Having a Difficult Time with Timing -

ceasilsaw

Ironically enough my biggest problem is timing. I did the diagnostic and received a 155 (I struggled with answering a lot of the logical reasoning questions and had to guess on a lot so I didn't run out of time) However once I went back and had time to fully answer the questions my BR score was 175. I am able to understand the material, I just am having a hard time performing under pressure. Can anyone give me tips on how to improve this before I write in January?

Katie_Maricopa

I have had similar timing issues.
Okay. You have limited time; and the main issue you are having is on LR. so, I would say...start by figuring out how long different question types take you. (Time yourself NOW. On EACH type of question, going as fast as you can while also being confident in your answer choice)
This will give you a good understanding of your strengths and weaknesses: What can you confidently answer in a way you feel is efficient, and in under 1 min 15 seconds? What can you confidently answer with extra time? What do you still struggle with regardless of time?

Then, you can:

1.) Focus on studying several (3-5?) high-frequency LR question types that you are reliably getting right with the shortest amount of extra time. (There really isn't enough time to develop complete, confident instant recall understanding of all the question types. So I think it's better to be totally confident on a core group that'll make up the vast majority of questions than trying to do everything.)
2.) Slowly reduce the time you spend on those types of question. You have max 1 minute 15 seconds for each LR question.. Then do bulk sets of 10 questions -- reducing by 5-10 seconds each time until you get to the 1.25 minute point.
3.) On practice tests, and on the test day, definitely SKIP and RETURN to questions that you consistently take longer to answer. (For me, they're the parallel reasoning).
4.) Once you are down to time, pace yourself using an analog watch...(this screwed me over when I went from practicing with my cell phone timer to using a crappy analog watch!)
5.) Think of the test like throwing free throws. For each section, you have 25 free throws in 35 minutes. Stick to pace, each new question is a whole new free throw worth the same number of points. If you think of each individually, then you won't psych yourself out based on any challenges you had on previous sections or questions.

Beyond that...I'm not sure if there really are any fast and dirty shortcuts. Reliably answering questions quickly comes with familiarity with basic core concepts -- (e.g. - It's been 13 years since I took pre-calculus or hard math! Right now, I could answer all the GRE questions quickly...but I'd be re-digging up my knowledge from 13 years ago, and each question would take me 5 minutes; rather than 30 seconds if I intuitively knew the answer); Reliably answering quickly after 4 sections comes with building stamina to stay focused and engaged.

(If your issues were on LG & RC -- I might suggest figuring out if just spending 12.5 minutes on only 3 games/passaged would give a higher score; and then focusing on concepts to make sure you can get 95 or 100% of those right)

Alex

A 175 is a really amazing BR score. So congrats!

How many are you missing on LR during your timed takes?

There could be a lot of reasons for this and more info would be helpful. In the meantime, here are some things to consider:

1. Are there specific questions types that take you significantly longer?
2. Do you have strategies for each question type?
3. Are you getting stuck on a handful of questions and sinking a disproportionate amount of your time into those few?

ceasilsaw

Thank you both for your reply! I am having a hard time labeling the conditional logic out quickly for some questions, and the parallel flaw reasoning questions. I find with the timed test I am skimming the stimulus faster than I should and it really messes me up when it comes to the questions. I write in 2 days so I can only focus on my strengths from here! Best of luck