Confused on GMAT scoring - 13 Incorrect = Q45 while 6 Incorrect = Q46

Do you mean you were trying to get every question correct, or were you trying to make sure that you finished all questions in the section? If you're aiming for a high score, it is definitely a good idea to finish both the quant and verbal sections.

I intended to attempt all questions correctly but skipping time-consuming questions here and there.
It seriously back fired.

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But that's what almost every test taker does.

What would your alternate strategy be?

First 10-12 questions get them right while limiting time to 2.30-3mins per Q.
Remaining 12-31 with around 2min per Q but skip one-off (if needed) to get back to speed?

Any suggestions?

Hello scholesy ... here is what I usually do for Quant:

1. Try to achieve 1:50 mins the avg Solution time.
2. For real tough ones 2:30 mins. And for 1-2 problem ..... if your math ego comes into play go for 3 to 3:30 mins ..... but remember you can cater to this ego only if your avg solution time is below 2:00 mins.

Now to achieve that - use this site. The math sections and the collections therein are pretty amazing.
i. If you are confident ...you can skip 500-level altogether.
ii. Start practicing 600 level Qs at the links below, and once I reach 90% accuracy(under 2 mins) I would move to 700 level.
iii. Similarly, at 700 level I would strive for 80-85% accuracy(again in 2 mins) ..... more the merrier !!
iv. Finally, definitely use GMAT Club Q-Tests (if you are targetting Q48++)

*Be mindful with your mistakes and the ones that you took more than 3 or 4 mins.
**Use GMAT Club pdf (free !! )to refresh concepts tested in the exam.

DS : https://gmatclub.com/forum/ds-question- ... 28728.html
PS : https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-ps-ques ... 27957.html

All the best.

Hi scholesy,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. To reiterate, your GMAT score is based on not only the number of questions you answer correct/incorrect, but also the difficulty of those questions, among other things. Thus, it’s likely that on practice test 4, you got a few “lower-level” questions wrong, and that is what resulted in your Q46.

Regarding your timing strategy, you need to be really careful about blindly guessing on quant questions in order to pick up time during the exam. 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).

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 you would need 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.

My overall point is, yes, it’s OK to guess, but ensure that you take a strategic approach to how and when you guess.

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

In my experience, in the quant section, you should read each question twice. If you find that it’s in your ballpark after the first read, during the second read carefully take the notes you need and carefully work through the question (check simple working twice). Finally, scan the question again to make sure you’re answering the right question. If after the first read you have no clue/will take you ages to answer - skip and move on. Also, don’t let any skipped question get you down - once you skip it, move on completely and only focus on what’s in front of you. If you follow this process and consistently get low scores, you need to brush up on the basics.

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PS, you want to pace yourself well. It’s tough to get a good score if you skip the last 5-6 questions.

What you want to do is get the basics down cold and then practice the process over and over again

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Here is the message in attachment from Ron. It may help you, probably.