Self-paced
Hey guys,
I recently started doing timed sections and I do horribly on them lol. I'm getting roughly 12-16 correct during timed sections, but during untimed sections I'm doing much better around 22-24 correct.
I was wondering if anyone had any tips during this transition phase. I'm really trying to close that gap so that my timed sections can actually reflect my capabilities.
Thanks!
3
4 comments
In addition to the tips already offered, I would recommend considering the tradeoff between certainty and time. What's better: spending 3 minutes becoming 99% certain that an LR question is correct, or spending one minute becoming 90% certain that it's correct and then moving on? If you have the understanding to get 24 questions correct, you're probably not optimizing this tradeoff. Experiment with moving on faster when you're pretty sure you're right so that you have more time on the more complicated questions. Shaving time off of easier questions and not spending too much time debating the more difficult questions will likely help you narrow this 10-12 question gap.
There are some great tips here! You can try a few different strategies and see what's best for you, but here are some options that work for different people:
Tapering off your time. Like @koi suggested below, if you're taking 70 minutes for a section right now, try decreasing your time little by little until you're within the time limit.
Speed drills. Like @rs90460 recommended, it can be helpful to set a goal within the section, like doing the first 10 questions in 10 minutes, and practice this in a drill format.
Analyzing how you spend your time on untimed sections. Check out where you're spending a lot of extra time, and try to tighten those specific skills. On RC sections, for example, do you spend a lot of extra time on the questions themselves? Maybe you need to focus more on reading the passage closely so you have a stronger low-res summary and don't need to return to the passage when you get to the questions. Or on LR, do you get bogged down on certain questions after narrowing it down to two answer choices? You might want to flag some questions and come back so you don't lose momentum. Then when you come back, you might see the questions with fresh eyes.
If you just recently started doing timed sections, it's only natural to see a score decrease! It'll take some practice to see your timed section scores improve, but fortunately there are lots of ways that you can get better over time.
Speed drills. Practice answering the first 10 in under 10. Those are usually the easier questions. It helps you bank time for the more difficult ones.
I am also having trouble with this. I think its important to remember that even though your accuracy is really good untimed- when you begin to cut time, your score will naturally decrease. But its normal!! You're just learning to think faster so its normal for your score to dip when you start timing yourself.
I don't know if this would help you but, untimed, I would take about 70 minutes to finish an RC section. So since last week I've been cutting 5 minutes of my time everyday but I only cut off 5 minutes if I'm scoring what I want- like right now I'm at 55 minutes but my score completelyyy dipped at 55 minutes, so I wont be cutting off 5 more minutes until I can get my goal score at 55 minutes. This is just what I'm doing but I know everyone has their own techniques- hopefully it gives you some inspo on things you can do to improve your timing.
Also, I have been told to only focus on timing when you are consistently reaching your goal untimed. One last thing to remember, its normal to have your score decrease when you are cutting off time, so don't get too unmotivated! its completely normal for this process!