blow off IR on GMAT?

Question

Question for some of the people who've taken the test before

Do you think its OK to sort of blow off IR on the GMAT (don't stress too much over the questions, focus on getting a few right in the beginning, then guess on the rest) to conserve energy for the math and verbal? I know in an ideal world a person would perform at their peak on test day in all the sections, but by the end of verbal, you're just mentally exhausted. Since IR doesn't factor into the 800, would this be a bad idea? I'm not suggesting guessing on all or aiming to only get 1 question right on IR, i'm just saying to not shoot for the stars in the IR section.

AjiteshArun · Answer

It's hard to say, but I don't think you really need to do something like this. I'm sure you plan on trying this approach on a GMATPrep first. Just keep the following points in mind for the actual exam:

1. IR is  not  adaptive, so don't go in thinking that the first few questions you see will be the easiest (that bit about focusing "on getting a few right in the beginning, then guess on the rest"). Be ready to guess on some of the initial questions if you think they're going to take a lot of time.

2. There are experimental questions on the actual GMAT. If it turns out that you got all the experimental (IR) questions correct, but guessed your way through most of the operational items, you're not going to get a good score.

3. You should also reach out to your target schools and ask them what they think. For a long time, schools didn't use IR, but now that more than 99% of applicants are submitting scores that include IR, at least some schools have started using it (though its relative importance remains quite low).

nycgirl212 · Answer

thanks for your reply

yeah, i know its not adaptive, i'm just saying that i would focus mostly on a few in the beginning and then just kind of guess the rest and relax so i feel relaxed for math and verbal which really matter. i'm sure some schools look at it, but given its relatively low/minor importance, i was thinking of just saving my energy for where it matters most....

AjiteshArun · Answer

I know. Everyone thinks about it (for both AWA and IR)

How long have you been preparing? If you're still in the early stages, I think you should stay focused on preparing for the full exam. A lot of test takers find that the actual exam is a lot more tiring than practice tests. You can go for your strategy on test day, but you really should practice for the (approximately) 4 hours that the actual exam will take.

nycgirl212 · Answer

I'm taking the GMAT on Friday... i've sat for it before (2x before, ugh). I know the drill, have done the practice tests fully as well. i'm almost at the 700 that I need and I really want to make sure I keep my energy for the math and verbal on the exam. I've had the last week off from work and took off this week as well to brush up. I'm doing decently but i need that extra 20 or so points to get me there. Its more important to me to conserve energy and do better on those last few verbal questions to get my GMAT as high as possible (and end up with a 4 or so in IR).... vs. being super diligent in IR, getting a 6 or 7 and then being more tired through the test, which could cost me points at the end, which are crucial... this is just my thiking

AjiteshArun · Answer

In that case, yes. If you feel that IR could cost you points in either quant or verbal (or both), it makes sense to prioritize quant and verbal.

All the best!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi nycgirl212,

I'd like to know a bit more about your prior GMATs and timeline/goals:

1) How did you score on each of your prior GMATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

I ask because your post implies that you've already scored in the mid-to-high-600s, so you might already have a competitive-enough GMAT score for your applications.

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

ccooley · Answer

Don't completely blow off IR, but it's okay to be a little bit more lenient with it than you are with the Quant and Verbal sections. That said, I think you can refine your strategy a bit. Instead of focusing on the first few questions, decide ahead of time that you're going to guess completely on 2-4 of the IR questions. The most time-consuming IR problems are often the 'multi-part' questions, which require you to answer more than one question correctly to get credit. There's no partial credit on these problems, so when they're combined with the IR tendency of giving you a lot of information to read, they can become incredibly time-consuming.

Generally, I tell my students to work normally (but quickly!) on IR until they run into either a multi-part question that doesn't look incredibly easy, or a question that just has a huge volume of information that'll take a long time to understand. Guess wildly on that one, accept that you'll probably get it wrong, and move on. Guessing immediately on 2 questions means you now have nearly 3 minutes to spend on each IR question, on average. Guessing immediately on 4 questions would give you more than 3.5 minutes for each question you actually do. That makes the IR section much less stressful and probably won't impact your score enough for admissions committees to give it a second thought.

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blow off IR on GMAT?

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