GMAT Verbal Timing Strategy

Last Updated on July 4, 2024

Because of the variety of question types test-takers face in the Verbal section of the GMAT, GMAT Verbal timing is not quite as straightforward as Quant section timing. Consequently, we regularly hear from students who are concerned about dividing their limited Verbal section time between Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension questions.

So, in this article, I’ll give you concrete strategies for pacing yourself through each Verbal question type and the Verbal section as a whole. Additionally, I’ll offer tips for practicing your GMAT Verbal timing strategy and avoiding the most common Verbal pacing errors.

Here are the topics we’ll cover:

• Pacing and the GMAT Verbal Section Structure 
• GMAT Verbal Time – Management by Question Type
  • Critical Reasoning
  • Reading Comprehension
    • 1-Paragraph Short Passage
    • 3-Paragraph Short Passage
    • 2-Paragraph Long Passage
    • 4-Paragraph Long Passage
  • Summary: Per-Question Time Ranges
• Gauging Your “In-Question” Progress
• Calibrating Your Internal Clock
  • Timing Drill 1: Time Passing
  • Timing Drill 2: Time to Finish
  • Addressing Time-Management Issues
• The Checkpoint Strategy
  • Benchmarking Time on Your Notepad
  • Checkpoints Are Guidelines, Not Concrete Rules
  • Perfect the Checkpoint Strategy on Practice Exams
• Common Verbal Pacing Errors
  • Pacing Error 1: Spending Extra Time on the First 7 Questions
  • Pacing Error 2: Sacrificing Questions to Catch Up on Time
  • Pacing Error 3: Loss Aversion
  • Pacing Error 4: Putting Speed Before Accuracy
• What If You Can’t Complete the Verbal Section on Time?
  • On Practice Tests
  • On Test Day
• Key Takeaways
• What’s Next?

First, let’s review the structure of the GMAT Verbal section, with an eye toward its impact on pacing strategy.

Pacing and the GMAT Verbal Section Structure 

The GMAT Verbal section contains 23 questions that you have 45 minutes to complete. Those 23 questions are divided about evenly between Critical Reasoning (CR) and Reading Comprehension (RC), though you’ll likely see 1 or 2 more RC questions than CR questions.

Of course, you won’t divide your time equally between those 2 question types because Verbal questions vary significantly in length. For instance, reading an RC passage and answering the first question associated with it takes longer than answering a typical CR question.

So, a simple calculation of 45 minutes / 23 questions = 1.96 minutes per question (or about 117 seconds) isn’t going to yield an effective pacing strategy. However, you can allocate your time so that the scale balances at the end.

KEY FACT:

Since Verbal questions vary significantly in length, you won’t divide your time equally between the 2 question types.

So, let’s discuss how to manage your time on each GMAT Verbal question type.

GMAT Verbal Time – Management by Question Type

On average, you can expect to spend less of your Verbal section time on Critical Reasoning questions and more time on Reading Comprehension questions. Keep in mind that your RC time includes time to read the passages, some of which are multiple paragraphs long.

So, can we say that you will never encounter a CR question that takes longer to answer than your average RC question? Not at all. In fact, it’s quite possible that you’ll encounter 1 or 2 such CR questions on any given GMAT.

Remember, our baseline average of 1.96 minutes per Verbal question. Generally, test-takers spend less than that average time on each CR question and more than that average time on each RC question.

However, since some questions are more difficult than others, some passages are longer than others, and so on, even within each question type, your time per question will vary. Thus, it’s necessary to plan your pacing for each question type using a range of minutes, rather than one fixed number.

So, let’s talk about what that range should be for each Verbal question type.

KEY FACT:

On average, expect to spend less time on CR questions and more time on RC questions.

Critical Reasoning

• Typical range: 1.5 to 2 minutes
• Max range: 1 to 4 minutes

Generally, GMAT test-takers should plan to spend about 1.5 to 2 minutes on each Critical Reasoning question. However, be aware that some difficult CR questions may take up to 3 or 4 minutes to solve. That’s perfectly OK! Take the time you need to get difficult questions correct because they have greater potential to drive up your GMAT score.

Also, keep in mind that you may need less than 1.5 to 2 minutes to answer some easier CR questions. So, you will bank some extra time for harder questions.

That said, if you consistently take 4 minutes to answer CR questions, you probably need to brush up on CR concepts and strategies. In other words, 4 minutes should be the exception, not the rule.

TTP PRO TIP:

Aim for 1.5-2 minutes per CR question, but don’t be surprised if you have to spend 3-4 minutes on some challenging questions.

Reading Comprehension

• Typical range for short passages (incl. questions): 4 to 5 minutes
• Typical range for long passages (incl. questions): 6 to 8 minutes
• Max range (incl. questions): 3 to 9 minutes

The “common wisdom” in GMAT circles is that test-takers should spend 1 minute per paragraph reading an RC passage and 1 minute answering each question. Sounds pretty simple, right? Unfortunately, the first half of that equation does not consider that paragraph length is not constant. Whether you’re dealing with a short passage or a long one, paragraph word counts vary widely.

For example, one paragraph in an RC passage could be just 40 words long, and another could be 260 words. Would you spend the same amount of time reading each of those paragraphs?

So, the “common wisdom” about RC pacing is half-right. The 1-minute-per-question rule of thumb does make sense. On the other hand, a 1-minute reading time for every paragraph you encounter is unrealistic, since word counts vary substantially.

To illustrate this point, let’s game out some scenarios. First, let’s look at a couple of scenarios involving short RC passages.

1-Paragraph Short Passage

Let’s say you are presented with a short RC passage containing 1 paragraph of 215 words.

A reasonable reading time for this passage would be approximately 2 minutes.

You then answer 2 questions about the passage, taking about 1 minute per question.

Total Time: 4 minutes

3-Paragraph Short Passage

Let’s say you are presented with a short RC passage containing 3 paragraphs of about 70 words each, for 210 total words.

A reasonable reading time would be approximately 40 seconds per paragraph, for a total of 2 minutes for the passage.

Then, you answer 3 questions about the passage. The first question takes about 1 minute and 15 seconds, the second about 45 seconds, and the third about 1 minute, for a total of 3 minutes.

Total Time: 5 minutes

Notice that the total word count for both of the passages in our examples above was about the same. So, the time spent reading each passage was similar, even though the passages contained different numbers of paragraphs.

Let’s look now at a couple of scenarios involving long RC passages.

2-Paragraph Long Passage

Let’s say you are presented with a long RC passage containing 2 paragraphs of about 180 words each, a total of 360 words.

You take approximately 1.75 minutes to read each paragraph, for a total of 3.5 minutes.

You then answer 3 questions about the passage, taking about 1 minute to answer each question.

Total Time: 6.5 minutes

4-Paragraph Long Passage

Let’s say you are presented with a long RC passage containing 4 paragraphs of about 95 words each, a total of 380 words.

You spend approximately 1 minute reading each paragraph, for a total of 4 minutes.

You then answer 4 questions about the passage, taking about 1 minute to answer each question.

Total Time: 8 minutes

Notice that, although the first long passage contained 2 paragraphs and the second contained 4, the word counts were similar. Thus, the reading time was in the same range for both passages.

Of course, you’re not going to count words as you’re reading RC passages during the GMAT. However, you can eyeball RC passages and get some sense of whether you’re spending an inordinate amount of time trying to get through relatively short paragraphs. You’ll also have the comfort of knowing that you don’t have to panic if you need longer than 3 minutes to read a long passage.

As you practice RC questions, your sense of what is an appropriate amount of time to read passages will become more finely tuned. Keep in mind that there is no exact science for how long passages of different lengths take to read. After all, every passage covers a different topic, and some passages are denser than others. This is yet another reason why it’s important to think of your RC pacing in ranges of time, not fixed numbers.

TTP PRO TIP:

Use a 1-minute rule of thumb for answering RC questions, but don’t expect every paragraph to take 1 minute to read.

Next, let’s summarize our pacing recommendations for each Verbal question type.

Summary: Per-Question Time Ranges

You can use the table below for a quick refresher of typical per-question Verbal time ranges whenever you need it.

GMAT Verbal: Per-Question Time Ranges

One thing to keep in mind is that you never want to consider these time ranges in a vacuum. With practice, you’ll develop a “sense” of your progress through the Verbal section. With that in mind, it’s important to build and maintain an awareness of your “in-question” progress. Let’s talk about that next.

Gauging Your “In-Question” Progress

In the later stages of your GMAT preparation, you’ll start doing sets of Verbal practice questions under time constraints. As you work through the questions, it’s important to maintain awareness of how far along you are in progressing toward the right answer. Knowing approximately how far you are from answering a Verbal question can help you determine whether you should keep working or make the best possible guess and move on to the next question.

Even before you start timing yourself, you can begin to build awareness of your “in-question” progress. As you practice, simply start noting how long different questions take you. At what point are you close to getting the correct answer in a CR Weaken question? How long do you generally need to get halfway to the answer? How long does it take for you to read RC passages of different lengths? Once you narrow down RC answer choices to the last 2, how far are you from selecting an answer? Fifteen seconds on average, or more like 30?

The answers to these questions help you make the executive decision to stick with a question or cut your losses. Making that call is an essential part of a smart GMAT Verbal timing strategy.

TTP PRO TIP:

Knowing roughly how far you are from finishing a Verbal question can help you determine whether to keep working or make the best possible guess and move on.

Next, let’s discuss another important part of Verbal practice: calibrating your internal clock.

Calibrating Your Internal Clock

Once you are well-versed in GMAT Verbal content, use your Verbal practice to calibrate your sense of how much time is passing as you answer a question. For many test-takers, developing this sense of time takes practice. Here are 2 useful drills to calibrate your internal clock as you practice Verbal questions.

Timing Drill 1: Time Passing

Let’s say you’re practicing with a set of 10 Critical Reasoning questions. You start a timer as you begin question 1 and stop the timer when you finish the question. Say you took 2 minutes to answer the question; did it feel like 2 minutes passed? Like 1 minute? Like 3?

Now, continue your timer for questions 2 through 10, and stop the timer when you finish each question, noting your actual time spent and perceived time spent on each question. What do you notice? Do you tend to under- or overestimate how much time has passed? How does your actual time spent compare to the typical time ranges for that question type?

Note your findings, and continue to track them on future practice sets. With more practice, your sense of time passing will become more accurate. On test day, this sense will help you avoid becoming preoccupied with the clock, allowing you to focus on getting correct answers.

Next, let’s discuss a drill that will help you improve your ability to estimate how much more time you need to finish a question.

Timing Drill 2: Time to Finish

In this drill, you begin a set of 10 questions by setting a timer for 2 minutes when you start question 1. If you finish before the timer goes off, note your time spent, reset the timer, and begin the next question.

If the timer goes off before you finish, stop working and estimate how much more time you need to answer the question. How much work do you think you have left? Do you still have several answers to analyze, or are you down to selecting between the final 2 choices?

Note your estimate, then start the timer and finish the question. How did your estimate compare to your actual time spent? Did you under- or overestimate how much work you had left, or how much time you needed? Note your findings and repeat the process for the remaining questions. On future practice sets, seek to establish rough guidelines for how much time you need to finish a question from a certain point in the solution process.

On test day, these guidelines will be extremely useful: you’ll be able to make more precise decisions about how to invest your precious Verbal time. Being able to confidently say, for example, “I need 15 more seconds to answer” helps you make the decision to stick with a question or make your best guess and move on.

TTP PRO TIP:

Use your timed GMAT Verbal practice to calibrate your internal clock.

Let’s now consider the value of identifying the causes of our Verbal time-management issues.

Addressing Time-Management Issues

When you discover that you’ve spent an inordinate amount of time on a question, consider the cause. Did reading and re-reading an RC passage consume a surprisingly large amount of time? Did you second-guess yourself about your answer to a CR question when you should have just moved on? Noting the causes of your time-management issues can help you recognize when you engage in those behaviors. Then, on future questions, you can correct yourself in real time.

Now, it is not necessary to compile an extensive breakdown of your time per question on every practice set you complete. But, as you start to consider your Verbal timing more, perform some detailed per-question time checks. Doing so will help calibrate your internal clock, and you can see how well you’re managing your time.

Remember, when you’re in the practice-test phase of your GMAT prep, and on test day, you’ll need to be aware of the on-screen clock. So, get used to occasionally checking the clock as you’re completing GMAT questions. Moreover, work to develop your sense of how much time has passed. That way, you won’t have to constantly check the clock to stay on track. On test day, constantly checking the clock is a distraction you don’t need!

TTP PRO TIP:

Learn what causes your time-management issues, so you can correct yourself in real time on future questions.

When you start sitting for full-length practice exams, you can put all of the elements that we’ve learned about so far into a GMAT Verbal timing strategy that I call the “checkpoint strategy.” Let’s discuss.

The Checkpoint Strategy

During practice exams or the actual GMAT, it’s not practical or advisable to calculate per-question times. By then, you should have a well-calibrated internal clock, but you’ll still need to maintain awareness of the actual clock. The checkpoint strategy allows you to track your GMAT Verbal time without the clock becoming a distraction.

To use the checkpoint strategy, split the total number of Verbal questions and the total GMAT Verbal section time into quarters.

So, divide the 23 Verbal questions into 4 chunks: 3 chunks of 6 questions and a final chunk of 5 questions.

Additionally, divide the total Verbal time of 45 minutes into 4 chunks: 3 chunks of 12 minutes and a final chunk of 9 minutes (for the last 5 questions).

At each checkpoint, you should have roughly the following amounts of time remaining:

• Start Question 1: 45:00
• Start Question 7: 33:00
• Start Question 13: 21:00
• Start Question 19: 9:00

By checking the clock after you complete each chunk, you can adjust your pacing to ensure that you aren’t forced to blindly guess on several questions at the end of the Verbal section.

TTP PRO TIP:

Check the clock after you complete each of the 4 Verbal “chunks.”

Next, let’s discuss a simple, practical way to use the checkpoint strategy.

Benchmarking Time on Your Notepad

In Quant, although you know that you’ll spend a little more time on some questions and a little less on others, you can pretty much divide the 45 minutes by the 21 questions and track your pacing at roughly 2 minutes per question. Some test-takers use the laminated notepads they receive at test centers (or the physical whiteboard for the GMAT Online) to track their Quant pacing.

As we’ve discussed, GMAT Verbal timing benchmarks are not so cut and dried. So, I don’t recommend creating an intricate grid on your notepad to track your Verbal pacing. However, during the Verbal section intro screens, you can write your checkpoints in a box in the bottom corner of your notepad or whiteboard. Keep it simple:

7 (33:00)

13 (21:00)

19 (9:00)

When each checkpoint question appears on your screen, check the clock to see whether you’re close to your target time.

TTP PRO TIP:

During the Verbal section intro screens, jot down your checkpoints in the bottom corner of your notepad or whiteboard.

Keep in mind, though, that these checkpoints are not set in stone. On test day, the Verbal question mix you see, and your strengths and weaknesses, will help you determine how much to adjust your pacing.

Checkpoints Are Guidelines, Not Concrete Rules

Chances are, you won’t hit your target times exactly. You can’t predict which question types you’ll see in any chunk of time, and there is no guarantee that the CR and RC questions will be evenly distributed. For example, it’s unlikely that you’ll see 2 RC passages back-to-back, but that circumstance isn’t impossible. Of course, if you’ve already seen a large number of RC questions, you can account for that when checking your time.

So, let’s say you’re 2 minutes behind when you reach question 13. If you’re just finishing your third RC passage, you need to be aware of your pacing, but you may be OK since you have mostly CR questions remaining. If question 13 is in the middle of your second RC passage, your need to work quickly is more urgent: you have several RC questions remaining.

Also, consider your strengths and weaknesses as you decide whether to adjust your pacing. If you’re 2 minutes behind, but the rest of the section plays to your strengths, you may be able to work at your normal pace.

On the other hand, if you’re 5+ minutes behind as you start question 13, you almost certainly need to pick up the pace. Regardless of the mix of remaining questions, you’ll need to work more quickly to be able to give every question a good effort.

So, treat checkpoints as important guidelines, but don’t panic if you don’t hit them exactly. Let the questions you’ve seen and your strengths and weaknesses determine how much you need to pick up the pace if you find yourself behind the clock.

TTP PRO TIP:

Use checkpoints to guide your pacing decisions, but also consider the remaining question mix and your strengths and weaknesses.

So, when should you begin practicing the checkpoint strategy?

Perfect the Checkpoint Strategy on Practice Exams

Checkpoint pacing is not something you should implement before you get to the practice-test phase of your GMAT prep. Practicing this Verbal strategy before you’ve mastered the material is going to waste your time. The fact is, you can’t master correctly answering GMAT Verbal questions under strict time constraints unless you’ve already mastered correctly answering them in general.

As you may know, GMAC (the GMAT test-maker) offers 6 official, full-length practice tests. You should have 5 of those practice tests remaining by the time you get to the final stage of your GMAT prep (assuming that you took 1 practice test to get a baseline GMAT score at the beginning of your prep).

So, if you’ve given yourself ample time to prepare for your GMAT, you’ll have the last 6 to 8 weeks of your prep to take and review those practice tests. With a solid mastery of RC and CR skills under your belt, you’ll have the opportunity to practice the checkpoint strategy and fine-tune your time-management skills during each practice test.

TTP PRO TIP:

Implement the checkpoint strategy on your practice tests, after you’ve mastered GMAT Verbal content.

Next, let’s talk about some common pacing errors that you’ll want to avoid.

Common Verbal Pacing Errors

Whether because of our natural human tendencies or because of myths that proliferate in the “GMAT grapevine,” there are a few pacing errors that test-takers often make on the GMAT Verbal section. Knowing what these score-eroding errors are, and doing your best to avoid them, is a key part of a smart pacing strategy. Luckily, these pacing pitfalls are relatively easy to sidestep if you’re aware of them.

So, let’s take a look at the top 4 pacing errors that test-takers make on GMAT Verbal.

Pacing Error 1: Spending Extra Time on the First 7 Questions

There are many myths out there about the GMAT, and the myth that the first 7 questions in a section are the most important is one of the most prevalent. Despite what you may have heard or read, you should not spend extra time on the first 7 questions of the Verbal section.

There are many reasons why overinvesting time in the first 7 questions of a section is a poor strategy. For one, you most likely will not have enough time to answer all of the questions at the end of the section. Thus, your initial gains will be lost. This mistake can have even worse repercussions in the Verbal section than in the Quant section. Since the time per question is more variable in Verbal, it can be easier to fall massively behind the clock. So, you could end up eating up a HUGE chunk of your time if you move at an unnaturally slow pace on the first 7 Verbal questions.

Moreover, if you answer the first 7 questions correctly, you should start seeing some pretty difficult questions. However, how much time can you spend answering those tough, high-value questions? Using an inordinate amount of time on the first 7 Verbal questions could deprive you of the opportunity to send your Verbal score skyrocketing later in the section. Don’t make this mistake. Instead, maintain an efficient, methodical pace throughout the Verbal section.

TTP PRO TIP:

You can’t “game the system” by spending extra time on the first 7 Verbal questions. Instead, maintain an efficient, methodical pace throughout the Verbal section.

Let’s now discuss a misguided but common strategy to catch back up to the clock.

Pacing Error 2: Sacrificing Questions to Catch Up on Time

Here’s the thing: you have no way of accurately assessing whether the GMAT considers a question easy, hard, or in between. So, blindly sacrificing questions in an effort to catch up on time is a very risky strategy. After all, randomly guessing on (and missing) an easy question — or multiple easy questions — can significantly hurt your score.

For example, let’s say you’re on question 13 with only 16 minutes left on the clock. The idea is that you’d sacrifice questions 14 and 15 to catch up on time. However, it isn’t prudent to throw away questions that you may be able to quickly answer. Furthermore, if you throw away a question that the test expects you to get right, your score will be penalized heavily.

Unfortunately, the idea that you should jettison random questions if you’re behind the clock is common in GMAT circles. A smarter strategy is to kick your executive decision-making prowess into high gear. Quickly and objectively evaluate whether you have a reasonable hope of efficiently answering the question in front of you. If you’re spending too much time on a question and feel no closer to the answer, make an educated guess and move on. If you recognize early that you have little hope of correctly answering and you’re short on time, take some time to eliminate answers and make your best guess, then keep moving.

Randomly jettisoning questions has the potential to hurt your Verbal score more than it helps. Don’t roll the dice!

TTP PRO TIP:

Don’t roll the dice on your Verbal score by randomly sacrificing questions in an effort to catch up on time.

Next, let’s discuss the difficulty of letting go of questions.

Pacing Error 3: Loss Aversion

It is human nature to be averse to letting go of something that you’re invested in. You don’t want to feel like your time, money, etc. is wasted. It’s the reason that people hold onto tanking stocks or continue gambling on a losing streak. Similarly, loss aversion is a big challenge for many GMAT test-takers.

You cannot give into this tendency! You must be willing to lose a battle here or there in order to win the GMAT war. At some point, you may have to make an educated guess. Regardless of whether you can answer the question correctly, you can’t afford to spend 5+ minutes doing so. At that point, it wouldn’t matter that you got the question correct. You’d likely end up running out of time and having to guess on later questions.

This is not to say that if you are truly close to answering, you should guess at some arbitrary point. It could make sense to finish, even if you are behind the clock. However, if you are not close to answering, you must be willing to move on.

Is there a question you truly think you can answer with more time? On the GMAT, you can mark questions for review and change up to 3 answers in each section. So, select an answer, mark the question, and keep moving so you don’t fall further behind.

Don’t stick with questions because you can’t bear “giving up.” If it makes sense to guess and move on, make the rational choice! Don’t spend another 2 minutes hoping to get the answer.

TTP PRO TIP:

To avoid winning the battle but losing the war, know when to let go of a question.

Many test-takers pursue speed at all costs. Let’s examine why doing so is unhelpful.

Pacing Error 4: Putting Speed Before Accuracy

This pacing error is a little different from the others. It’s one that can trip you up during your GMAT studies, leading to disappointing results on test day or underwhelming practice test scores.

As we discussed earlier, it’s a mistake to try to hone your GMAT Verbal timing strategy before you’ve mastered the Verbal material. That said, it’s only natural that students want to make their GMAT prep as efficient as possible. So, many students jump into timed GMAT practice before such practice will really be worthwhile.

Noticing and interpreting the nuances and key details of GMAT Verbal questions requires deep analysis, and the muscles used for that analysis need time to develop. If you never (or hardly ever) stick with a question for as long as it takes to get the correct answer, you won’t give yourself time to build strong Verbal skills. Consequently, correctly answering Verbal questions under time constraints will always be a struggle for you.

On the other hand, if you strengthen your GMAT Verbal muscles without worrying about the clock, you’ll naturally speed up as you progress through your Verbal study.

So, wait until you are consistently getting questions of a particular type correct, then introduce time constraints. In doing so, you will find that you’re much better equipped to manage time pressure while maintaining accuracy.

TTP PRO TIP:

Focus on developing accuracy first, and speed will follow.

You know what a smart GMAT Verbal timing strategy looks like and what pacing errors to avoid. But what should you do if you find that you’re struggling to get close to your timing benchmarks, or you can’t complete the Verbal section on time? Let’s discuss.

What If You Can’t Complete the Verbal Section on Time?

The answer to this question depends on whether you’re having trouble completing the Verbal section on your practice exams or on your actual GMAT. Let’s examine each scenario.

On Practice Tests

Hopefully, you’ll take several practice tests in the final 2 months of your GMAT prep. In doing so, you’ll be able to catch any serious pacing issues before test day. So, what if you sit for a practice test and discover that your timing is way off the mark? Should you just keep taking practice tests and hope the problem resolves itself? Look for a completely different timing strategy?

Here’s the thing: if you’re struggling to meet the GMAT Verbal timing benchmarks, you probably should not be sitting for practice tests yet. Remember, your ability to work efficiently follows naturally from your ability to work accurately. Your ability to work accurately is the result of mastering Verbal concepts and developing strong skills.

So, if Verbal time-management is a big problem for you, odds are you’ve started taking tests too soon. You need more time to shore up your GMAT Verbal knowledge and skills.

TTP PRO TIP:

If you have consistent timing struggles on practice tests, spend more time on Verbal concept mastery and skill development.

On Test Day

If you find yourself struggling to complete the Verbal section on the actual GMAT, don’t panic. Panicking never helped anyone earn a higher GMAT score.

Make educated guesses for as many of the remaining questions as possible. Try to submit an answer for every question to avoid the penalty for unanswered questions. Also, keep in mind that if you’ve selected an answer to the last question in a section but don’t hit submit before the clock runs out, your answer WILL be recorded.

If you’re short on time when you reach the last question in the Verbal section, select an answer before solving. If the timer runs out as you’re solving the problem, you still have an answer recorded.

TTP PRO TIP:

If you’re running out of time on test day, make as many educated guesses as possible, and make sure to answer every question.

Let’s review the crucial GMAT Verbal timing strategy points that we’ve discussed.

Key Takeaways

In this article, we examined several key points about GMAT Verbal timing:

• With 23 questions in 45 minutes, you have an average of 1.96 minutes per question.
• Not every question takes the same amount of time to answer, so think of pacing in time ranges, not fixed amounts.
• The typical range for a Critical Reasoning question is 1.5-2 minutes.
• The typical range for a Reading Comprehension passage, including questions, is 4-8 minutes.

We also reviewed 2 useful techniques for improving your sense of timing:

• As you practice, work to develop your sense of how you’re progressing towards the answer.
• Use a timer as you answer questions to develop a feel for 2 minutes.

We then discussed the Verbal section checkpoint strategy:

• Divide the 23 Verbal questions into three 6-question chunks and one 5-question chunk.
• Divide the 45-minute section time into three 12-minute chunks and one 9-minute chunk.
• After each chunk, compare the time remaining to the time you should have.

Next, we explored 4 common pacing errors:

• Over-investing time on the first 7 questions doesn’t work: you can’t “game” the algorithm. Steady pacing is more effective.
• Blindly guessing to save time is rolling dice with your Verbal score. You can save time without sacrificing questions.
• Struggling to let go of questions can hurt your Verbal score. Learn to pick your battles.
• Prioritizing speed over accuracy does not work; speed follows from accuracy.

Finally, we discussed what to do if you’re struggling to complete the GMAT Verbal section on time:

• On practice tests, take pacing struggles as a sign that more Verbal study is required.
• On test day, make as many educated guesses as possible and be sure to answer every question.

Perfecting your Verbal pacing takes time and practice. You now have the necessary knowledge and tools!

What’s Next?

Now that you have a plan for honing your GMAT Verbal timing strategy, check out these strategies for eliminating test anxiety and these essential test-day tips.

One crucial way to improve your pacing is to increase your mastery of Verbal concepts. Check out these tips and tricks for performing well on the GMAT Verbal section.

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