Timing Problem During Test

Question

I am struggling with timing very badly

. In Gmatclub practice questions my average time is below 2 minutes but whenever i am taking any full length Mock test I am taking too much time for every question ( around 3 mins

) ,that too from the very first question, therefore i am running out time for the last 10 questions. I have tried to apply some timing management strategy - after 10 question , remaining time -40 mins , after 20 question , remaining time 20 mins - but still not successful to answer within 2 mins

. Concentration level,Test taking anxiety etc can be the issues. How to find the root cause of this problem and how to deal with that. Please help Thanks

ccooley · Answer

When you practice, are you just doing one question at a time, or are you doing multiple questions without stopping the timer? It's much harder to do 5 questions in 10 minutes without stopping, than it is to do a single question in 2 minutes. Practice that and work your way up to doing longer sets if you aren't already. You should also check out the 'yellow pad technique' for setting up your scratch paper: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... nt-part-3/

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi janadipesh,

Many Test Takers face pacing issues in the Quant section, the Verbal section or both, so you're not alone. That having been said, it's important to remember that pacing problems do NOT exist on their own - they're the results of OTHER problems. These issues can be rooted in a number of different areas, such as how you take notes (vs. how often you're wasting time doing work "in your head"), the Tactics you use, the number of times you have to reread the prompt/answers, etc. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to fix these pacing issues AND score at a higher level. However you choose to proceed with your studies, it's worth considering that most GMAT questions can be approached in more than one way - so you might be correctly answering certain questions in inefficient ways (and those correct answers are actually contributing to your pacing problem).

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs/mocks (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi janadipesh,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help.

The first thing to understand is that timing on the GMAT, as in life, improves as your knowledge, understanding, and skills improve. Timing does not improve simply by “trying to go faster.” In fact, when people try to force speed before they’re ready to go faster, they tend to end up making a significant number of preventable mistakes. Sometimes these mistakes badly erode people’s test scores. In addition, when people rush learning -- a common pathology of those trying to force speed -- they actually never end up developing the speed they seek. One of the great paradoxes of learning is that to develop speed, a student must slow down to ensure that he or she masters the material. Consider the following examples, which hopefully will bring you some more clarity:

Imagine your goal were to run a mile in four minutes, a difficult feat even for professional athletes. So, you get yourself a running coach. You show up on the field and ask, “Coach, how do I get faster?” The coach responds, “Well, just run faster.” So, you try your best to “run faster,” but you can't; you’re running a 12-minute mile. Out of breath, you come back to the coach and say, “Coach, I stink. How do I get faster?” Again, he says, “Just run faster.” So, you try again, but this time you fall and skin your knees. You keep trying to run faster. On the tenth attempt, you pull your hamstring, falling to the ground in pain. Over your next four months of recovery, you ponder why you couldn't run faster.

That situation would be insane, right? No qualified running coach would ever provide you with that advice, because the coach would understand that no one gets faster merely by trying to run faster. Instead, the coach would set you up on a linear, comprehensive plan to make you a BETTER runner. He may have you run progressively longer distances at relatively slow speeds. He may have you run up and down the stairs at the football stadium. He may have you run up and down hills. He even may have you engage in strength training, yoga, or Pilates to make you a more fit athlete. After all of that training, he finally would bring you back on the field and time you running the mile. At that point, he’d coach you on how to push yourself through the pain of sprinting and help you to understand what a four-minute-mile pace feels like. He now could help you with those things because you would be in the necessary shape to be receptive to them. So, you begin your run, and BOOM! You run a 6-minute mile. What happened? Well, you became a better runner. You became a fitter athlete. You became stronger. Although you’re not yet at the four-minute-mile mark, your training has yielded considerable improvements.

Now imagine your goal were to play a complicated song on the piano. The tempo at which a pianist plays greatly impacts the way a song sounds. To make songs sound the way they should, often a pianist must play at a fast pace. But your experience with the piano is limited. Can you imagine trying to play the complicated song at full speed right at the outset? Doing so wouldn't be possible. Instead, you first need to master many aspects of the piano -- without really trying to get faster. In fact, you need to proceed slowly at first, sometimes very slowly. As you master the piano, you find that you’re able to play your song at progressively faster tempos. With time and dedicated, proper practice, you’re able to recreate the sound you seek. If in the early days of practicing you had tried to force speed instead of mastering your technique, you never would have gained that speed. You never would become truly accomplished at playing the song.

The process of getting faster at solving GMAT questions is quite analogous to the process of improving one’s running speed or ability to play the piano at the proper tempo! To get faster, you must get better. As you further develop your GMAT skills, you will get faster at a) recognizing what a problem is asking and b) executing the necessary steps to quickly attack the problem.

The key takeaway is that as you develop stronger GMAT verbal skills, better timing will follow. In fact, a great way to know how well you have mastered a particular topic is to be cognizant of how you react when seeing a question involving that topic. For instance, consider the following simple question, which might be challenging for someone just beginning to work on Sentence Correction:

The researchers traveled into the rainforest to observe monkeys while swinging through the trees, using their hands, feet, and tails.
(A) traveled into the rainforest to observe monkeys while swinging

(B) traveling into the rainforest, observing monkeys that were swinging

(C) traveled into the rainforest to observe monkeys, swinging

(D) traveled into the rainforest to observe monkeys, which swing

(E) were traveling into the rainforest to observe monkeys in order to swing

Looking at this question, a test-taker might quickly see that choice (B) can be eliminated because the version created via the use of (B) has no main verb, and that choice (E) can be eliminated because the version created via the use of (E) conveys the nonsensical meaning that the researchers were traveling into the rainforest in order for the researchers to swing through the trees, using their hands, feet and tails.

Then, having eliminated those two choices, the test-taker could end up using a lot of time circling through choices (A), (C), and (D), not sure what’s wrong with any of them.

However, a person who has studied modifiers would know that, when a closing “–ing” modifier is preceded by a comma or begins with preposition, such as “while,” that “–ing” modifier targets the preceding subject verb combination. So, a person with that knowledge would quickly recognize that “while swinging …,” in (A), and “swinging” preceded by a comma, in (C), target the subject and verb of the preceding clause, which are “researchers traveled,” Thus, that person would see that (A) and (C) convey the illogical meaning that the researchers were swinging through the trees, using their hands, feet, and tails, and that, therefore, the only choice that works is (D).

Although this is just one example of many, you see that you must have many tools in your toolbox to efficiently attack each GMAT verbal question that comes your way. As you gain these skills, you will get faster.

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

Good luck!

janadipesh · Answer

Many Thanks for your reply. I generally practice 5 questions in a row then check for the explanations in the reply section before moving to the next set of questions

janadipesh · Answer

Thank You for the reply. sometimes I need to reread the question stem/answer choice 2-3 times due to lack of concentration but i do not think this is the real problem.
I am answering incorrectly a bunch of questions in a row towards the end ( 8-9 question )

Here are the answer of your queries

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? - Seriously started last year but given a gap then again started from April 
2) What study materials have you used so far?- bought all MGMAT books and studied most of them last year but presently doing practice only in gmatclub. I am sorting 600-700 level question , approx 200 questions ( 10Q& 10V with 1-2 RC daily) in 14 days with necessary explanation studies. showing 60 % accuracy in gmatclub error stat with avg time for correct question 1:50 sec & 2:10 sec for incorrect questions.
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs/mocks (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)

MGMAT , 06-06-19 : 560 , Q38,V29 ,IR 4.5 , AWA - skipped ( 1 known question in V)
Official Prep 1 from another ID, 26-05-19: 590 , Q44, V27, IR&AWA -skipped ( 2 known question from each section)
Official Prep 1 , 19-05-19: 530, Q45,V19 IR&AWA -skipped

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?- 650
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?- I have time upto Jul last week but i want to take in June last week in case i will need to retake 
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?- in some indian B school i can apply without GMAT score. after interview i can submit the score . I can apply to my first target SP Jain in Jul
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to? - SP Jain and other top tier Indian B school in which i can apply with this score

I will really be grateful if i get some help towards my endeavour

janadipesh · Answer

Thank You very much . this is really a helpful explanation . I think I require to first develop stronger skills , I need to put more commitment to my prep

adizephyr · Answer

Also keep in mind that a minimum score of 680+ is required to get shortlisted for IIM A,B,C,L,SP Jain and ISB.

Happy Studying & All the best

Posted from my mobile device

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

My pleasure!

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