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21 Dec 2019, 15:10
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Hello everyone.
I wrote my GMAT a couple of days back for the second time, and, well, it didn't go as well as I had expected it to go. I pondered over what went wrong and then it hit me after talking to few experts here- I HAVE AN ISSUE IN LEAVING OUT QUESTIONS FOR THE BETTER.
Now, if you're good with time management, then you have absolutely no reason to do this. But if you are even remotely like me, and tend to get stuck with a couple of questions in a section, you lose out on your time, which lingers on and bites you back at the end, when you're forced to do the guess work (and most likely mark the incorrect option), slamming your score down on the ground cold.
I have read the thread that talks about when to leave a question and in what quarter if you must at all. Yet, I would like to know, do you guys really leave out on questions (by blindly marking an answer choice) to save on the time factor? How many questions do you leave if at all in each section and what is the limit? And above all, how often do you practice this strategy (is it just for the dire situations or actually a plan of action for the exam takers)?
I know this topic is loosely spun, but this is just something that popped in my head, and I would really appreciate any inputs on this.
Thanks
Andy
I wrote my GMAT a couple of days back for the second time, and, well, it didn't go as well as I had expected it to go. I pondered over what went wrong and then it hit me after talking to few experts here- I HAVE AN ISSUE IN LEAVING OUT QUESTIONS FOR THE BETTER.
Now, if you're good with time management, then you have absolutely no reason to do this. But if you are even remotely like me, and tend to get stuck with a couple of questions in a section, you lose out on your time, which lingers on and bites you back at the end, when you're forced to do the guess work (and most likely mark the incorrect option), slamming your score down on the ground cold.
I have read the thread that talks about when to leave a question and in what quarter if you must at all. Yet, I would like to know, do you guys really leave out on questions (by blindly marking an answer choice) to save on the time factor? How many questions do you leave if at all in each section and what is the limit? And above all, how often do you practice this strategy (is it just for the dire situations or actually a plan of action for the exam takers)?
I know this topic is loosely spun, but this is just something that popped in my head, and I would really appreciate any inputs on this.
Thanks
Andy
21 Dec 2019, 15:19
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Hi and welcome to GMAT Club!
I had a hard (for me at least) question on my quant on the GMAT and I spent 3.5 minutes on it, only to guess it (and I guessed it wrong). I somewhat recovered after it I guess getting Q49 but in retrospect, I should not have pursued it after 2 minutes. It is a persistence thing that helps us succeed in many situations in life (I don't think many have succeeded by abandoning matters at the first sign of trouble) but anyway, it is the culprit.
My advice for quant: if you are the 2 minute mark and you are not finishing a question but still wondering which approach to use (like I was), then just guess it and move it. One question does not hurt. Esp if it is a HARD one. Hard questions have the least penalty and may be experimental weird questions. It is never a good idea to latch on to one and you should rehearse and plan for this to happen. It is a contingency plan and you must be able to act on it.
For Verbal, I feel it is less of an issue of getting stuck with a hard question you can't solve but rather 2 choices you can't decide on. I used my gut feel and it seems to work out fine for my V42 (96th percentile). I tracked my choices and my intended answer and about 3 out of 4 times I picked the right one. I thought that was a great success rate and so for any question where I was hesitating and for V42, half the questions, I felt I was hesitating and failing, I just went with my gut.
P.S. Probably be helpful to know if you are talking more about Q or V
Just in case you have not found my timing strategies yet, here they are: https://gmatclub.com/forum/timing-strat ... 06035.html
I had a hard (for me at least) question on my quant on the GMAT and I spent 3.5 minutes on it, only to guess it (and I guessed it wrong). I somewhat recovered after it I guess getting Q49 but in retrospect, I should not have pursued it after 2 minutes. It is a persistence thing that helps us succeed in many situations in life (I don't think many have succeeded by abandoning matters at the first sign of trouble) but anyway, it is the culprit.
My advice for quant: if you are the 2 minute mark and you are not finishing a question but still wondering which approach to use (like I was), then just guess it and move it. One question does not hurt. Esp if it is a HARD one. Hard questions have the least penalty and may be experimental weird questions. It is never a good idea to latch on to one and you should rehearse and plan for this to happen. It is a contingency plan and you must be able to act on it.
For Verbal, I feel it is less of an issue of getting stuck with a hard question you can't solve but rather 2 choices you can't decide on. I used my gut feel and it seems to work out fine for my V42 (96th percentile). I tracked my choices and my intended answer and about 3 out of 4 times I picked the right one. I thought that was a great success rate and so for any question where I was hesitating and for V42, half the questions, I felt I was hesitating and failing, I just went with my gut.
P.S. Probably be helpful to know if you are talking more about Q or V
Just in case you have not found my timing strategies yet, here they are: https://gmatclub.com/forum/timing-strat ... 06035.html
23 Dec 2019, 12:23
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Hi Andy98,
You ask some great questions. Here are some thoughts regarding timing on the quant section. First off, you need to be really careful about blindly guessing on quant questions in order to pick up time during the exam. Because, if you have too quick of a “trigger finger,” before you even realize it, you’ll have guessed on 5+ quant questions, and then what will happen to your score, right?
Thus, you may consider taking a more organic approach to solving GMAT quant questions. In other words, your goal should be to correctly answer as many quant questions as you can (all the while keeping an eye on the clock).
With all this said, to know when to give up on a question, you need to trust your instincts and follow your internal clock. For instance, let’s say you are 2 minutes into a question, but you know that you are on the right path; in that case, you’d want to keep going even if it would take you 3 minutes to answer, right? After all, if you have fully mastered GMAT quant, then you should be in a position to answer some questions in 30 seconds, and thus it’s OK to spend more than 2 minutes on certain problems. On the other hand, say you are 60 or 90 seconds into a problem, and you know that you are going down a rabbit hole and likely will not be able to correctly answer the question. In that case, take an educated guess and keep things moving.
So my overall point is, yes it’s OK to guess, but ensure that you are taking a strategic approach to how and when you are guessing, OK?
Lastly, you may find it helpful to read this article about Timing Strategies For a Higher GMAT Quant Score, which discusses various aspects of quant section timing, including guessing strategies, in great detail.
Good luck!
You ask some great questions. Here are some thoughts regarding timing on the quant section. First off, you need to be really careful about blindly guessing on quant questions in order to pick up time during the exam. Because, if you have too quick of a “trigger finger,” before you even realize it, you’ll have guessed on 5+ quant questions, and then what will happen to your score, right?
Thus, you may consider taking a more organic approach to solving GMAT quant questions. In other words, your goal should be to correctly answer as many quant questions as you can (all the while keeping an eye on the clock).
With all this said, to know when to give up on a question, you need to trust your instincts and follow your internal clock. For instance, let’s say you are 2 minutes into a question, but you know that you are on the right path; in that case, you’d want to keep going even if it would take you 3 minutes to answer, right? After all, if you have fully mastered GMAT quant, then you should be in a position to answer some questions in 30 seconds, and thus it’s OK to spend more than 2 minutes on certain problems. On the other hand, say you are 60 or 90 seconds into a problem, and you know that you are going down a rabbit hole and likely will not be able to correctly answer the question. In that case, take an educated guess and keep things moving.
So my overall point is, yes it’s OK to guess, but ensure that you are taking a strategic approach to how and when you are guessing, OK?
Lastly, you may find it helpful to read this article about Timing Strategies For a Higher GMAT Quant Score, which discusses various aspects of quant section timing, including guessing strategies, in great detail.
Good luck!
