The Shorter GRE Didn't Change Your Pace Per Question
Here's a thought a LOT of GRE Test Takers have had since September 22: "The test is shorter now, so I have to go faster." It sounds logical. It's wrong. And if you train with that idea in your head, you will rush through questions you SHOULD get right, and you'll pay for it on your score report.
Yes, the GRE got shorter. The whole thing now runs 1 hour 58 minutes. The Argument essay is gone. There's no unscored section and no scheduled break. (If you missed the details, here's our rundown of what changed on September 22.) But "shorter test" and "less time per question" are two DIFFERENT things. Let's do the math, because you're not allowed to guess about this.
The actual math
Stop reading for a second. Grab a pen. The GRE now has two Verbal sections and two Quant sections. Verbal is 12 questions in 18 minutes, then 15 questions in 23 minutes. Quant is 12 questions in 21 minutes, then 15 questions in 26 minutes. Before you look at the table below, work out how many seconds you get per question in each section.
Done? Here's what you should have:
| Section | Questions | Time | Seconds per question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal, section 1 | 12 | 18 min | 90 |
| Verbal, section 2 | 15 | 23 min | 92 |
| Quant, section 1 | 12 | 21 min | 105 |
| Quant, section 2 | 15 | 26 min | 104 |
Check it: 18 minutes is 1,080 seconds, and 1,080 divided by 12 is 90. 26 minutes is 1,560 seconds, and 1,560 divided by 15 is 104. Add it all up and you get 54 scored questions in 88 minutes, plus a 30 minute essay. That's 118 minutes. That's the 1 hour 58 minutes ETS lists on its GRE General Test page.
So your pace is about a minute and a half per Verbal question and a bit under two minutes per Quant question. If you studied from older material, pull up its timing chart and do the same division. I'll bet the per question number lands in the same neighborhood you already trained for. The test got shorter by cutting PIECES, not by squeezing the clock on each question.
Why rushing costs MORE now
Here's the part that should get your attention. There's no unscored section anymore. That means every single question you see counts. Each measure (Verbal or Quant) has 27 scored questions, so one question is about 1 out of every 27 chances you get. Rush past a question you could have nailed, and that's a real, scored point you handed away. There's nowhere for the mistake to hide.
Fewer questions doesn't mean less pressure. It means each question carries a bigger slice of your score. That's the opposite of a reason to rush.
The 4 pacing mistakes (and what to do INSTEAD)
- Speeding up because "the test is shorter." You feel the shorter test and you panic into a faster pace than you need. You finish with 4 minutes left and 2 silly mistakes. INSTEAD: Memorize your real numbers: about 90 seconds per Verbal question, about 105 per Quant question. Train at THAT pace, not at a pace your nerves made up.
- Treating the average like a speed limit on every question. An average is the total time divided by the number of questions. It is NOT a rule that each question gets exactly that much. Some questions take 30 seconds. Some wordy ones need 3 minutes. INSTEAD: Bank time on the quick ones so you can spend it on the long ones. Your goal on each question is the most efficient path with no silly mistakes. Not a stopwatch number.
- Doing work in your head to "save time." This is pride dressed up as speed. Working in your head leads to re-reading, and re-reading eats time AND causes errors. INSTEAD: Take notes on every question. On word problems, translate every sentence into notes as you read, so you can start solving the moment you finish reading.
- Checking the clock after every question. Every glance pulls you out of the question. INSTEAD: Use one checkpoint per section, near the middle. Verbal section 1: question 6 done at about 9 minutes used. Verbal section 2: question 8 done at about 12 minutes. Quant section 1: question 6 done at about 10 and a half minutes. Quant section 2: question 8 done at about 14 minutes. Ahead or behind by a minute? Fine. Adjust and keep going.
What rushing actually looks like
Here's a question in the GRE's Quantitative Comparison format. A Quantitative Comparison gives you two amounts, Quantity A and Quantity B, and asks which one is bigger. Try it, and be honest about how long it takes you.
Here's a second one, this time standard Multiple Choice, where the fastest safe path is to test the answers instead of setting up algebra.
Pacing is a symptom, not the disease
If you're running out of time, the clock isn't your problem. Something you're DOING is your problem. Re-reading. Working in your head. Taking the long algebra route when testing the answers would finish in half the time. Fix the cause and the pace fixes itself.
That's also why the shorter test is good news if you train right. Every question on the GRE's Verbal and Quant sections is a type you can learn, with patterns you can practice until they're automatic. The GRE gives you the score you EARN. Speed you didn't earn just turns into errors.
Your challenge for today
Set a timer for 21 minutes and do 12 Quant questions, just like the first Quant section. Next to each question on your scratch paper, write how many seconds it took. Then go through and circle every question you got WRONG in under 60 seconds. Those circles are the points rushing is costing you. Count them. Then redo each one slowly, with full notes, and write one sentence about what you skipped the first time. Do that before you go to bed tonight.
