Getting over The Timing Hump Forum

[New_Spice180]

Hey TLS,

I was wondering if you all could help me out here, I've done around 8 timed sections so far and I'm seeing minimal improvement in terms of time. I feel like I understand questions, but one thing I was really cognizant of was the likelihood of my getting mentally stuck at one question. That is, a question would have the "WTF" effect on me and I would get stuck and try to move on but it seems to just domino from there. I'm kind of frustrated at this point being that timing is one of the only things really bogging down my ability to score upper level in the LR section. My understanding of the questions, as stated before, appears to be strong, I BR after every section, but I'm still in a rut for timing. Some of you experienced test takers' guidance would be especially appreciated right now...

[Mikey]

If you read a stimulus and you have literally no clue what is going on, skip it. You MUST learn how to not get hung up on a question.

Also, this is what I do and it helped with timing for both LR and LG. Drill sections with a stopwatch and don't stop at 35 mins. Whenever you hit that 35 mins (if you do go over time) keep mentally how many questions you have left to do post-35 mins. It will take a while but you should start to adjust your speed with questions if you see a trend with how many you keep having left after time is up.

Also, obvious rule of thumb since you've been on tls long enough but I'll repeat it again: try to do the first 10 in 10 mins. It's ok if you do them in 11 or 12 mins but the idea is to just go faster with them in general.

[Deardevil]

As J.Y. puts it, go for the lowest hanging coconut.

If you spend two minutes dwelling on a question, move on and come back to it if you are able to.
Inevitably, you will encounter something that stumps. Every question is worth the same amount,
so it is better to spend 15 minutes grabbing 15 coconuts rather than spend six to climb up the tree just to fetch one.

[Mikey]

As J.Y. puts it, go for the lowest hanging coconut.

If you spend two minutes dwelling on a question, move on and come back to it if you are able to.
Inevitably, you will encounter something that stumps. Every question is worth the same amount,
so it is better to spend 15 minutes grabbing 15 coconuts rather than spend six to climb up the tree just to fetch one.

[Rupert Pupkin]

As J.Y. puts it, go for the lowest hanging coconut.

If you spend two minutes dwelling on a question, move on and come back to it if you are able to.
Inevitably, you will encounter something that stumps. Every question is worth the same amount,
so it is better to spend 15 minutes grabbing 15 coconuts rather than spend six to climb up the tree just to fetch one.

I like that analogy

[New_Spice180]

Thanks guys for the advice. I just don't want to use TOO much material for single section drilling, like I said I've used 8 and it feels like there's no improvement in sight hahah, but I'll stay optimistic. I'm going to spend some time in the Trainer to see if I can get a few tips from there and hit another timed section this Thursday/Friday.

[Blueprint Mithun]

Hey TLS,

I was wondering if you all could help me out here, I've done around 8 timed sections so far and I'm seeing minimal improvement in terms of time. I feel like I understand questions, but one thing I was really cognizant of was the likelihood of my getting mentally stuck at one question. That is, a question would have the "WTF" effect on me and I would get stuck and try to move on but it seems to just domino from there. I'm kind of frustrated at this point being that timing is one of the only things really bogging down my ability to score upper level in the LR section. My understanding of the questions, as stated before, appears to be strong, I BR after every section, but I'm still in a rut for timing. Some of you experienced test takers' guidance would be especially appreciated right now...

In addition to what the others have said about skipping questions, have you tried setting benchmarks? It's one way to try and develop the right sense of timing for the LR section in particular. Since the questions progressively get harder, you'll want to spend less time on the early questions than the late ones, so working at a faster pace early in the section is the ideal way to go. This is where that common benchmark of getting the first 10 questions done in 10 minutes comes from. The number 10 is a bit arbitrary, if it takes you 12 or 13 and you prefer that, it's totally fine. Anyway, in addition to Mikey's stopwatch idea (I did something similar to that and liked it), this is one tried and tested way to develop pace.

[New_Spice180]

Hey TLS,

I was wondering if you all could help me out here, I've done around 8 timed sections so far and I'm seeing minimal improvement in terms of time. I feel like I understand questions, but one thing I was really cognizant of was the likelihood of my getting mentally stuck at one question. That is, a question would have the "WTF" effect on me and I would get stuck and try to move on but it seems to just domino from there. I'm kind of frustrated at this point being that timing is one of the only things really bogging down my ability to score upper level in the LR section. My understanding of the questions, as stated before, appears to be strong, I BR after every section, but I'm still in a rut for timing. Some of you experienced test takers' guidance would be especially appreciated right now...

In addition to what the others have said about skipping questions, have you tried setting benchmarks? It's one way to try and develop the right sense of timing for the LR section in particular. Since the questions progressively get harder, you'll want to spend less time on the early questions than the late ones, so working at a faster pace early in the section is the ideal way to go. This is where that common benchmark of getting the first 10 questions done in 10 minutes comes from. The number 10 is a bit arbitrary, if it takes you 12 or 13 and you prefer that, it's totally fine. Anyway, in addition to Mikey's stopwatch idea (I did something similar to that and liked it), this is one tried and tested way to develop pace.

You know, if I'm being honest with myself, I don't pace as I should. I mean I kind of have an idea of where I want to be after the first 3-5 questions but after that I try to "gun it for the end". Now my real question is when you all say "10 questions in 10 minutes" are we talking talking about simply the first 10 or rather 10 questions that are able to be answered in within a realistic time range, let's say 1:20 or 1 minute? I'll assume the latter but of course the former makes sense as well being that the first 10 question are typically the easiest.

Another question concerning mastery of question types, I've found that throughout my timed sections the overwhelming majority of my timed sections I'm messing up on flaw questions. When we talk about mastery of question types I can give you so many different types of flaws how to answer the questions off the top of my head, but the more I read other online communities the more I see that timing could also be an issue of my fundamentals. Additionally, the goal I should be seeking is mastery , but I'm kind of lost as to whether my problem really is just anxiety while testing/having timed pressure or am I really lacking in the fundamentals here? I'm kind of lost on what direction I need to take in terms of whittling down problems with timing. Is it solely a timing problem or should I treat it as a fundamentals problem as well?