Timing Strategy - Freebies

[BrookeL411]

Hi - I am working through the self study guide, currently working on timed sets and refining timing strategy.
I'm looking for more direction when it comes to 'freebies'

From what I've learned
- Keep track of 'freebies' on scrap paper
- Don't skip / guess on multiple questions in a row
- Use freebies if you aren't reaching benchmark times

Are there additional guidelines for how many freebies are appropriate for Verbal and Quant?
Why am I keeping track of freebies? Of course it's a good idea, but what am I looking out for when doing this?

Assuming # of freebies available depends on target score, mine is 680-700

Thanks!!
Brooke

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, good questions!

We all need to guess on some number of questions, so we recommend tracking them literally just to give yourself permission to guess and move on! A lot of people hesitate to do this because they're used to school tests, where you really are supposed to try to do everything.

You can do this up to 7 times per section without having it compromise your score (unless you are going for a 750+, in which case you should limit yourself to about 3-4). You don't have to use all 7 if you don't need to, of course, but don't hesitate to use them when you need them!

Next, don't worry about whether you need to do this twice in a row. If they really do give you two questions in a row that you don't know how to do, then you can't make yourself know what to do just because it's the second in a row, right? :)

What you want to do is avoid putting yourself in a position where you are forced to guess twice in a row just because you're running low on time (typically at the end of the section), when you might have been able to do one of those if you'd had adequate time.

Next, yes, if you find yourself 3+ minutes behind at any point, take action. On the next "this question type is usually hard for me" question, guess immediately and save that entire time. Now you'll be back on track and you'll only have sacrificed one question (and one that you may very well have gotten wrong even if you had tried it).

Let us know if you have any other questions!