Verbal time mis management

[saurabh bansal]

hi
I am facing serious problem with time management of Verbal section.I am taking too long for RC passages and I have aprroximately 19 min left when i am on th 19th question and just randomly mark the last ten questions.
Please help me whether first 10-12 questions are much more important and how to spend my time judiciously.Please help me with time management and suggest some technique.

[JonathanSchneider]

The first questions are NOT more important than the last. You need to balance your time throughout. It is worth making a few educated guesses throughout in order to not have to make random guesses at the end.

To improve RC, you need to have an understanding of the structure of RC passages. This comes with practice ... and diagramming. You don't have to diagram a lot on the test itself, but you should practice with it to note how the strucutre generally works. Ideally, you will not spend too much time reading details in RC passages, but simply knowing where those details are, so that you can go back and learn them when you get a question about them. For example, if given a science passage, do you really need to know exactly how the experiment was done? Or can you just know where that information is, so that you can go there if you get a question about that? I prefer the latter.

[kylo]

Qsns Time (mins) Target Error Target Accuracy

Phase1 1 to 10 25 1 90%

Phase2 11 to 20 20 2 80%

Phase3 21 to 30 15 3 70%

Phase4 31 to 41 15 4 63%
______ ____ _______ ______
41 75 10 75%

Few points about the above mentioned strategy -
1)This strategy, if executed properly, can help average students (like me) to score close to 40 in verbal.
2)Make sure that u r ahead in time as far as this strategy is concerned. For example, u can try n complete first 11 qsns in first 25mins (only if u r confident enough to do so). Similarly u can try n complete next 11 qsns (12 to 22) in next 20 mins. These 2 extra qsns (at the end of phase2) can provide time cushion during phase3 & 4.
3)Also try to get as close as possible to the target errors during each phase.

Guy!Please let me know your thoughts on this.


Thanks!

[kylo]

I think this should be more clear than the previous post.

Phase1 ---> Qsns 1 to 10 -- Time 25mins -- Target Error 1 -- Target Accuracy 90%

Phase2 ---> Qsns 11 to 20 -- Time 20mins -- Target Error 2 -- Target Accuracy 80%

Phase3 ---> Qsns 21 to 30 -- Time 15mins -- Target Error 3 -- Target Accuracy 70%

Phase4 ---> Qsns 31 to 41 -- Time 15mins -- Target Error 4 -- Target Accuracy 63%

Total ---> 41Qsns -- 75mins -- 10 Errors -- Accuracy 75%


Few points about the above mentioned strategy -
1)This strategy, if executed properly, can help average students (like me) to score close to 40 in verbal.
2)Make sure that u r ahead in time as far as this strategy is concerned. For example, u can try n complete first 11 qsns in first 25mins (only if u r confident enough to do so). Similarly u can try n complete next 11 qsns (12 to 22) in next 20 mins. These 2 extra qsns (at the end of phase2) can provide time cushion during phase3 & 4.
3)Also try to get as close as possible to the target errors during each phase.

Guys!Please let me know your thoughts on this.


Thanks!

[JonathanSchneider]

I'm curious as to where you found this strategy, or if it is your own. While most readers will find it appealing/tempting, I think there is a fundamental flaw here:

The GMAT algorithm breaks is such a way that just about all of us will get between 50-60% of the questions correct, no matter our final score. This is because when we get a hard question right, we only get a harder question next. Under your scheme, the overall % correct is more like 76%. The only people to get that many correct are those scoring in the near-800 range.

Consider: if you can in fact get 9 out of your first 10 questions right, how hard are the next questions likely to be? VERY. Why? Because you've shown the GMAT so far that you're capable of any difficulty level. How is it that you are going to somehow get 80% of the next ten right, in less time? If you don't believe me, try it out on one of our practice tests. I imagine you'll have a VERY difficult time with the route recommended above.

A far better strategy is to balance your time overall.

[kylo]

hi jon - thanks for ur feedback.

this is the strategy developed by me & i have seen improvement in my verbal scores by following this strategy.

just few more clarifications on the above mentioned strategy -
1)this strategy was developed by analyzing my strengths & weeknesses. so this may not hold true for other people.
2)now the trick here is to try n be as close as possible to the target accuracy n not necessarily achieve the targets. by targetting higher, one can achieve respectable results.
3)also i have observed that my accuracy dips as i move closer to 41st question. this may be due to fatigue.hence i targetted higher accuracy in the first half (1 to 20 qsns) of the verbal test.this may not be applicable for other people.
4)also in between the actual gmat qsns, there will be few qsns which are considered as test qsns by gmat. these test qsns doesnot affect ur score irrespective of whether are correct or incorrect.
5)also the probability of test qsns occuring in the first set of 10 qsns is less as compared to the remaining set of questions because initially the computer wants to gauge the level of capability of the individual giving the exam.

Please let me know ur thoughts on this.

Thanks!

[JonathanSchneider]

Well, again, I think that you're going to have a hard time achieing 75% correct on an actual GMAT test. But if you find that the above strategy works for you, more power to you : )