Improving with pacing

Question

Does anyone have advice on how to improve on pacing? Pacing was definitely one of my downfalls when I took the GMAT the first time. I took practice test before and for the most part I was able to finish each section. However, I have found that one of my problems is I worry about finishing the test and start to rush. As a result I make some of the dumbest mistakes by missing a key part of what the question is asking. If anyone has advice or strategies to share, I'd really appreciate it!

I'm going to be retaking the GMAT next month and am trying to do everything I can to work through my weaknesses.

I'm going to be retaking the GMAT next month and am trying to do everything I can to work through my weaknesses.

TheEconomistGMATTutor · Answer

You will have about two minutes to answer each question on the Quant section, and slightly less than two minutes per question on the Verbal.

A tactic you can employ to develop your time management skills is to group five Quant questions together and spend no more more than ten minutes on them. For Verbal, give yourself nine minutes to answer five questions. You can use this strategy on both practice questions and simulation exams.

If during a ten minute stretch, you find yourself falling behind schedule, make a strategic guess or two to catch up. Make strategic guesses on questions about which you aren’t confident or that would take you much longer than two minutes to answer. By making strategic guesses, you can recover precious time that you can spend on questions on which you have a better chance of answering correctly.

To sum up the basics of time management on the GMAT: keep track of your time, and if you start to fall behind, make an educated guess or two to ensure that you will not run out of time and leave questions unanswered.

TheEconomistGMATTutor · Answer

Also, if you wanted to read more on timing, we recently published two posts on this subject:

https://gmat.economist.com/blog/test-tak ... mat-part-i
https://gmat.economist.com/blog/test-tak ... at-part-ii

Hope these help!

Regards,

Elizabeth

clearmountain · Answer

Does anyone have advice on how to improve on pacing? Pacing was definitely one of my downfalls when I took the GMAT the first time. I took practice test before and for the most part I was able to finish each section. However, I have found that one of my problems is I worry about finishing the test and start to rush. As a result I make some of the dumbest mistakes by missing a key part of what the question is asking. If anyone has advice or strategies to share, I'd really appreciate it!

I'm going to be retaking the GMAT next month and am trying to do everything I can to work through my weaknesses.

Hi Amy,

a couple of thoughts:

1) verbal section vs math section?
2) on math section- do you employ choice elimination strategies or just try to answer the question head on every time?
3) on verbal section - strategic skipping of questions you quickly identify as being too hard
4) choice elimination strategies cont'd - choosing/guessing between final two choices.
5) the level of difficulty of questions plateaus pretty quickly so just taking a guess in the middle questions isn't such a bad idea if you're experience says you're going to hurt yourself even more at the end.

Avoid Pyrrhic Victory!! Blowing twice the allotted time on a question that you still might get wrong is very foolish. Be strategic. Live to fight another day ( or question).

thanks,

Clearmountain

www.clearmountainprep.com

KarishmaB · Answer

Here are two articles from our blog. You will certainly find them helpful: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2011/04 ... y-anxiety/ https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2010/10 ... for-field/ The first one talks about test day anxiety - Here is an extract "Test-day anxiety is one of the leading causes of later-that-day depression, which is a leading cause of retaking-the-test-day-anxiety, and the vicious cycle repeats. How can you fix that? Here are five tips that can dramatically reduce your test-day anxiety:" The second talks about Punting on the GMAT i.e. knowing when to skip ahead. It discusses a couple of strategies you can use to manage your time effectively.

AtlanticGMAT · Answer

Hi Amy,

I hope you are doing well! Lots of good information here on pacing. I thought I'd round it out a bit. I think it's really important to realize that  the GMAT is a jog not a sprint . Yes there is the feeling of time pressure BUT you have plenty of time. Give yourself time and space to solve things properly so that you avoid careless mistakes and open yourself up to seeing more efficient ways to solve the question in front of you. Try to  plan out each question  a bit more. Really invest in the beginning of the question. This will be difficult at first and will take a little time to get used to.

A couple of practical things:

1. In your initial read avoid jotting down numbers. Really  focus on understanding the question . Then once you understand what you need to do you can organize your information. This will also help you avoid missing information.

2. It can really help to  define what you are solving  for (especially on word problems). For example, if it's a percent change question then write out the percent change formula including the specific language from the question (New profit - Old Profit/Old Profit). You can then use this as your guide and just fill in the blanks.

Happy Studies,

A.

PS: I think the root of rushing is a lack of confidence. When I first start working with a student I tend to see a lot of rushing because there is a general lack of confidence. Slowing down takes confidence. So make sure that all of your fundamentals are solid and that you have a good method for solving all of the major questions types.

Improving with pacing

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