Practice Test Time

daisymichellee

When taking the initial practice test, should I be aiming to finish all questions in the 35 minutes or taking my time to get them correct despite not fininshing all the questions?

Matt Sorr

I generally advocate for trying to get through all of the questions rather than telling yourself to just focus on some of the questions with (the hope of) higher accuracy. In a logic game section, for instance, if you decide to do the first three games and not even attempt the fourth, then you're guaranteeing 5 to 7 missed questions. I think it's much better to at least attempt each question, regardless of section, than to not even look at some. If you're having trouble getting through sections in 35 minutes, you've got to remind yourself to move on when you're stuck on a question. You just can't let an LR question drain 3 to 5 minutes of your time during your first pass through the section.

If by "first practice test" you mean this is the first test you're taking while working through the curriculum, however, I don't think slowing down is a bad idea. Honestly, it might even be worth while to take the test untimed rather than gaining nothing from the questions you're skipping. Basically, if you're taking the PT with the intent of scoring as high as possible, I'd advise you at least attempt each question. If you don't, you're shooting yourself in the foot. If you're taking a PT with the intent of learning as much as possible, with no concern for your score, I think slowing down and giving yourself extra time on sections can be okay. Just don't do it indefinitely.

ashmar24

You can do either. This will sound obvious, but I would just say do what you think will get you a higher score. If a question is really tough, you may not want to sink too much time into it. But don't worry if you don't get through everything on your first PT.