. My accuracy is around 50%, in the later part of my preparation. Overall for my SC the accuracy is 30% for 700 level.

For CR I didn't need any additional resources as this is the strongest of my verbal.

In RC I feel challenged sometimes I get accuracy as much as 80% in some tests but mostly it hovers around 55%. I am not getting consistency in RC especially in detail based question which demands too exclude 4 correct details.

I have taken veritas Prep mock, Kaplan Mock, 2 GMAT Prep mocks, MGMAT mock & Economist mock.
The median score for quant (except MGMAT) is Q50.
The mean score for verbal is V34, ranging from V28(MGMAT) to V43(Kaplan) and GMAT Prep with V37 & V32 scores

subhsngh0 · Answer

And I adopted the strategy to go through the first 15(1-15) questions in 25 mins and last 11(26-36) questions in 15 mins, so I was always exhausted. Now I am looking for shorter time in starting 15 questions of verbal.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Makes sense. I don't think that taking a lot of time on the first x (5, 10, 15...) questions is a particularly good thing to do, and allocating 40 minutes to the first 15 is just setting yourself up for a spectacularly bad finish.

subhsngh0 · Answer

Sorry my bad, what I meant was timer is at 40 mins i.e. 25mins for 1st 15 questions

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  subhsngh0 , is there a ESR that you can share?

You do mention that the difficulty level increased considerably after first 15 questions. However, frankly it's really difficult for the test-taker to assess  difficulty level  of each question. Since you were under time-pressure, these questions might have seemed more difficult to you.

ESR would help clear many questions.

AjiteshArun · Answer

But that would mean you planned to slow down in the middle (10 questions in 25 minutes). Giving yourself just 15 minutes for the last 11 questions is very risky. What if you get a long passage towards the end?

I understand that you're looking for advice on a broader range of issues, so I won't keep pointing this out. But given that you are now looking to reduce the amount of time you spend on the first 15 questions, I think it'd be a really good idea to think about not giving so much time to the questions in the middle, and giving more time to those at the end.

DavidTutorexamPAL · Answer

Hey,
To be honest, I'm not entirely sure where this timing strategy is coming from.
You can put a bit more time into the first 5-10 questions if you like, but in general, time should be spread out evenly throughout the section.

Throughout your studies, and especially in areas you are weaker with, have you maintained an error log? For example, when you say 'weaker in detail-oriented questions', do you know what you miss? Are you capable of identifying the common traps the GMAC sets up? In general, there is a difference between 'learning the material' and 'learning the strategies you need to succeed on the exam' -a common example is knowing what the correct/incorrect answers look like and knowing which approaches work best for which questions.
Strategies are usually harder to learn through self-study, often requiring some sort of guided instruction. If you feel you have these strategies down, great. If not, and if you'd like more info don't hesitate to contact us  here , we'll be glad to give more info.

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