"always time yourself" - easier said than done?

Question

Hey everyone!

I am now some time into GMAT prep and have trouble with timing myself. I set the clock. I start solving the exercise, fine. And then the time...runs out and.....I just continue solving it? And then it's 3.15 and I solved it - great, but what's the point of such prep if on the exam this will kill me?

Did anyone had such a problem before? Do you practice guessing in last 15s or what?

Also on a similar note - did anyone try MGMAT's "get the feel for 1minute" strategy? Was it helpful? I struggle enough to get the question done in 2min, can't even imagine stopping in the middle to click a button on a timer?

Thanks a million!!

VeritasPrepBrian · Answer

Great question, but there's an extremely important answer:

"Rome wasn't built in a day." 
"Before a man can fly he must first learn to walk, and run. A man cannot fly into flight." -Nietzsche

Meaning - before you can solve a problem in ~2 minutes or less, you first have to understand how to identify concepts and recognize common trends, how to work through certain skills and processes, etc. You have to develop that muscle memory that comes from factoring common algebraic terms or leveraging important definitions within DS question stems or applying triangle side ratios. And that won't always come within 2 minutes right away - sometimes you have to struggle through a problem in 3:15 to finally hit that breakthrough "OHHHH, it was isosceles so I could have just..." or "Right, had I just left the multiplication/division until the end the ugly numbers would have factored out."

I'd actually go as far as to say that you SHOULDN'T use a timer in your initial phases of prep. Why rush the learning process? It's that process of struggling and actually thinking that will help you - doing a problem halfway in 2 minutes, then guessing, then reading the solution isn't nearly as helpful as forcing yourself to really think it through. The lessons you learn from having dissected a problem from multiple angles, those will serve you extremely well as you're seeing new problems on test day.

On test day you have to be quick, but quickness comes from having trained yourself to think critically, recognize clues, etc. 3:15 on a problem when you learn an important lesson or build those critical skills is time really, really well spent, especially when compared to 2:00, a guess, and a read of a technically-written solution.

imoi · Answer

Thanks Brian - it makes sense what you are saying. How about the 1 min rule? Do you guys consider it an important benchmark for every question?

VeritasPrepBrian · Answer

I'm not sure exactly what the "1 minute rule is" but two words in what you wrote make me pretty sure I'm against it:

1) "Rule"

2) "Every" ("...for every question...")

The reason? GMAT test-takers and GMAT questions are all kinds of different. Some questions really need to be solved in less than a minute - think of those really conceptual Data Sufficiency questions - and some may well take 3+ (long-winded word problems, hard geometry), but be balanced out by those that you did much quicker.

So the key really is to use that kind of timing as a general guideline, but to pay closer attention to your own pacing on the whole section and/or to bigger sets like 10 questions at a time, instead of trying to hit a particular timing target on each individual question. For example, try doing sets of 10 problems and seeing if you can keep your pace to around 20 minutes for that stretch.

Then look at how you're doing problem by problem within those sets. If, for example, you routinely spend 3+ minutes on each geometry problem but still end up guessing, that's a place where that return-on-investment of time usually doesn't work out for you, so you may want to hold yourself to "if I don't see a direct path to the answer in 45 seconds I'll guess and save the time" standard. On other problems, for example, you might find that in your haste to save time on word problems, you often lose track of units or poorly assign variables and make "silly" mistakes; there it may be worth spending 3 minutes to make sure that you get those right since you're fully capable, you just need more time.

There's no great one-size-fits-all pacing plan...a lot of it comes down to taking some practice tests and learning from what that experience tells you; from taking your time on homework sets to really understand problems so that you're much quicker at identifying important components of them; and from knowing where the best ROI on your time comes from and spending time accordingly. Here are a couple articles that may help you develop your personal pacing strategy:

https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2014/06/gmat-tip-of-the-week-woulda-shoulda-coulda-how-to-analyze-your-practice-test-results/

https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2014/04/gmat-tip-of-the-week-your-3-step-pacing-plan/

evansgherzi · Answer

Hi!

My suggestion is to simply pinch yourself at the beginning of each question (kidding... but kind of not!).
What I really mean is that it is fine to hesitate momentarily to think about what you are looking at, and to ask yourself "What have I learned about this? What traps can there be? What am I supposed to check?" AND to remind yourself: "I will not read the text or the answer choices too quickly."

Essentially, when you look at a question, such as Subject Verb Agreement, when you see a verb you should ask yourself where the subject is and what type of subject it is. By doing this, your mind will start running through all the different subject types there might be. Then you will ask yourself about the tense: "What is the tense used? Is it the right tense? Is there an indication that it should not be this tense?" etc.

For most people, 10%-15% of their errors are avoidable. Eventually, once the knowledge is in you and you know what to check without asking yourself the same questions each time, you will be able to notice rather than have to pause. But for now, train yourself to read carefully, to identify the question properly, and to notice the small differences among answer choices. (For example, why do "b" and "c" both sound good, and what is the difference between them-- because one is wrong?)

A slight pause and self-reminder to slow down may help you. It is OK to be pressed for time, however, looking at the clock after every question will not help. Nor does it help to rush through things. For now, simply try to remind yourself of what knowledge you are supposed to apply, and what you are supposed to check/identify. Focus on attacking the questions in as systematic manner as possible.

Kind regards,
Evan

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"always time yourself" - easier said than done?

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