How to maintain the pace through the test?

Question

Hey there,

I recently took my GMAT and the result isn't what I expected and therefore ,I am introspecting what went wrong. 
While I was preparing for my GMAT, the instructor told me that in a psychometric test, I had to pace through my test evenly throughout. If I linger to a question for too long, the test is going to mark that negatively. However, if I go too fast on the test and finish my test before 75 minutes, that is also going to have a negative impact on my test. I was advised that I must use the entire 75 minutes even if I feel that I can go faster.
I took the advice and while I was rushing through the initial questions quite successfully and carefully, I deliberately took some more time on a few questions than required to solve them. The result was really bad, considering the score that I was anticipating since I scored substantially better in my GMATPreps.
Can somebody advice me how should I distribute the available time throughut my test? Also does finishing the test before 75 minutes have a negative impact on the score?

HanoiGMATtutor · Answer

Somebody gave you really bad information.

How fast you finish the test has no bearing whatsoever on the scoring.

Posted from my mobile device

nikhilgupta1991 · Answer

Dear HanoiGMATtutor,

Thank you so much for this precious piece of information. Also, can you please tell me that whether spending a little more time on some questions but eventually finishing the test on time has a negative effect on my score?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi nikhilgupta1991,

You discussed some of your situation here:

unexpected-result-could-use-some-help-223497.html#p1721151

However, you didn't answer any of the questions that were asked. Those answers would likely help to define what actually led to your score drop on Test Day. The GMAT Algorithm does NOT factor into its scoring the length of time that you spend on each question. By extension, finishing a section early won't (in and of itself) effect your score either. Since that's a rather odd piece of information to be wrong about, we have to question anything else that your instructor told you about the GMAT.

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

JeffTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi nikhilgupta1991,

Neither finishing your exam in less than 75 minutes nor taking too long on a particular question will negatively impact your GMAT score. As far as pacing on the quant section, a good rule of thumb is to spend about 2 minutes per question. However, some questions may take you less than two minutes, and some may take you longer than that. Let me provide an example to illustrate:

6^6 is equal to which of the following?
 
A) 46,522
B) 46,604
C) 46,656
D) 46,688
E) 46,720

In this problem, assuming you are familiar with units digit patterns, you will quickly see that when an integer with a units digit of 6 is raised to a whole number exponent, the result is an integer that has a units digit of 6. Thus, you should have correctly answered choice C in about 10 to 15 seconds. This would give you a little padding, if needed, for working a later, more difficult problem. However, if you are not familiar with the concept of units digit patterns, you could still obtain the correct answer. The computation would probably take you close to 2 minutes or more, and you would not gain the luxury of extra time for a later problem.

Understanding that some questions can be completed in under two minutes is important so that you do not stress out when you are spending a little longer than two minutes to answer others.

One final thing I wanted address. The inner workings of the algorithm used by GMAC are not made public. Although many of us can hypothesize about the algorithm, there is no way for any of us to know EXACTLY how it works. Furthermore, focus on what you can control, such as improving your GMAT skills. After all, if you know your stuff on test day, you won’t have to worry about the intricacies of the algorithm!

If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out. Good luck!

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