The quantitative section on the GMAT can be intimidating: with 31 questions to answer in 62 minutes, you have only 2 minutes for each question! That doesn't mean you should stress out, though: with a little bit of strategy and a lot of practice, you'll be able to use your time effectively on test day.
Starting Off
If you're just beginning your GMAT prep journey, you shouldn't focus on pacing right away. Chances are you haven't seen some of the question types before, or you haven't seen some of the GMAT subjects in a long time, or both! Know that speed comes with accuracy: as you get familiar with and begin to master the math tested on the GMAT, you'll be able to more quickly decide what you need to do to answer a question and perform the necessary calculations.
Thus, at the beginning of your prep, don't worry about the clock: if you're using one of our study schedules, you'll see that there's timed practice throughout the plan. If you're not using one of our schedules, that's okay! You can start to incorporate timed practice later.
Save Time Whenever Possible
Just because you have 2 minutes per question doesn't mean you should spend the same amount of time on each question. Simple questions require less time; tricky ones may require more.
That means that if you know a couple of different ways a problem can be solved, you always want to choose the fastest way. The GMAT isn't interested in how you got to the correct answer, it only cares that you found it. Thus, if you know that you can use either algebra or plugging in numbers to solve a question, except algebra will take much longer, plug in numbers. Plugging in numbers might not get you full credit for a question in a high school or university math course, but the GMAT will count it as 100% correct!
Skip to Win!
One of the most important things you can do to raise your score on test day is to skip questions you know are really difficult, will be lengthy, or both. If you think a question will take too much time, you should do the following:
- Choose an answer that could be right (that is, if you know that an answer or answers cannot be correct, choose from the ones that might be the right answer)
- Mark the answer
- Move on to the next question
The more questions you get correct on the GMAT, the greater your score will be. You don't want to spend 30 minutes on the first 10 questions only to leave 5 minutes for the last 10 problems. Answer the easy questions first, and worry about the hard ones later.
Practice, practice, practice!
By skipping questions that are difficult, you will essentially be seeing all the questions you know you can get correct quickly, and saving time you know you'll need later to complete those tough questions. You should do this not only on test day, but in your practice as well: the more you practice skipping and marking questions on your practice tests and your study sessions, the more easily you'll do it on your actual GMAT. Thus, in the weeks leading up to your test, make sure a good amount of your practice is timed. Time management is just an important a skill to have along with your other math and verbal skills, so make sure you practice your pacing!
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