Scrap paper and ABCDE grid

[evv89]

Hi everyone!
I am preparing for Gmat with Guided self study and wanted to get an opinion from everyone concerning grid and elimination on scrap paper.
Is it crucial to use that elimination process on paper? I am worried about this because I feel that I am just loosing precious time writing it down instead of doing this process in mind.

Also I would be grateful if anyone could tell me about the experience of using scrap paper.For example, How much space does it take you to finish one section? Quantitive and Verbal.

Thank you everyone for any insights!

[messi10]

Hi evv89,

On problem solving questions where you can work it out very quickly, say within 20-30 seconds, you may get away without making the grid. But for everything else, I would recommend using it.

I am assuming that you are familiar with the Data Sufficiency AD/BCE or BD/ACE grid? My advice is to use it every time for every data sufficiency question. Its different doing questions on their own under practice conditions but under exam conditions, you will have a timer running down and you will need to move from question to question very quickly. If you try doing things in the mind, sooner or later you are bound to make a careless mistake. Using the grid will help you stay focussed and worry about the question instead of keeping track of the answers that you eliminated.

On verbal, it goes without saying that you will have to work on almost all questions by eliminating answers. Again, on the easy ones where you are able to spot the right answer straight away, you may get away without the grid. But my advice is to stick to the grid. It hardly take 3-4 seconds per question.

Regards

Sunil

[terence.battle1]

The time it takes to create a grid should not be factored into the overall timing since it's so short. However, one thing I will say is that I used the grid during my practice for my first ten weeks but after that I had become so efficient with DS that I have not used it in my last 3 weeks of prep or on my actual exam (49Q). So if you are very comfortable with the selections and can maintain an independent review of each statement then it's not really necessary in my opinion but is definitely a useful tool if you are struggling with the topics being questioned.

[StaceyKoprince]

This one's getting some debate - I like it!

This is personal to some extent, but I will say that it is NEVER worth saving a few seconds if you cost yourself a question that you should have gotten right.

Personally, I:
- ALWAYS use the AD/BCE or BD/ACE on DS
- sometimes write down answers for PS, if I'm testing them for example
- ALWAYS keep track of my verbal answers (but I have a way to save some time here; see below)

For verbal, I write ABCDE at the top with a little space between each. Then, for each new problem, I simply move down one row on my scrap paper. When I'm marking down my thoughts on each choice (X = no way, ~ = maybe, etc.), I'm not doing so on the letters themselves, but in the columns associated with each letter. So I only have to write ABCDE once at the top of each page, or maybe 3 times for the entire test (for me).

Re: how much scrap paper I use, I use most or all of a booklet for quant, and I try to make sure that I don't run out before quant is over (because it's a pain to get a new booklet in the middle of a section). Then, I make sure to get a new booklet at the break, so that I start with a clean booklet for verbal. I don't use the whole booklet for verbal - but I can easily imagine that some people would, and that there are people who won't use the whole booklet for quant - again, this is pretty personal.

The one thing I am militant about (and I already mentioned it above): I write down way more than I think I actually need to most of the time, because I do not EVER want to lose a point just because I thought I could get away with doing something in my head. I recognize again that this may not be necessary for everyone (not everyone is going for a 99th percentile score*), but I just want to mention it.

*Note: and I'm not making a joke there or trying to imply: oh, you have to do what I do, because I score in the 99th percentile. No, really, sometimes that's overkill! Everyone needs to be fairly vigilant about minimizing careless mistakes, but 99th percentile scorers literally can't make any - or maybe one in the entire section. So we tend to be more anal than most testers. :)

Note #2: here's my other pitch though. It doesn't really take long to write stuff down that you're already thinking anyway. Your pen should be moving all the time - you won't be taking any extra time worth noticing.