Hi singh8891,
I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. So the first thing to understand about timing is that it’s OK to spend 3 minutes on particular questions ASSUMING you can correctly answer the questions. Certainly, if you have no shot, then there is no point in wasting time on the question, right? The reason why it’s OK to spend 3 minutes on some harder questions is because some of the easier questions may take you only 30 seconds. Let’s look at an example:
14! is equal to which of the following?
(A) 87,178,291,200
(B) 88,180,293,207
(C) 89,181,294,209
(D) 90,000,000,003
(E) 91,114,114,114
Solution:
14! = 14 × 13 × 12 × 11 × 10 × 9 × 8 × 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1.
Notice that there is at least one (5 × 2) pair contained in the product of these numbers. It follows that the units digit must be a zero. The only number with zero as the units digit is 87,178,291,200.
Answer: A
If you are able to quickly recognize that using the “5 x 2 pair rule” will allow you to efficiently attack the problem, you probably could answer this question in 30 seconds or less, right?
Regarding timing within individual questions, certainly you can’t spend time watching the clock while you are working through each question, so you need to develop a sixth sense for when you are spending too much time on any given question. To develop that skill, ensure that you are always practicing questions with a timer. Eventually, you will develop a sense of when you are “overspending” on a particular problem.
Finally, regarding Reading Comprehension, you can expect a total of four RC passages (although you do not know when you’ll see them). Reading Comprehension passages are either long (containing 4 questions) or short (containing 3 questions). You should spend roughly 2 to 3 minutes reading the short passages and 3 to 4 minutes on the long ones. Since you should have a rough idea of what you read after reading the passage, each question should take you roughly 30 seconds to one and a half minutes to answer. Thus, look to spend a total of about 6 to 8 minutes on each RC section, and plan to see four such sections. Yes, you won't know when they are going to appear, but knowing that they will appear, you can plan accordingly.
Lastly, you may find it helpful to read this article about
GMAT quant timing strategies.
Feel free to reach out with further questions.
Good luck!