Timing problems in Quant

[julia.gilroy]

On a previous official GMAT exam I had scored a 44 (72%) in Quant. The most recent official GMAT I took I scored a 35 (39%) despite having scored a 48 and 49 respectively in Quant in the GMAT prep exams (the ones downloaded from mba.com). I am considering taking the text one final time but would much appreciate any advice on how to better prepare. I seem to have alot of trouble with timing -- I felt like I guessed about 10 times on my recent GMAT and was definitely rushed on the last 5 question, guessing on the majority of them. I generally feel OK with timing up until the 10th question, then things spiral out of control.
Thanks in advance for the help!

[JohnDoeNo24]

Hi Julia,
I just took the test yesterday and scored 48 (82nd percentile) in math. I'm by no means a quantitative specialist, and I think the thing that helped me above all was timing strategy. I think it is crucially important to recognize very quickly (i.e. within 20 seconds or so) whether you are quite confident that you can get the problem right. If not, spend an additional 10-20 seconds trying to figure out if there's a way you can guess in an educated fashion, that is, by eliminating at least 1 or 2 choices. If not, immediately guess and move on. At least 3 or 4 times yesterday, I saw a question and determined fairly quickly that either I wouldn't solve it correctly or that it would take far too much time to do, given the low confidence I had that I'd ultimately get it right. I thus immediately guessed and moved on, and the saved time proved invaluable by allowing me to invest more time in later questions that I knew I could get right. Sticking to a very disciplined timing strategy such as this one is very important in my opinion. The biggest risk inherent in this strategy is that you leave points on the table (...you guess to quickly on too many problems, end up with too much time at the end, and then realize that you might have gotten some of those questions right). In my view, that risk pales in comparison with the risk of getting bogged down and having to guess fairly randomly on the last several questions - such an outcome should be avoided at all costs! Practice this strategy a few times and I think you'll like it. I also perform much better staying slightly ahead of the clock, rather than behind it...

[StaceyKoprince]

Timing is definitely a tricky balancing act. If you have to guess on 5 questions in a row at the end and you get them all wrong, that can have a 10 to 15 percentile point negative impact on your score! Clearly, we don't want that. And, from what you describe, the problem went beyond just the last five questions.

JohnDoeNo24 has some good things to say, but I would adjust the specific advice a bit. As (he?) notes, if you go too fast, you risk dropping a question too quickly - one that might seem impossible in the first 20 seconds but that "opens up" for you after you dig in for 30-40 seconds.

First, adjust your mindset: Think of this as a tennis match, not a test. You're going to win some points and the other guy is going to win some points; you're not going to win them all, right? Your goal is to put yourself into position to win the LAST point. Translated, that means you have to put yourself in position to answer the last question - you have to have time to address it. Otherwise, you've lost the last point, and by extension the match. When the other guy hits a winner, don't go running after it so fast that you hit the fence and injure yourself, thereby hurting your chances on the later points. (Translation: don't go way over when the problem is too hard.)

Next: learn some new timing skills. My general rule: every quant problem gets at least 1 minute (including easy ones - if I answer too quickly, I check my work or do it again). During that first minute, I'm trying to get to the right answer. If I'm not on track by one minute, I make an educated guess** and move on. (The general idea is that if you're not on track by the halfway mark, you're unlikely to figure out what's holding you back AND have time to do the whole problem in the 1 min you have left.)

** This also requires you to know HOW to make an educated guess depending upon the type of problem and the content being tested. So that's something else to add to your study: how to make educated guesses on different kinds of problems.

You don't want to look at the clock every minute, of course, so you have to learn about how long one minute is without looking at a watch or stopwatch. If you don't have one already, buy yourself a stopwatch with lap timing capability. When you go to do a set of problems, start the stopwatch but turn it over so you can't see the time. Every time you think one minute has gone by, push the lap button. When you're done, see how good you were - and whether you tend to over or underestimate. Get yourself to the point where you're within 15 seconds either way on a regular basis (that is, you can generally predict between 45 sec and 1min 15 sec). Note: at the same time that you are using the stopwatch to time this "1-minute" thing, also use the OG Stopwatch (in your student center) to track the total time spent on each question.

This article might also be useful for you:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/12/ ... management