In Part I of this two-part series we discussed the Micro side of time management on the GMAT. Now we turn to the Macro side of things. The truth is that if one were able to perfectly execute the Micro side, there would be no need for the Macro. The math would just work out and you’d finish each section on time. For most, however, the reality is quite different. Small “indiscretions” in Micro Time Management here and there can translate to sizeable discrepancies against the clock if we’re not careful. This is exactly what the Macro side is designed to prevent.
Macro Time Management = Benchmarking
The essence of Macro time management on the GMAT involves creating and following timing benchmarks that mark the passage of time at pre-decided points during each section. There are many different benchmarking systems that have been suggested for use on the GMAT, but I suggest that you select the one that resonates most for you. However, when deciding which to go with you should consider a few important criteria:
- Make sure, especially on the Quant, that the benchmarks are frequent enough so that you don’t get too far off track by the time the next benchmark rolls around.
- Make sure that the numbers that you have to memorize and jot down on your scratch pad are easy to remember.
- Make sure that benchmark system integrates nicely with whatever scratch paper management system you are planning on using. (That’s right – you should have one of those too!)
Manhattan Prep’s Yellow Pad Technique
For the current form of the GMAT (31 Quant questions in 62 minutes and 36 Verbal questions in 65 minutes), the best benchmarking system that I have encountered was developed by one of my former colleagues at Manhattan Prep. I can tell you that when I first saw the technique (and mind you I was already a GMAT instructor of 15 years at that point so it wasn’t my first), it was love at first site. Simple numbers, elegant integration with the scratch pad – ingenious, at least on the Quant side. For the Verbal, I would say that it’s as good as any. It’s hard to do better given the unequal average time for the different verbal questions and their uncertain distribution within the section.
I will describe the merits of the system here and how to use it, but I want to be sure and reiterate that the system is not of my making. As such I am including a link here to a blog article that my former colleague Stacey Koprince wrote on the method. For a complete discussion on how to physically ready your scratch pad for the method, please check out the article, complete with helpful illustrations.
Let’s start with the Quant version. This is where “The Yellow Pad Technique”, as it was dubbed, really excels.
Get Quick at Preparing It!
You’ll want to practice being able to prepare your scratch pad quickly since you’ll have to do it quickly once your test has already technically started. There is a 30 second introduction screen before the 62-minute clock starts clicking, and I suggest that you get the prep down to 30 seconds so that it eats away minimally, if at all, at your actual test time.
The idea is that you will divide the first of the 9 blank pages in your scratch pad up into three sections and then the next 7 pages up into quadrants. You can see from the illustrations in Stacey’s article that she has her dividing lines going down the full width and length of the paper/pad. One of my students cleverly suggested just drawing a sort of xy coordinate graph with short lines in the center of the page, saving on prep time (see below).
Stacey also shows you the pad orientated in normal portrait mode. Personally, I find the quarter of a sheet work space a little more comfortable for one problem when the pad is orientated in landscape mode (so each space is wider rather than tall and narrow), but try both options yourself and choose the one you like better.
When drawing the lines, go through the 8 pages that will contain lines from front to back. Leave the last page blank (or you can write “Extra” at the top as Stacey suggests). Next come the timing benchmarks. If you have standard time allowance (i.e. you have not been granted extra time for the test), your benchmarks will be multiples of 8. Starting with the second to last page (the one right before the one that you left blank or wrote “Extra” on), list consecutive multiples of 8 in the bottom right hand corner – starting with the number 0 (did you know that 0 is a multiple of 8?). If you have been allotted time and a half or even double time for your GMAT, use multiples of 12 or 16, respectively.
For the standard time allotment that will give you 8 pages numbered from back to front with 0, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, and then 56 on the first page. These numbers represent the time that should be displayed on the clock when you finish the four problems on that respective page. For example, page three will have a 40 in the bottom right. That means that when you finish page three, having clicked an answer for 11 questions by that point, your remaining time on the clock should be close to 40 minutes.
An important note here with regards to the mechanics of how you fill out your scratch pad (remember we are trying to get this done in those first 30 seconds since it is against the rules to start writing until your proctor powers up your test): Draw the separating lines first advancing forward through the booklet, then write in the numbers starting from the back (second to last page – 0, third to last page – 8, etc). This will maximize your efficiency both in terms of the mechanics and in terms of being able to generate multiples of 8 quickly (it’s much easier ascending than descending!)
Now that we have covered how to set the scratch pad up for the Quant, I do want to mention one very important point that messes a lot of students up at first: the spaces for the questions are not numbered. You have two options that I can think of for how to deal with this:
- You will need to be disciplined about making sure that you always fill something out in each space (and only in one space) for every question that comes on screen. That means that if you skip a question, you need to put a slash through that corresponding box or write the word skip.
- Those who are really bothered by this could jot the question numbers down in the top left of each workspace while preparing the paper, but this will definitely eat a few seconds of your section time.
I prefer the first option.
Using the Benchmarks
So how do you actually use these benchmarks? Over the years I have heard others talk about keeping an ongoing eye at that number on the bottom of the current page, comparing it to your clock and adjusting your pace for those four problems on that page accordingly. To me this is a horrible idea. I have a different opinion.
As I mentioned in Part I of this series, good time management starts with the Micro side of things. Your Micro time management should at least be good enough to keep you from letting things get too far out-of-hand during any given set of four problems. Don’t busy yourself with the clock too much, if it all, while working on those four problems. Too much looking at the clock makes is likely to make you nervous and can make it difficult for you to perform well.
Look at the clock when the set of four is finished and you have reached the bottom of the page. Gauge your clock as follows: if your actual time remaining is within three minutes of the suggested benchmark, you are fine. If you are more than 3 minutes behind (i.e. your clock says 28 and it was supposed to say 32) that means you owe one sacrificial question to the GMAT gods. For every two minutes beyond the number two, count that as one question behind (e.g. 6 minutes behind = 6 – 2 = 4 / 2 = 2 questions behind, etc.) Ideally, since you will be practicing good Micro Time Management and also doing your Macro checks every four questions, you should never get to more than 4 or 5 minutes, or one question behind.
3+ Minutes Behind = TAKE ACTION!
So what does being one or even two questions behind mean? It means you pay the piper and you pay it on the next set of four questions – NO MATTER WHAT! You look for a question in the next set of four (i.e. on the next page of your scratch pad) that looks hard or even a little threatening and you randomly guess on it (pick your favorite letter). This is the catch: as painful as this may feel for some, you must do this! Otherwise you can find yourself in some pretty hot water on this test. Don’t let the deficit continue to grow. The last thing you want to do is end the exam having to randomly guess on our even worse leave blank a bunch of questions. It is much better to use random guesses spaced throughout the exam. You can consider using from 2 to 4 on the quant section if you are aiming for a 700+ score. On the Verbal section I would try to keep it to 2 (3 if you have to).
There is another way to play this as well. You don’t have to wait until you have a deficit to use your random guesses. It’s always better to guess on something that you think you will likely miss anyway so if you want to do that earlier on and “bank” the time, that works as well. Just don’t burn that extra time carelessly at the first opportunity you have to spend four minutes on a question.
The verbal version of this Yellow Pad Technique is quite a bit more complicated and over the years I have found that fewer students take to it than for the Quant. However, if time management is an issue for you on the Verbal, I strongly suggest that you read over Stacey’s article and see if you can make the technique work for you.
As with anything you do for the GMAT, make sure that you practice these techniques throughout your studies. One great way to practice the Quant section Yellow Pad Technique is by doing your timed sets in multiples of 4: 4, 8, or 12 questions to start and as you get closer to test-date maybe even larger sets of 20. For the verbal, I suggest multiples of 9 to match the Verbal section Yellow Pad technique. If it’s 9, I would do 3SC, 3CR, and 3RC drawn from 1 passage. If it’s 18, I would do 7 SC, 5 CR, and 6 RC drawn from two passages.