Everything You Need To Know About GRE Time Management (Part Two)

In the first part of this series on GRE time management, we discussed GRE scoring, per-problem timing, and how to reflect on your results. If you haven’t already read the first part, do so now before you continue with this article. Today, we’re going to talk about our final three major timing strategies.

(4) Develop your “1 minute” sense

While keeping a single-problem time log will help you become aware of your pacing on all problem types, you can’t check the clock after every problem on the real test. You’ll drive yourself crazy before the test is over! What to do, then?

You’re going to develop a “1 minute sense” so that you can make appropriate, timely decisions as you move through the test. Let’s talk first about why and how to use this time sense; then, we’ll talk about what to do in order to develop it.

WHY am I developing a 1-minute sense?

One of the key timeframes on this test is the 1-minute mark on a problem. Instead of worrying about all of the different average timeframes listed earlier, we’re going to split the problem types into two groups: longer and shorter.

Longer problem types: 

• Discrete Quant
• Data Interpretation 
• Reading Comp with one associated problem

These three types are all 2-minute-average types, so 1 minute represents about the halfway point. There are particular things that you need to have accomplished by the halfway mark in order to have a reasonable shot at finishing the problem correctly and on time. 

By the 1 minute mark, you need to understand whatever information you’ve been given. You also need to have a very good idea of what else needs to happen in the remaining time—in other words, you need a plan—and you need to have confidence that you can actually do whatever’s required. 

If those things aren’t all true by about the 1-minute mark, then move from your best strategy (trying to find the right answer) to your second-best strategy (trying to find and eliminate wrong answers). Spend up to 60 seconds eliminating wrong answers aggressively, then guess and move on. If you do this, you’ve given yourself a decent shot at guessing correctly without losing time on that problem.

I often get this question: How do I really know whether I’m on track at the 1 minute mark? When you’re on track, there’s no doubt in your mind. If I were to interrupt you on such a problem and ask whether you were on track, you’d tell me, yes, I’m good, shhhh, don’t interrupt me! If, instead, you are thinking, “Well, with a little more time, I’m sure I could figure it out…” or “But I studied this! I should know how to do it!”—then you are not on track. Stop now. (Yes, I know that’s hard. Practice it. ☺)

Shorter problem types: 

• Quantitative Comparisons
• Text Completions
• Sentence Equivalence
• Reading Comp with multiple associated problems

For these three types, the 1-minute mark represents the “wrapping-up” point—you’re looking to be done or close to done with the problem. In other words, the 1-minute mark is the “time’s up” mark. If you’re not on track at this point, guess from among the remaining answers and move on. (Do not spend time trying to figure out how to guess at this point—your time’s already up.)

HOW do I develop a 1-minute sense?

You need access to a stopwatch that has “lap” timing capability. (Most phones will have this; only some physical stopwatches will.) Pushing the “lap” button does not stop the timer; rather, it marks the time at which you pushed the button, but the stopwatch itself keeps running. You can push the “lap” button multiple times, and the timer will record all of the times at which you pushed the button while continuing to run.

Set yourself up with a set of 5 or 10 practice problems from the “longer” group. Cover up the part of the timer that shows you the actual time spent (but still give yourself access to the lap button). Dive into the first problem. When you think it’s been about a minute since you began, push that lap button. When you’re done with the problem, push the lap button again. Start your second problem; when you think it’s been about a minute since you began, push that lap button. When you’re done, push the button again. Keep repeating this process until you’re done with your set. 

Note: If you finish the problem before you think it has been a minute, check your work. If you were really that fast, you have the extra time to check, right? Make sure you didn’t make a careless mistake simply due to speed. While checking your work, still push the lap button when you think it has been a minute since you started in the first place, and push the button again when you’re done.

Now, go back and examine the data. For instance, let’s say the below represents the first four times you pushed the lap button:

What does this data mean? Time entries 1 and 2 represent problem #1 and time entries 3 and 4 represent problem #2. For the first problem, you spent a total of 1:51 – 0 = 1:51. For the second problem, you spent a total of 4:43 – 1:51 = 2:52. (Yes, you’ve got to do some math. You might want to transfer the data to a spreadsheet and let it calculate for you.) So problem 1 was fine but problem 2 went long.

What about your 1-minute? For the first problem, you clicked the timer at 0:56 – 0 = 0:56, or almost exactly 1 minute. Great! For the second problem, you clicked the timer at 3:22 – 1:51 = 1:31. On the high side.

For the “1-minute” part, anything between roughly 40 seconds and 1 minute 20 seconds is close enough. Anything outside of that range is too fast or too slow. Note your tendencies and adjust accordingly. 

• Are you consistently too low (ie, you think it’s been a minute but it’s really only been 30 seconds)? Tomorrow, push the lap button when you feel like it’s been 1 minute 30 seconds vs. 1 minute. Since your brain clock tends to run “fast,” you should be closer to an actual 1 minute.
• Are you consistently too high (ie, you think it’s been a minute but it’s really been a minute and a half)? Tomorrow, push the lap button when you feel like it’s been 30 or 45 seconds.
• Are you all over the map—sometimes too low and sometimes too high? Examine the data to see whether there are any patterns—certain problem types or content areas that tend to make you lose track of time. (And just keep practicing; it takes some time to get good.)

Most people find it takes three to four weeks of regular practice with this in order to develop a time sense that is reasonably accurate most of the time (again, within 20 seconds in either direction is reasonable enough!). 

You can also train yourself when you’re doing anything that requires extended mental concentration, even if it’s not GRE-related. Have to write up a report for school or memo for work? Have to do some research? Set up your timer and push the button every time you think it has been a minute until you’ve pushed it 8 or 10 or 12 times (it doesn’t really matter!). Then check your data.

Once your time sense is relatively reliable, you’re going to be able to get really good at your “am I on track?” and “if not, I’m moving on, or I’m moving to guessing” strategy. This also requires you to know how to make good educated guesses, of course—don’t forget to think about that when you’re studying.

(5) Transition to Benchmarks

You might finish one “2-minute” problem in only 1.5 minutes, and another in 2.5 minutes. That’s fine, since it averages to 2 minutes. But how do you track that across 20 problems in a set, not just 2?

On a full test section, it’s best to monitor time using Benchmarks. We’re going to recommend one specific method for quant; for verbal, you can choose between two methods.

For all methods, when you hit a problem that you know you don’t know how to do, pick an answer, move on, and forget about it. Do NOT mark these for review. Save your “review” markers for problems that you DO know how to do, but you don’t want to do until the end because they’re time consuming.

Our free GRE Starter Kit study syllabus includes one free practice test (as well as other study materials).

Quant

Quant sections begin with QC, the fastest of the three quant problem types. The clock counts down from 35 minutes. You’ll typically see 7 or 8 QC problems first, and you want to finish these with about 25 minutes left on the clock. Next, expect 5 to 6 DQ problems; finish these with roughly 15 minutes left on the clock. Up next, you’ll have 2 or 3 DI problems, and you’re looking to finish with 10 minutes left. Finally, use the remaining time to answer 4 or 5 more DQ problems.

Note: if you are within approximately 1-2 minutes of the expected timeframe, you’re fine!

Luckily, the timeframes aren’t too hard to remember. You really just need to note three numbers: Done with QC at 25, done with DQ at 15, done with DI at 10. (And, again, you do have a little leeway; if you’re done with DQ at 14 instead of 15, you’re fine!)

Verbal

For verbal, we’re going to offer two different methods and you can choose the one you think will be easiest for you. If you’re not sure, try each one out on your next two practice tests. Method #1 is similar to quant: You’ll do the problems in order while trying to maintain certain pre-determined benchmarks. Method #2 is a bit different: You’ll do all of the “vocab-type” problems first (sentence equivalence and text completion) and then loop back around to do all of the RC problems.

Verbal Method #1: Straight Through

Verbal sections begin with 30 minutes on the clock and you’re first given about 6 TC problems. When you’re done with these, you’re aiming to have about 24 minutes left. Next, expect 5 or 6 RC problems (the number of passages can vary) and you’ll finish with 13 minutes on the clock. Up next, you’ll have 4 SE problems and look to finish with 9 minutes left. Finally, use the remaining time to answer 4 or 5 RC problems.

Note: if you are within approximately 1-2 minutes of the expected timeframe, you’re fine!

These numbers are a little bit harder to remember than the quant numbers, but you still only have to remember three: Finish TC at around the 24-minute mark, finish RC around the 13-minute mark, and finish SE with around 9 minutes left.

Verbal Method #2: Vocab First

For this method, we’re going to split the problem types into two groups: vocab and reading comp. The two types of vocab problems (sentence equivalence and text completion) need to average 1 minute each and you typically have a total of 10 problems in these two categories. Go through the section, answering only the 10 vocab-type problems. Mark and skip all of the RC problems. Because you have a total of 30 minutes, you should have approximately 20 minutes left when you’ve finished the vocab problems. You can be off by a minute or so; as always, the timing doesn’t need to be exact.

Next, go back and use the remaining 20 minutes to answer the 10 RC problems. You may want to check your time halfway through the RC problems; if so, keep track of how many you’ve answered using little tick marks on your scratch paper. Once you have 5 tick marks, you should have approximately 10 minutes left on the clock (again, within a minute or so).

Note: if you are within approximately 1-2 minutes of the expected timeframe, you’re fine!

I know I’ve said this multiple times already, but it’s worth repeating: Any time you see a problem that you know you can’t do, or that you know will take you WAY too long, pick an answer and move on. Do not mark it to return to later.

 (6) Know how to recover from bad timing

Okay, everything we’ve talked about so far has focused on what we do want to do. What happens if things get off track? There are two levels to this: what to do immediately during an actual testing / timed situation, and what to do during your study afterward, before you take another test.

What to do during a test

As soon as you notice a timing problem, you need to start dealing with it. Don’t ignore it and assume it will get better later; most likely, it will only get worse.

First, here’s how you know there’s a problem: You are 2 or more minutes off of the expected timeframe at one of your benchmarks.

If you’re 2 or more minutes too low, that means you’re going too slowly. You are going to need to sacrifice something in order to get back on track; you don’t have a choice about that. You do have a choice about what you sacrifice—and there are better and worse choices you can make. 

Do NOT sacrifice things you know how to do. Don’t speed up on this problem that you do know how to do in an attempt to save yourself time. First, you’re risking a careless mistake on a problem that you know how to get right. Second, you’re going to have to do that on several problems to make up the full 2 minutes that you’re behind, so you’re giving yourself a chance to miss multiple problems that you know how to do. Bad idea!

Instead, the very next time you see a problem that you know is a weakness of yours, bail. Make an immediate and random guess, don’t mark it, and move on forever. You’ve sacrificed only one problem, and it was a weakness anyway. Depending upon the problem type and how quickly you moved on, you saved anywhere from a little under 1 minute to a little under 2 minutes. If that’s enough to catch back up, great. If not, do it again on the next weakness problem that you see.

What if you hit a benchmark and your actual number is more than 2 minutes higher than expected? Then you’re going too quickly—you have too much time left.

In this case, you do need to slow down a bit, because you might be making careless mistakes due to speed. Write all of your work down. Use your 1-minute sense! If you’re ready to move on before it’s been about a minute (and you think you got it right), check your work. On the ones you know you don’t know how to do, though, still go ahead and bail immediately—you don’t need to spend more time on those.

What to do after a test

Okay, the test is over, and you realize that you messed up the timing. Now what? Go all the way back to the beginning of this article and start practicing all of the things we discussed until you’re making better decisions about individual problems. 

With practice, you’ll be better able to balance your timing throughout a test section and make good decisions about where to spend your time—and where not to spend your time. This can take weeks and even months, depending upon how severe your timing problems are and whether they are also related to holes in your content knowledge and skills.

That was a lot of stuff. Here’s a summary of the major tasks:

(1) Understand how the scoring works

(2) Know your per-problem time constraints and track your work

(3) Reflect on your results

(4) Develop your “1 minute” sense

(5) Transition to Benchmarks

(6) Know how to recover from bad timing

I mentioned this earlier but I’ll mention it again just in case: If you’d like some additional free lessons and practice materials, sign up for our free GRE Starter Kit syllabus.

Ready? Go get started! Happy studying!

Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, EA, GRE, and LSAT  for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests.