Need tips to avoid disasters and optimize

Question

Hi all,

Yesterday I took the Official GMAT Prep Mock 5 and scored 700 (Q50 & V34). I got the last 8/9 verbal questions wrong - imagine the penalization for that! I have previously scored 710 (Q47 & V40) on the GMAT and 730 (Q50 & V38) on the Official GMAT Prep Mock 4. I feel somehow I run out of time towards the end of the sections. The 8/9 inaccuracy at the end of the section would have cost me a lot.

Does anyone have any tips to avoid such disasters on the exam? I guess I should spread my mistakes over the course of the exams by maybe guessing a few questions in the middle (when I realize I am under time pressure). Also, is there any ballpark time figure to look out after every quarter or half of the exam? Eg. 65/2 minutes should be left after question 18 on the verbal section. This approach is sometimes confusing as RCs consume more time. Moreover, the calculation of time/questions in verbal is more difficult than the calculation of time/question in quants.

I have my exam in 1 week - quick responses are appreciated! I need to give it my best shot - need optimization tips.

Thanks
Nishant

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

GMAT Verbal may require one to change their solving approach sometimes. That being said, a time-management technique may be quite helpful.

If you're interested in timing data, I do have a Verbal ESR (for a V48) on my site if you want to see some, but I wouldn't recommend trying to emulate my performance (i.e. you'll note RC was my quickest section).

Nishant1795 · Answer

bb ,  Bunuel ,  ScottTargetTestPrep ,  VeritasKarishma , and  egmat

Any comments?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Nishant,
 
Many Test Takers face pacing issues in the Quant section, the Verbal section or both – so you are not alone. However, it's important to remember that pacing problems do NOT exist on their own - they're the results of OTHER problems (in simple terms, while you're likely correctly answering many of the earlier questions in the Verbal section, you're working in inefficient ways - and spending extra time on too many of those earlier questions). While RC is an obvious area of concern for many GMATers (since by design, those prompts take longer to deal with), you have to be careful about assuming that RC is your only issue here; you might be over-committing to your SCs and/or CRs).

1) Can you go into a bit more detail about this last CAT performance? Did you essentially have to rush through (and guess on) those last 8-9 Verbal questions? How much time was left on the clock when you realized you had to rush to finish?

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

Nishant1795 · Answer

So, surprisingly the mock threw 3 RCs at me in the first half - I was slightly happy about this fact as I was left with mostly SCs and CRs in the 2nd half of the exam. I had about 20-22 mins to solve the last 16 questions which had 1 RC in it. Given that too many RCs appeared in the first half of the exam, I was lagging.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi Nishant,

You can go through the recording below to understand how to pace yourself better during the GMAT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i-Huwan3IU

I hope it helped. All the best for your prep!!

KarishmaB · Answer

Since your exam is in a week, it is not very likely that you will be able to fix the problems leading to falling short on time (long algebraic approaches in Quant, slow reading speed in Verbal - to name a couple). 
If you do routinely fall short on time, strategise accordingly. Chalk out your weakest topics. When you see a question that looks intimidating and is from your weak area, guess and move on in the first 30 secs. Chances are that nerves and your weakness in that topic might have anyway led to a wrong answer. 
But I wouldn't want to skip anything in the first 8-10 questions without giving it a fair try.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Nishant,

Since you've already earned a V40 on the Official GMAT, your overall Verbal abilities are clearly really strong - so the issues that you're describing are more about your 'efficiency' when dealing with Verbal questions than anything else. If you spent almost 45 minutes on the first 20 questions of this recent CAT, then you were almost certainly over-committing to most of those questions (and not just the RCs). On some of your past Exams (both the Official GMAT and your CATs), you were able to pick up enough points to compensate for having to rush through the 'fourth quarter' of the Verbal section - but if you get hung-up on a couple of early questions, then you end up wasting time and not getting the points AND then have to rush to finish (and miss most of those points as well).

Considering that you're so close to your next Official Test Date, it's not likely that you'll be able to make any big changes to how you 'see' (or respond to) the Verbal section. As such, attempting to make any significant changes at this point might lead to a short-term drop in your performance (since you aren't used to working in any other way besides the way that you currently use). That having been said, the two 'keys' to fixing this issue is to consistently take organized notes (since proper note-taking saves time AND can help to increase accuracy) and choose to not over-commit to the really hard questions.

In these last few days, you should limit your studies to general practice and light review (NO CATs and NO 'cramming') - you would be better served by getting some extra rest so that you can go into Test Day calm, clear-headed and ready to work.

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

vamshikaithi · Answer

Hi Nishant,

Try to take a lot of timed quizzes because that's what helped me manage time effectively on the test. Make sure to pay a little more attention in the initial quarters as that will have a huge impact on your score.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Nishant,

I see your exam is in just a few days. In any case, given your timing issues, here is a helpful article:

Timing Strategies For a Higher GMAT Quant Score

If you have any additional questions leading up to your exam, feel free to reach out.

Good luck!

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