Hi Stacey - I read on one of your posts that one should train the brain to recognize when one minute has lapsed. With this intention, I bought a stop watch (one that keep track of laps). But I am unsure how the process of training the brain to calculate one minute using the stop watch will work. Can you please elaborate on how the consciousness of one minute having lapsed will set in? I am sure others on the forums will benefit much from your insights on this.
Thanks so much in advance Stacey.
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- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9361
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
Great question. When you do a problem (or a set of problems), start the stop watch, then turn it facedown (or so that you can't see it) but know which button to press for the "lap" timing. When you think one minute has gone by, press that button, but don't look - keep working. When you're done, go back and see how accurate you were.
Most people will consistently skew one way or the other at first - way too high or way too low. (Most people are too high - they'll think it's one minute when closer to 1.5 or 2 have passed!) If you can get yourself pretty consistently to within the 45 sec to 1m15sec range, you're good.
The key is: you have to be able to do this when you're working on a problem. The whole point is to strike that balance between giving strong concentration to the problem in front of you but not getting so sucked in that you completely lose track of time.
You can also do the "guess when 1 min has gone by" exercise when you're doing something non-GMAT but still engrossing - something at work, or whatever. The idea is to train your brain to sort of rear its head at the minute mark and say, "Hello! What's up? Things going okay here?" and, if not, you pull the plug.
Most people will consistently skew one way or the other at first - way too high or way too low. (Most people are too high - they'll think it's one minute when closer to 1.5 or 2 have passed!) If you can get yourself pretty consistently to within the 45 sec to 1m15sec range, you're good.
The key is: you have to be able to do this when you're working on a problem. The whole point is to strike that balance between giving strong concentration to the problem in front of you but not getting so sucked in that you completely lose track of time.
You can also do the "guess when 1 min has gone by" exercise when you're doing something non-GMAT but still engrossing - something at work, or whatever. The idea is to train your brain to sort of rear its head at the minute mark and say, "Hello! What's up? Things going okay here?" and, if not, you pull the plug.
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
2 posts Page 1 of 1