Time Management

shane.mcglashen

Question guys!

I was curious, if for certain question types anyone simply scans directly for the correct answer, or upon seeing the correct answer; even relatively early among answer choices (A or B for example), selects it and moves on in an effort to fortify time remaining for more difficult question types .

Is this a dangerous tactic? Can this be a good tactic for answer choices that clearly shine true, such as conclusion/MP questions et cetera?

I employed this method upon my first few pts without much thought upon around the first 10 Q's in LR and found I was saving a vast amount of time by not reading wrong answer choices (I was finishing almost 10 minutes early with minimal unaccredited responses (for me anyway, around -4) . I refrained from using this method several PTs later after coming across mid section problems I would get wrong by not reading ALL of the answer choices. Now a days, time is a serious issue for me and can score anywhere from -4 to -10, the larger portion of negatives owing to the time crunch I think.

IF anything, could this be used as an effective means of time management? Or does it seem too dangerous

Thanks in advance

jdawg113

I would not rely on this but I do think it is a viable way to attack some questions. But I wouldnt scan really I would just look at the AC's like normal and if A is EXACTLY what I am looking for then yeah I will move on but only if I am sure that that is what the question is looking for and it perfectly matches the idea in my head for the answer.

Jengibre

If this works for you, stick to it, but in general I would strongly advise against not reading all the ACs. Sometimes there is an attractive wrong answer A or B that closely matches what I predicted, but with a small change that makes it totally wrong. I have sometimes circled that choice, only to read on and find that D or E was much better and choose that one. It's usually worth the time to make sure that you see clearly not only which answer is correct, but also why the other 4 are wrong. If you skip the second step, you're more likely to miss questions. If you have solid LR skills you can finish the section on time and still read all the answer choices. #worthit

Allison M

Yeah, I think this comes down to how confident you are about a particular answer choice. For instance, the correct answer for main point questions is usually obvious, so I might move on once I've found it. Sometimes I'll also do this for time suck questions like parallel argument/flaw questions.

The caveat, though, is that I'll usually write DC ("double check") next to that question and use the extra time that I have left at the end to check over the other answers. I find that this helps to mitigate some of the danger of moving on too quickly.

ETA: I should say that I almost always do read all answer choices -- I won't for maybe 1-2 questions per PT. I also think that it's worth it to keep practicing your skills until you're able to read all ACs within the time limit.

jdawg113

lol was about to say same thing Allison... although it can work nicely I find myself picking an answer and moving on right away only a very few times on a PT, even if I feel very strongly I will still glance at other AC's for the most part and majority of the time fully read all AC

alexroark5

I think it is safer to employ that tactic on certain conditional/formal logic mapping questions where you know exactly what you need. In general however, I would not rely on this tactic to save time. I would recommend trying to save time in other ways (i.e. moving through the first 10 questions quickly)