GMAT Timing

[JbhB682]

Hi Stacey

Was reviewing the updated verbal timing strategy on the yellow pad posted on April 12th 2018 ...you suggest 4 blocks of time (16 minutes each)

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... nt-part-3/

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It's really well done but my question is the following on Verbal

--- You mention that if there are 2 RC passages in one 16 minute bloc -- expect to be 2 mins late
(so instead of 48 R --> expect to be around 46 RR)

--- If so ...do the other blocks of time get affected by this change (From 48R to 46 RR) or do the other blocks of time remain the same on your yellow pad ?

--- Block 1 of time : 48 R to now 46 RR
--- Block 2 of time : 32 R (Does this remain the same if 2 RC passages in block 1 ?)
--- Block 3 of time : 16 R (Does this remain the same if 2 RC passages in block 1 ?)
--- Block 4 of time : OR (Does this remain the same if 2 RC passages in block 1 ?)

My thinking is NO CHANGES ARE NEEDED but just wanted to confirm

[StaceyKoprince]

Good question. I played around with various scenarios, and the upshot is that I don't think you need to bother to carry over from one sheet to the next.

By far the most likely scenario is that, if you do see two passages in the first block, you'll see 1 or (more likely) 0 in the second block. In that case, you don't need to do anything special—it balances out enough with the fact that you want to be within 2-3 minutes of the time listed on the sheet.

The two extreme scenarios would be that you see all 4 passages in the first two blocks or all 4 in the last two blocks. (Or that you start three passages in one block.) In that case, yes, the timing would have to be carried over—but, now that the verbal section is only 36 questions long, that would mean you were seeing ~13 RC questions out of just 18 questions (2 blocks) or 9 out of 9 in one block. That's really unlikely to happen.

Basically, it should all even out quickly enough that you don't need to worry about it from sheet to sheet.