Time to beat the clock

Forty times three is one hundred and twenty. Divide that by two and you get sixty. The answer is sixty. Just find the letter for the answer “60” and bubble it in. What? Why is there no “60?” Make sure that you are looking at the right problem. Yes, you are on the right problem. You must have made a mistake.  Do it again. That is right; you forgot to divide sixty by two. Okay the answer is thirty. No “30” either, what’s going on here?

Stop where you are. The second you saw the answer wasn’t there, you are done. The more time you spend trying to figure out the answer, the less you have for the other questions. It is even worse when you discover that you do not know how to do the problem. All that time goes to waste.

Whenever you do a problem on a standardized test, make sure you only try it once. If you do not get it the first time, move on to the next problem. You can always go back and try it again. It is better to get to all of the problems because there may be some extra points you can earn towards the end of the section. If you spend too much time on one then you may never get to see the others.

This is not an easy thing to do. Most people are too determined to leave a problem, but that will only hurt them. Trust me when I tell you that you have to move on. Ignore your instincts this once and move to the next question.

Practice this at home. Time yourself and go through each problem once. If you have time left over at the end of a section, go back for a second round to give those ones you got wrong another try. This is much more efficient and will most definitely increase your score and time management skills.

-Andrew Verdino