Hello,
nikhilverma22. First of all, I would not worry too much about IR. Sure, you do not want to blow off the section completely, but schools do not even report IR scores, and the general consensus seems to be that a 5 or above is fine. (I have even had a client who got into an M7 with a 3, although his total score, the one that matters, was better.) You do not even need to answer all the questions correctly to earn a perfect score in the section. Still, I understand the desire to improve, and I do think that studying IR can help you with CR and, to a lesser degree, RC.
One way in which I improved my own timing in IR was to focus more closely on just what the question was asking, and going to the question first to know how to frame the information in the passage. I discuss the notion of keeping an eye on the question stem in
this post and in a follow-up in a thread to a specific IR question. Another question that comes to mind is one that provides a formula for calculating a rate or percent. Understanding that formula alone, how it connects to the passage above it, is the difference between spending one minute on the problem or five plus minutes (and probably resorting to guessing). Watch the keywords of the question stem and see how they connect to the answer choices. If there is a table involved, make sure you sort accordingly. Do not get creative. Just as you would do on other sections of the test, you want to focus on the exact way the information is presented. If a question seems particularly convoluted to me, I will look at the question stem again to make sure I am not missing anything. I can almost always figure out where an initial assumption led to a wayward or time-consuming approach.
Keep practicing. You start to see through some of the traps the more you expose yourself to the material. If you were taking the test tomorrow, then yes, rushing the last few questions might be a problem; if you have even a month, then see how you are doing in two weeks. My guess is that if you practice and review IR questions each day for even 10-15 minutes, things will start to fall into place.
Good luck with your studies.
- Andrew