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I'm not sure if I'm more concerned. Hearing you say it is okay to guess, but within reason creates more possible anxiety. The first thing that came to mind was now how did I determine which question is hard enough to guess. Lots to review and think about. Great video though.....
This is a concept that everyone needs to understand. Obviously everyone knows the time limit, but counting your loss on a couple of questions and saving time might help later on. This video presents this fact very well
Thank you so much for this, Brett! Is the Executive Assessment scored the same as the GMAT? Particularly, should I focus on accuracy and getting the first few questions right?
Hi Brett, could you please explain how the score would vary if i am going good on accuracy, but leave a few questions towards the end due to less time?
That's a good question. The main thing you should know is that there's a penalty for leaving questions unanswered at the end of a section. In other words, it hurts your score more to leave, say, three questions unanswered at the end of a section than it does to guess on those last three questions and get them wrong. So definitely don't run out of time! I talk about this more in my GMAT Mastery - Part 1 video here: ruclips.net/video/9DA_p7ESidA/видео.html.
Pattern recognition and practice. How does a tennis player shift mentally between hitting a serve one second, a backhand the next, and a volley immediately after that? Repetition and practice. It helps to be able to immediately recognize the TYPE of each question you're looking at, and then know the best methodology for attacking it. For example, don't just recognize that you're now looking at a CR question on your screen...but what type? Are you supposed to find an assumption? A conclusion? Identify the parts of the argument? The more you can narrow your focus, the easier it will be to switch easily among the different question types. And then make sure you're practicing varied questions as well. Don't just do a big block of RC followed by a big block of SC questions. Mix them up even in your practice sessions.
Thank you Brett for sharing your valuable time and knowledge. Just one last concern in terms of mixing the questions in practice sessions. How do I prepare for Verbal and Quants simultaneously (or say) should I practice verbal and quants on alternating on the days or I can do it consecutively on the same day? for now I have been focusing on the Verbal part but haven't done much of Quants in quite sometime.
In my Full GMAT Prep Course syllabus, I have students work on both quant and verbal in the same week. However, that doesn't necessarily have to happen within the same day. I think it's totally fine to spend one day working on quant, then the next day working on verbal. Even within the realm of quant, for example, you might spend one day doing problem solving and then the next day doing data sufficiency. BUT, at some point you'll want to have a practice session where you mix it all up within the same session. And of course you'll also want to take numerous full-length practice tests where you'll be forced to switch between quant and verbal within the same 2.5 hour time period.
QUESTION: would it make sense to try your best and use more time to answer questions even though this would mean to run out of time let's say 4 questions at the end, and just guessing them randomly. I am asking this because when I took it the first time I was panicking and just guessed a lot of questions at the beginning because I was scared I would have time to finish, but at the end I had a lot of time but only easy questions. Thanks, Alex
Guessing on 3-4 questions at the end will likely yield a higher score than guessing early on in the section (assuming you're guessing incorrectly), but only if you've gotten those earlier questions right and therefore the questions you're guessing on at the end are fairly hard. That's really your goal, to progressively increase the difficulty level of the questions you're seeing as you go along by getting more questions right than wrong. Ideally you'll time things perfectly so that you can spend at least a little time on the last couple hard questions, and finish with a bang!
Thanks Brett. I see you mention both that it is OK to get harder questions wrong and that more variance with respect to difficulty is to be expected earlier on in the section than later on in the section. But does the effectiveness of your strategy of bailing / cutting my losses on a harder question vary if that question is earlier or later in the section?
Not really. Ideally you'd try to stick it out a little longer if you're earlier in the section both because of the computer-adaptive nature of the scoring and also because you still have a lot of time left to make up for it. Conversely, if you're later in the section you can factor in how much time you have left vs. the number of questions you have left (e.g. if you have 5 minutes left and only 2 questions, there's no reason to cut your losses on the penultimate question!). You'll get a feel for it as you do more full-length practice tests and play around with it.
Understood, thanks Brett. One more question, specifically for Verbal, in light of the computer adaptive nature of the test - would you recommend an ideal part of the section to make "sacrifices" (i.e., sacrifice accuracy for time), if any, to ensure I reach the highest possible Verbal score (controlling for ability level from practice test to practice test)?@@dominatethegmat
@@carnegieustephen How are you with reading comprehension? That's the natural place to "cut your losses," if you're going to do so. I have some students who really struggle with RC (usually non-native English speakers), and they've found that they actually get a higher overall verbal score on their practice tests if they literally skip an entire passage (i.e. just guess on all of the questions for a certain passage) and use that extra time on the other RC passages so that they don't feel as rushed. You should stick it out on all SC questions since they tend to be shorter and grammar is doable, and once you learn the common patterns of arguments and how to quickly and easily identify assumptions like I teach in my course, there's really no reason to skip CR questions, either. That said, there may be some challenging CR arguments that stump you and you'll want to apply the same time vs. accuracy sacrifices discussed earlier.
@@dominatethegmat Certainly good points and thank you. I find I am very strong in RC (often getting only 1-2 RC questions incorrect in a section)... assuming I read for the big picture and don't get bogged down in the details enough to lose the author's purpose for those RC passages, that is. Further, agreed, my plan is to stick it out on all SC (typically getting only 1-2 incorrect here per section as well). I would say my weakness currently is CR partly because I find myself rushing in the heat of the section only to glean a cursory understanding of the argument and then spending upward of 1:30 digging through the choices. Acting on your "cut your losses" strategy, I'm thinking of implementing it for CR to see if I can consistently score 40+ for the section. Perhaps building on my earlier question, and if I choose to implement this sort of "bail" strategy solely for CR, first, would you recommend a limit for the number of CR questions I should do it for in a section and, second, would it matter when it actually happens among the 36 questions in the Verbal section?
@@carnegieustephen I don't really have a scientific answer for you on that one. I would strategically bail in the middle of the section rather than at the beginning (your score is changing the most at the beginning, so a wrong answer hurts worse) or end (there's not much time left anyway and your score isn't changing much with each right/wrong answer, so you're not gaining much), but as for a prescribed number you should do it for, I don't have an exact answer. You'll sort of just have to play it by ear based on how you're doing on time. If you're shooting for 40+ I wouldn't recommending doing it on more than 3, probably, but again, you can use your next couple of practice tests to experiment with it.
Hi Brett. That's a great piece of advice, no doubt, but I have some questions. As u admitted, starting few Qs of both the sections are extra important and we sh focus on accuracy bit more than on time (of course not spending 3.00 on every Q). Now, every correct answer increases difficulty and say from Q no. 11 onwards I can expect very tough Qs and my mind wud say on every tough Q that, "hey, we can actually bail out on this". Certainly, lot many Qs are still remaining and I can't lose on accuracy. How to decide when it's SAFE to apply your strategy of cutting short on time and when it's NOT? I am sorry, my Q is long, but I think there sh be a more detailed strategy, coz I am not so disciplined to spend time judiciously. Pls advise.
+Binit Bhagat The first question you should ask yourself in those situation is, "If I were to spend extra time on this question, is there a reasonable expectation that I'll be able to get it right?" For example, if you're 2:00 into a question and you're definitely on the right track and all you need to do is finish some long division or multiply a few things out or solve for X or whatever, and then you know you'll have the right answer...then obviously spend the extra time to finish what you started! But if you've been looking at a problem for a minute and you still don't really even know where to begin and you're just sort of hoping something is going to come to you or that you'll magically figure it out if you start at the problem for another minute...well, that might be a good time to bail on the problem and save the extra time for a later question. Does that make sense?
Hello Brett, I signed up for the Barron' GMAT online course where I've studied and continue to study your videos (loved the example on saving grandma' life (in the lesson on commas) - pretty funny). Anyway, I find that the explanations for some of the answers in the practice quizzes are insufficient. Is there an online forum where I can discuss these issues? Can I write to you for specific queries? Can we work something out ?
Hi Brett, I'm confused regarding your suggestion on time strategy. On this video, you are saying sometimes I should skip and save the time for other question later. In another video (ruclips.net/video/9DA_p7ESidA/видео.html), you are saying I should spend more time on earlier questions. They are the exact opposite, no?
Both strategies can exist simultaneously. When I say to spend a little more time on earlier questions, I'm talking about the first 5-7 questions. Those aren't going to be 700-level questions anyway, and you simply want to make sure you don't make any careless errors and get off to a good start. So don't skip those. But in the middle or latter-third of the section, it can be a good strategy to skip a question if you identify it as one you won't likely be able to solve and will waste a lot of time attempting it. See how that works?
I'm deeply impressed by this. I came across something with a similar message, and it was truly captivating. "Dominating Your Clock: Strategies for Professional and Personal Success" by Anthony Rivers
Probably that question is a dummy one...last five and first five are generally not the dummy questions....so maintain accuracy in 1st five and last five
The GMAC has never indicated when the experimental questions might appear, so I would be careful about taking that assumption into your testing mindset. Definitely keep your focus high during the first 5 and last 5 questions, but not necessarily for that reason.
I think the real problem is that you think you are too close to the answer, and say that it's ok if I'm over by a min since I'm very close, I will regret having the wrong answer after wasting 3 mins on this question, specially when I'm so close. This is how you loose marks, and the question was actually very simple, but you made a silly calculation error somewhere, which is why so much time was wasted.
That's a good point. That's why another good strategy is to use logic and common sense to eliminate clear throw-away answers early on. Often you can get a general sense of approximately what the answer will look like so that even if you make a calculation error but you're still in the ballpark, you won't get distracted by some of the other wrong answer choices.
@@Conk-bepis If I've left a video up on this channel, then it's still relevant to the current iteration of the GMAT Exam. And yes, I still love to connect with people who find our videos! I'm glad you found it helpful. Good luck and let me know how else I can help.
hey i am like freaking out with the thought of i cant crack the gmat and cant get an admit in a good college and i just want to give up and give it just for the hek of it and get into a loser college and be done with it!!! heeeelp!!!
The first question you need to ask yourself is, "Why do you want to go to business school in the first place?" Knowing your "why" will determine whether or not it's worth investing the time, effort, and money into dominating the GMAT so that you can get into your target schools. If your WHY is strong enough, you'll be able to do what it takes. If you're unsure of why you want to go to a good business school to begin with, or if a "loser college" would be okay with you, then you probably won't make the necessary effort to crack the GMAT. So start with getting serious about your WHY. Whenever you're ready to take the GMAT seriously, I'll be here to help!
![Dominate the GMAT [GMAT Focus Edition]](http://yt3.ggpht.com/tI_1dxMmtprYxDA6uOyK8qnQTC8srgfow1NbF5mfdL3D9ernoek9S4ZXd-K7Q0VAjFaIwBBRrmw=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj)
![Reading Comprehension [HARD]: Time Management Against the Clock](/img/1.gif)
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The Oscars of GMAT preparation videos should go to this one!!
Excellent! Thanks for sharing!
sounds great. I had hard time with the timing pressure. Thank you a lot, Brett!
My pleasure, glad it helped!
Excellent advice! Thank you!
Very nicely explained :)
Thanks for sharing!
I'm not sure if I'm more concerned. Hearing you say it is okay to guess, but within reason creates more possible anxiety. The first thing that came to mind was now how did I determine which question is hard enough to guess. Lots to review and think about. Great video though.....
This is a concept that everyone needs to understand. Obviously everyone knows the time limit, but counting your loss on a couple of questions and saving time might help later on. This video presents this fact very well
Thanks a lot !
Thank you so much for this, Brett! Is the Executive Assessment scored the same as the GMAT? Particularly, should I focus on accuracy and getting the first few questions right?
No, it's different. Shoot me an e-mail (brett@dominatetestprep.com) and I'll send you a primer on the EA format and scoring.
Hi Brett, could you please explain how the score would vary if i am going good on accuracy, but leave a few questions towards the end due to less time?
That's a good question. The main thing you should know is that there's a penalty for leaving questions unanswered at the end of a section. In other words, it hurts your score more to leave, say, three questions unanswered at the end of a section than it does to guess on those last three questions and get them wrong. So definitely don't run out of time! I talk about this more in my GMAT Mastery - Part 1 video here: ruclips.net/video/9DA_p7ESidA/видео.html.
how do you clear your mind between GMAT verbal questions? I am reading a passage and next minute I am doing reasoning for a completely different topic
Pattern recognition and practice. How does a tennis player shift mentally between hitting a serve one second, a backhand the next, and a volley immediately after that? Repetition and practice. It helps to be able to immediately recognize the TYPE of each question you're looking at, and then know the best methodology for attacking it. For example, don't just recognize that you're now looking at a CR question on your screen...but what type? Are you supposed to find an assumption? A conclusion? Identify the parts of the argument? The more you can narrow your focus, the easier it will be to switch easily among the different question types. And then make sure you're practicing varied questions as well. Don't just do a big block of RC followed by a big block of SC questions. Mix them up even in your practice sessions.
Thank you Brett for sharing your valuable time and knowledge. Just one last concern in terms of mixing the questions in practice sessions. How do I prepare for Verbal and Quants simultaneously (or say) should I practice verbal and quants on alternating on the days or I can do it consecutively on the same day? for now I have been focusing on the Verbal part but haven't done much of Quants in quite sometime.
In my Full GMAT Prep Course syllabus, I have students work on both quant and verbal in the same week. However, that doesn't necessarily have to happen within the same day. I think it's totally fine to spend one day working on quant, then the next day working on verbal. Even within the realm of quant, for example, you might spend one day doing problem solving and then the next day doing data sufficiency. BUT, at some point you'll want to have a practice session where you mix it all up within the same session. And of course you'll also want to take numerous full-length practice tests where you'll be forced to switch between quant and verbal within the same 2.5 hour time period.
QUESTION: would it make sense to try your best and use more time to answer questions even though this would mean to run out of time let's say 4 questions at the end, and just guessing them randomly.
I am asking this because when I took it the first time I was panicking and just guessed a lot of questions at the beginning because I was scared I would have time to finish, but at the end I had a lot of time but only easy questions.
Thanks, Alex
Guessing on 3-4 questions at the end will likely yield a higher score than guessing early on in the section (assuming you're guessing incorrectly), but only if you've gotten those earlier questions right and therefore the questions you're guessing on at the end are fairly hard. That's really your goal, to progressively increase the difficulty level of the questions you're seeing as you go along by getting more questions right than wrong. Ideally you'll time things perfectly so that you can spend at least a little time on the last couple hard questions, and finish with a bang!
Thanks Brett. I see you mention both that it is OK to get harder questions wrong and that more variance with respect to difficulty is to be expected earlier on in the section than later on in the section. But does the effectiveness of your strategy of bailing / cutting my losses on a harder question vary if that question is earlier or later in the section?
Not really. Ideally you'd try to stick it out a little longer if you're earlier in the section both because of the computer-adaptive nature of the scoring and also because you still have a lot of time left to make up for it. Conversely, if you're later in the section you can factor in how much time you have left vs. the number of questions you have left (e.g. if you have 5 minutes left and only 2 questions, there's no reason to cut your losses on the penultimate question!). You'll get a feel for it as you do more full-length practice tests and play around with it.
Understood, thanks Brett. One more question, specifically for Verbal, in light of the computer adaptive nature of the test - would you recommend an ideal part of the section to make "sacrifices" (i.e., sacrifice accuracy for time), if any, to ensure I reach the highest possible Verbal score (controlling for ability level from practice test to practice test)?@@dominatethegmat
@@carnegieustephen How are you with reading comprehension? That's the natural place to "cut your losses," if you're going to do so. I have some students who really struggle with RC (usually non-native English speakers), and they've found that they actually get a higher overall verbal score on their practice tests if they literally skip an entire passage (i.e. just guess on all of the questions for a certain passage) and use that extra time on the other RC passages so that they don't feel as rushed. You should stick it out on all SC questions since they tend to be shorter and grammar is doable, and once you learn the common patterns of arguments and how to quickly and easily identify assumptions like I teach in my course, there's really no reason to skip CR questions, either. That said, there may be some challenging CR arguments that stump you and you'll want to apply the same time vs. accuracy sacrifices discussed earlier.
@@dominatethegmat Certainly good points and thank you. I find I am very strong in RC (often getting only 1-2 RC questions incorrect in a section)... assuming I read for the big picture and don't get bogged down in the details enough to lose the author's purpose for those RC passages, that is. Further, agreed, my plan is to stick it out on all SC (typically getting only 1-2 incorrect here per section as well). I would say my weakness currently is CR partly because I find myself rushing in the heat of the section only to glean a cursory understanding of the argument and then spending upward of 1:30 digging through the choices. Acting on your "cut your losses" strategy, I'm thinking of implementing it for CR to see if I can consistently score 40+ for the section. Perhaps building on my earlier question, and if I choose to implement this sort of "bail" strategy solely for CR, first, would you recommend a limit for the number of CR questions I should do it for in a section and, second, would it matter when it actually happens among the 36 questions in the Verbal section?
@@carnegieustephen I don't really have a scientific answer for you on that one. I would strategically bail in the middle of the section rather than at the beginning (your score is changing the most at the beginning, so a wrong answer hurts worse) or end (there's not much time left anyway and your score isn't changing much with each right/wrong answer, so you're not gaining much), but as for a prescribed number you should do it for, I don't have an exact answer. You'll sort of just have to play it by ear based on how you're doing on time. If you're shooting for 40+ I wouldn't recommending doing it on more than 3, probably, but again, you can use your next couple of practice tests to experiment with it.
Thanks a lot brett.....
Thank you.
My pleasure! Glad it helped.
Hi Brett.
That's a great piece of advice, no doubt, but I have some questions. As u admitted, starting few Qs of both the sections are extra important and we sh focus on accuracy bit more than on time (of course not spending 3.00 on every Q). Now, every correct answer increases difficulty and say from Q no. 11 onwards I can expect very tough Qs and my mind wud say on every tough Q that, "hey, we can actually bail out on this". Certainly, lot many Qs are still remaining and I can't lose on accuracy. How to decide when it's SAFE to apply your strategy of cutting short on time and when it's NOT?
I am sorry, my Q is long, but I think there sh be a more detailed strategy, coz I am not so disciplined to spend time judiciously. Pls advise.
+Binit Bhagat The first question you should ask yourself in those situation is, "If I were to spend extra time on this question, is there a reasonable expectation that I'll be able to get it right?" For example, if you're 2:00 into a question and you're definitely on the right track and all you need to do is finish some long division or multiply a few things out or solve for X or whatever, and then you know you'll have the right answer...then obviously spend the extra time to finish what you started! But if you've been looking at a problem for a minute and you still don't really even know where to begin and you're just sort of hoping something is going to come to you or that you'll magically figure it out if you start at the problem for another minute...well, that might be a good time to bail on the problem and save the extra time for a later question. Does that make sense?
Definitely. Thanks Brett.
Hello Brett,
I signed up for the Barron' GMAT online course where I've studied and continue to study your videos (loved the example on saving grandma' life (in the lesson on commas) - pretty funny).
Anyway, I find that the explanations for some of the answers in the practice quizzes are insufficient. Is there an online forum where I can discuss these issues? Can I write to you for specific queries? Can we work something out ?
+atreya87 Send me an e-mail at brett@dominatethegmat.com and I'll reply in more detail. Glad you've been enjoying the videos!
Hi Brett, I'm confused regarding your suggestion on time strategy.
On this video, you are saying sometimes I should skip and save the time for other question later. In another video (ruclips.net/video/9DA_p7ESidA/видео.html), you are saying I should spend more time on earlier questions.
They are the exact opposite, no?
Both strategies can exist simultaneously. When I say to spend a little more time on earlier questions, I'm talking about the first 5-7 questions. Those aren't going to be 700-level questions anyway, and you simply want to make sure you don't make any careless errors and get off to a good start. So don't skip those. But in the middle or latter-third of the section, it can be a good strategy to skip a question if you identify it as one you won't likely be able to solve and will waste a lot of time attempting it. See how that works?
Dominate the GMAT oh that makes alot of sense. Thanks for the clarification!
I'm deeply impressed by this. I came across something with a similar message, and it was truly captivating. "Dominating Your Clock: Strategies for Professional and Personal Success" by Anthony Rivers
Probably that question is a dummy one...last five and first five are generally not the dummy questions....so maintain accuracy in 1st five and last five
The GMAC has never indicated when the experimental questions might appear, so I would be careful about taking that assumption into your testing mindset. Definitely keep your focus high during the first 5 and last 5 questions, but not necessarily for that reason.
I think the real problem is that you think you are too close to the answer, and say that it's ok if I'm over by a min since I'm very close, I will regret having the wrong answer after wasting 3 mins on this question, specially when I'm so close. This is how you loose marks, and the question was actually very simple, but you made a silly calculation error somewhere, which is why so much time was wasted.
That's a good point. That's why another good strategy is to use logic and common sense to eliminate clear throw-away answers early on. Often you can get a general sense of approximately what the answer will look like so that even if you make a calculation error but you're still in the ballpark, you won't get distracted by some of the other wrong answer choices.
@@dominatethegmatI’m surprised that you replied on a 10 year old video, thanks a lot for the advice !
@@Conk-bepis If I've left a video up on this channel, then it's still relevant to the current iteration of the GMAT Exam. And yes, I still love to connect with people who find our videos! I'm glad you found it helpful. Good luck and let me know how else I can help.
hey i am like freaking out with the thought of i cant crack the gmat and cant get an admit in a good college and i just want to give up and give it just for the hek of it and get into a loser college and be done with it!!! heeeelp!!!
The first question you need to ask yourself is, "Why do you want to go to business school in the first place?" Knowing your "why" will determine whether or not it's worth investing the time, effort, and money into dominating the GMAT so that you can get into your target schools. If your WHY is strong enough, you'll be able to do what it takes. If you're unsure of why you want to go to a good business school to begin with, or if a "loser college" would be okay with you, then you probably won't make the necessary effort to crack the GMAT. So start with getting serious about your WHY. Whenever you're ready to take the GMAT seriously, I'll be here to help!