Pacing on the GRE Math Sections

The GRE Quantitative (aka math) sections are broken down like this:

So, what does that mean in terms of your pacing strategy for the math sections? Well, if we’re looking at averages, the time you are given to answer 12 questions in 21 minutes (Section 1) and 15 questions in 26 minutes (Section 2) boils down to about 1 minute and 45 seconds for each of the 27 total questions. However, it’s never that simple. Some questions will take a whole lot more and some will take quite a bit less than that average. How much time you need to devote to solving a question depends not only on your comfort level with the material but also on the complexity of the problem. First and foremost, get to know yourself as a test taker–your strengths and weaknesses–that’s the biggest keys to pacing success. But, if you’re curious about other strategies that are guaranteed to up your pacing game, read on!

GRE Math Pacing Tips

Below are pacing tips to help you maximize your scoring potential by ensuring you know which questions to do and when to do them.

Go for the Low-Hanging Fruit

Each question in the GRE quantitative section is worth the same number of points. That is such an important point that I am going to repeat it again (in caps): EACH QUESTION ON THE GRE SECTION IS WORTH THE SAME NUMBER OF POINTS.

That’s right folks. If ETS sits there and devised a question such as the following:

The five minutes you’d take to (maybe) answer the question correctly will yield the exact same number of points as this question:

If , what is the value of x?

So what’s the takeaway from this? (Besides factorials scare the living <expletive> out of me!)

Well, why waste time on a very difficult question when you can simply scroll to an easier question?

Think of it this way:
In 47 minutes you want to score as many points as possible, and each question is worth exactly the same–one raw point. Why would you not get all the easier points first?

Think of it another way:
If I paid you 1,000 dollars for every apple you picked from a tree in 35 minutes, what would you do? You would go for the low hanging fruit. You would not waste your time climbing to the very top of the tree to pluck an apple that has the same value as an apple that you can simply reach out and grab with both your feet planted on the ground.

Of course after a certain point—that is to get a high score—you must grab the fruit up on the highest branches–those difficult and very difficult questions. But, you will feel better on test day knowing you’ve put away all those easier points before tackling the more complex questions.

Budget Your Time Wisely

O.k., you might be wondering just how one does that? Fair question. The answer really does differ depending on how difficult the question is. But, let’s give you some helpful guidelines: There are easy questions, medium questions, and difficult questions. Easy questions should take between 45 seconds and 1 minute. Medium questions should take between 1 and 2 minutes. And difficult questions should not take longer than 3 minutes. The ratio of easy, medium, and difficult questions varies per section but, in general, you can expect to see a smattering of each. On the first section, the one that is determining the difficulty of the second section, the questions will skew medium. The direction your second section skews will depend on the difficulty level of your second section.

Learn to let a Question go

If you are staring at a question and have been unable to devise a solution after a minute, you should seriously consider moving on to the next question. Again, keep the low-hanging fruit metaphor in mind.

If, however, you are dealing with a difficult math question (and it is clear that it is difficult), then take a couple of minutes, as some questions will clearly take that much time. In other words, do not freak out on a question that is clearly convoluted just because you’ve taken 2 minutes. As long as you are headed toward the solution, persevere

Do not be Sloppy but do not Obsess Over Easy Questions

Using the time schematic above, we can see that easy questions can take less than a minute. It is important to answer these questions confidently and move on. If you dither, then that is time that could be spent on a more difficult question. However, do not race through an easy question. That defeats my whole low-hanging fruit sermon—rushing and ultimately missing a question that you could easily have answered correctly does not make sense (especially if you are racing towards difficult questions that you may not even answer correctly in the first place).

Make Sure you Guess

To get a very respectable score, you do not have to tackle every question on the GRE exam, especially the difficult ones. But! Make sure that you leave enough time to make a guess on questions that you skipped and do not have time to return to or skipped and have no intention of ever returning to. One of the nice things about the GRE is that there is no penalty for guessing. Thus, it is essential to give yourself enough time at the end to commit an answer (even if it’s a completely blind guess) for each and every question. Hey, a little bit of luck can go a long way 🙂

Conclusion

Practice the above tips to help you pace yourself to your goal score on the GRE Quantitative Reasoning section! Keep in mind that as you prepare and improve, you’ll need to reevaluate your pacing strategy. Questions you feel you should skip today, might become “easy” questions for you down the road. We recommend using a GRE Error Log to keep track of your progress.

Through a combination of a positive mindset, lots of practice, and access to the best of the best prep materials, you can get the GRE math score you need to pursue your goals!