Strategy of v40+ performers under time pressure

I think it might be helpful to think of this as two separate issues:

1) Can you be faster -- or at least more efficient -- in how you answer questions?
2) If you can't realistically answer all 41 questions comfortably, what timing strategies should you employ?

I don't think you're asking about the first issue here. And that question would take forever to answer accurately and thoroughly, anyway! But there's plenty of material here on GMAT Club that can help you become more efficient on verbal, and you're probably already working hard at that.

But is there anything that you can do strategically to help manage your time on verbal? I don't really think so, to be honest.

Here's the thing: on an adaptive test like the GMAT, your score isn't really based on how many questions you miss. It's based on which questions you miss, since the algorithm is basically trying to find the level of question at which you get roughly 50% correct. So if you miss easy questions, the algorithm will give you more easy questions, and then you're in trouble. But if you miss hard questions? Not a big deal, as long as you get the easier ones right.

On quant, the strategy is simple enough: if you don't know how to answer a question, guess and move on, so that you save your time for the stuff you can handle. But you can't really do that on verbal. By the time you realize that a question is difficult, you're probably 80% or 90% finished with the question. And at that point, it's silly to guess unless you're absolutely stuck -- if that extra little bit of time will help you get the question right, you might as well spend it.

And in general, there's no good way to cut corners on verbal. If you try to consciously "speed up", you might end up misreading passages or sentences -- and then you risk missing easy questions. And on an adaptive test, that can ruin your day.

So all you can really do is keep answering questions as efficiently as you can until you're almost out of time, and then guess toward the end. Imagine, for example, that you can only answer 36 questions thoroughly, and you have to guess on the last 5. That's not a big deal: if you've taken care of business on the first 36, the last five will be HARD. And you can afford to miss them if they're that hard.

I've seen this in action plenty of times. Occasionally, I have students who are simply ridiculously slow readers. Even after they've maximized their efficiency on verbal, they're still slow -- and I've seen plenty of them score in the low 40s on verbal (low-to-mid 700s composite), even though they had to guess on a few at the end. It's not a big deal, as long as you're super-accurate before those last few questions. I suppose that you could try to be a little bit strategic toward the very end of the test -- guessing, for example, on CR if you tend to be slower at those, and saving your time for the last couple of SCs. But that won't really save you much time, unless you're MUCH slower at CR than SC.

Again, if you can just become better and faster at verbal, that might solve the entire problem. But I otherwise, I wouldn't over-think your timing strategy on verbal. Just answer questions to the best of your ability until you start to run out of time, and then pray for some lucky guesses at the end of the test. But a few guesses at the end definitely won't, by themselves, cause a score meltdown.

I hope this helps!