Which question to leave in Verbal if paucity of time (middle or end) ?

Question

Out of the 23 verbal questions, i usually can attend 19/20 questions. Usually questions 9-12 are RC questions (longer version of RC). If i attend these , i will lack time towards the questions (20-23). If i skip Questions 9-12 (and get most wrong), i can complete the test

Which is better strategy 
1. Leave questions 9-12 (and mostly get it wrong together), and complete the other questions fully
2. Attend the longer RCs (9-12) , and get the last 4 questions wrong (q20-23)

Please let me know if you have any idea . I am retaking gmat day after tomorrow, it will help me a lot

bb · Answer

Hi. It is an interesting strategy/approach. I have done some tests with GMAT Prep. I have made experiments with the Quant section: https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-focus-a ... 18176.html I would recommend that you test out ANY scenario that you are planning to attempt on the Final GMAT Exam and not just try to do it on the test day. Now, both options are not great but if you have to choose, I would pick the path where you just guess the entire RC and move on, and then come back to it later if you have time. The reason would be that the RC is not adaptive question to question (though GMAT OG usually has 7-10 questions but we were supposedly told RC is not adaptive) which means you won't be skipping any easy questions. That's what kills your score - guessing wrong easy questions and ensures that you can get as few easy questions wrong and as many harder ones right to bulk up your score. Anyone has a better idea - perhaps a third option I am not seeing?

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi Aim4gmat2024,

"Skipping" a long passage is quite risky, but I agree that it can help you save a lot of time.

This close to your exam, I recommend you go with the strategy that you are more comfortable with. That said, keep in mind that you can't make more than 3 edits if you do get time to review your answers.

All the best.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Aim4gmat2024,

I think the bigger issue here might be the time you are spending on RC passages, right? So, if you can get to a place where you can efficiently get through them, you may not have to worry about this guessing strategy at all.

However, if you must skip (or quickly answer some questions) a more effective strategy would be to optimize your time spent on RC by focusing on extracting key ideas quickly and moving efficiently through the questions.

Instead of skipping the entire set, consider a partial attempt on questions 9-12 by answering at least two out of the four to minimize the impact of skipping. Additionally, keeping a buffer of time for the last four questions will help ensure that you don’t end up blindly guessing at the end, which can significantly lower your score. Your goal should be to maintain consistent pacing so that you don’t create a bottleneck in any one section.

So, try some of these methods out on your practice exams to see how it goes, and then just make sure you stick to a strategy on test day. Also, if you want some general advice on how to speed up on verbal, here is a great article for you:

How to Get Faster at GMAT Focus Verbal: Top 6 Tips

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Which question to leave in Verbal if paucity of time (middle or end) ?

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