How much time to spend on each problem

[jaser]

I am coming up with a problem: Using a three tier timing scheme (2.5 minutes on first 1/3, 2.0 minutes on second 1/3, and 1.5 minutes on last 1/3) seems logical and also works UNLESS the student is scoring above the average. This is especially the case if one scores above 650.

The problem is that spending even 2.0 minutes on the first 1/3 will not allow the necessary time to work out the most difficult questions which hit you before the first 1/2 of the test is done. Therefore, using the three tier scheme leaves the tester not finishing the test.

Therefore, I want to throw out the two tier scheme for top scorers. It would advocate using 1.5 minutes on the first 1/2 of the problems and 2.5 minutes on the remaining half.

Thoughts/comments?

Cheers,
Jase

[Erin]

Jaser, after coaching many, many students and doing a bit of research on my own (which I've discussed in the forum), I've come to the conclusion that for most of the people I work with, spending as much time as necessary on each question could be the most prudent approach.

Many of my students who've scored 48 to 51 on the Quant section have told me that some of the last problems they get take a good five minutes to solve. That, I tell my students, is a good sign. In many senses, getting a problem that can be solved in a minute or so can be a bad sign.

That's math. Verbal is a bit different, I think, since questions don't involve working through calculations. However, my advice is similar--try to do your best on each question. In fact, with some of the students I've coached over the years, I've had great success in advising people to dump one passage or more. I had one student who scored 700 even though s/he skipped one passage; another got 650 skipping one or two passages, and in all cases (mind you I'd worked with these students for a while and was therefore very familiar with their abilities), the students showed marked increases. In other words, these students, by hurrying through all the questions, were doing worse on average than they would by sacrificing one passage in order to spend more time on the questions that were just *slightly* out of their reach.

In short, many of these things are so complicated that a more "no-nonense approach" of try your best on every question seems to be the better approach. And, as always, temper any advice or my experiences with your own good judgment!

[jaser]

Thank you very much for your advice, Erin! Excellent viewpoint on seperating the test into what to do on each group. I'll just have to work more on the verbal to get used to doing what you suggested. With regards to math, I guess my issue is on the DS questions, since one has more discretion on how much time he spends grinding down on an actual answer vs. just "feeling" like enough info exists. I'm constantly debating working the problem down further vs. saying to myself things such as "two distinct equations, two variables; it's good enough".

Maybe that is a problem I have with detail reading comprehension problems also. How much time should one spending digging for the actual answer?

Anyway, I look forward to more of your input!
Jase

[Psyoutlaw]

I have found this information useful for the Reading Comprehension Section:

One technique that you may find helpful is to preview the passage by reading the first sentence of each paragraph. Generally, the topic of a paragraph is contained in the first sentence. Reading the first sentence of each paragraph will give an overview of the passage. The topic sentences act in essence as a summary of the passage. Furthermore, since each passage is only three or four paragraphs long, previewing the topic sentences will not use up an inordinate amount of time.

The key to performing well on the passages is not the particular reading technique you use (so long as it's neither speed reading nor pre-reading the questions). Rather the key is to become completely familiar with the question types--there are only six--so that you can anticipate the questions that might be asked as you read the passage and answer those that are asked more quickly and efficiently. As you become familiar with the six question types, you will gain an intuitive sense for the places from which questions are likely to be drawn. This will give you the same advantage as that claimed by the "pre-reading-the-questions" technique, without the confusion and waste of time. Note, the order in which the questions are asked roughly corresponds to the order in which the main issues are presented in the passage. Early questions should correspond to information given early in the passage, and so on.

Hope This Helps!

[jaser]

Thanks! I'll give it a try...