Time issue even with Chem and Phys

[shahak49]

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I am really having hard time with this time issue..........I reviewed all my material (Very confident on the content itself). But, when it comes to passages, I can only finish like 30+ questions....I am talking about PS section....

I mean I am improving my %...as far as amount correct / totally answered q...so, my reviewing helped. But, still........

TIme is killing me...I have only 5 wks left...what to do?

 

[Seraph 84]

Are you spending a lot of time reading the passages? Because I spend about 1 - 1.5 mins at the most reading those things. Also, if it takes you more than a minute to answer a question, you're probably thinking about it too hard. You're probably like how I was when I first started - spending all my time trying to get every question right. There comes a point in a question when you just have to give it your best answer and move on. Also, when doing calculations, round like crazy; you're final answer should be very close to the best answer.

 

[0Complications]

I used to have timing issues on the PS section as well, so what I did was incorporate timing markers:

At 45 mins I need to be at question 20.

At 20 mins I need to be at question 40.

This allows me 20 minutes to finish questions 41-52 and review marked questions.

I agree with Seraph though, you might be overthinking questions and spending too much time on the passage. The passages are helpful, but don't try to understand everything in the passage before you get to the questions.

Things I note when I read the passage are:

Formulas
Comparisons
Reaction rates (slow or fast)
Units
and the general gist of what happened (experiment, instructional, or VR type info).

I used to dwell on passage pieces only to find that they never asked me questions about what I spent my time on. Now I just cruise through it. I don't even look at the actual steps in listed reaction or values in a table unless I am given a question about it. Because why do you really care about those values if you aren't given a question about them, and if you are you are going to have a goal when you look at them, not a "Hmmm what the hell does this table show me" analysis kind of moment.

Just my take though. I'm sure there are plenty of styles for this, but you are taking 2x as long as it should take you, so you need to start analyzing where you are spending your time (questions, passages, daydreaming, etc.).

 

[shahak49]

I am trying this strategy right now....let me see how many q's can I finish...So, I am just gonna skim through the passage....answer the q's directly....if it requires reading, i will come back to it later if time permits....PS sec 1 test...

 

[shahak49]

I can't believe this.........I finished 47/52 q's.............this time, I didn't read passages entirely.....only scored 55%...better than 38%..lol
I still needed to master some topics...but as long as speed, I hope it works....
...Would you recommend to do descrete first? Then skim thrrough the passages to find easy ones and priorotize them? Or just answer as it comes?.........I tend to get 90% of Solo q's right....

 

[0Complications]

I can't believe this.........I finished 47/52 q's.............this time, I didn't read passages entirely.....only scored 55%...better than 38%..lol
I still needed to master some topics...but as long as speed, I hope it works....
...Would you recommend to do descrete first? Then skim thrrough the passages to find easy ones and priorotize them? Or just answer as it comes?.........I tend to get 90% of Solo q's right....

Nice! I'm glad to hear that it's helping! Keep at it and it will gradually get easier.

For me I answer discrete questions as they come, unless I'm running short on time. If I have 10 minutes left and a passage to do along with a group of discrete questions, I'll answer the discrete questions first, then I know exactly how much time I have left for the passage. I'll also on occasion answer discrete questions when I'm burnt out on passages as well, so if I have 20 mins left and I'm at the last passage, but don't quite want to read it yet, I'll do the discrete q's first.

It think it's a preference if there is time left. If you don't have time it shouldn't even be a question, do the discrete q's first.

I think the thing you should be careful of though is spending too much time cruising the exam for discrete q's when you're already short on time.

If you do decide to do all the discrete q's first, then be ready to immediately click the next button when the exam starts, and fly through the passages without even looking at them until you do all the discrete q's, then use the review function to go back to the first passage, but DON'T do that method and start picking and choosing passages, because when all is said and done you'll probably waste ~2-5 minutes just cruising passages and right now you need every one of those minutes.

Good luck! Keep up the practice and you'll get your timing down.

 

[shahak49]

Yes, it works. Improvement seen after taking 5 PS section tests (KAPLAN)....I am finishing almost ....missing about 7 questions...and, some I just give up on....When I saw the analysis, it turned out that I was spending 6 to 8 minutes on atleast 2 descrete questions. So, I decided to just skip calculation q's and descreteds that I am unsure of.........Hope, it works....still score is only like 50%....too low...only 1 month........god, I am tired of this now.......