Please help with timing

The strategy suggested by GMAtPREPNOW is one of the bests, you can also search for the strategy suggested by manhattan.

Thank you!! I am aiming for a score of 700..any thoughts on approximately how many questions I can skip in each section to stay on time?

Hi Shashank,

You should be careful about over-committing to the idea of spending an 'average amount of time' on each question that you face. Certain questions on the GMAT can be solved relatively quickly, while others take far longer than average to solve (upwards of 3 minutes - and that's if you're efficient with your work). There are also sub-sections of each section in which you're likely to see wordier/lengthier/tougher questions, so there will be groups of questions that will likely all take longer than average to solve.

Beyond those points, you also have to consider how long "your way" of approaching a question actually takes. Obviously, getting an individual question correct is the first 'goal', but there's a second 'goal' as well - to get through the question in the most efficient way possible. If you can answer a question in 2 minutes, then that might appear to be a successful result, but what if you could have correctly answered the question in just 1 minute by using a different approach....? By that logic, you've 'wasted' a full minute of your time.

Your immediate inquiry focused on the number of questions that you can afford to skip. With a score goal of 700, you can afford to skip lots of questions in each section, but NOT if they're 'gettable' questions. In real simple terms, if you think that a question is too hard or too weird, then you can feel free to 'dump' it, but you have to also do that in an efficient fashion (don't waste 3 minutes on a question that you're likely not going to get correct) - and then you have to correctly answer everything else.

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

Thank you for this detailed reply Rich! Really appreciate it. My GMAT date is Feb 18. Any tips on approximately how may hours would be needed to go from a 640 (Q43,V34) to a 690-700?

Hi Shashank,

It's difficult to define what type of score improvement to expect based on the number of hours invested in the study process. If you've been 'stuck' at this current score level for the last 2 months, and you continue to study in the same ways as before, then you'll likely continue to score at this level regardless of how much extra time you spend studying. However, if you can properly define your weak areas, and work with the proper study materials that will help you to change "your way" of approaching the GMAT, then you could conceivably raise a 640 to a 700+ in 1-2 months.

1) When was the last time you took a FULL-LENGTH CAT (with the Essay and IR sections)?
2) How did you score on that CAT (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?

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