In the last decade, the GRE has expanded its reach becoming accepted by most Business Schools and many Law Schools with ETS has positioning its exam as somehow more equitable than the GMAT or LSAT. In turn, the GRE has in many ways become an in-between test in terms of pacing. The GMAT generally allows more time per question, while the LSAT remains the fastest paced test per question in the graduate admissions world. Furthermore, because the GRE is adaptive by section, and not by question as is the GMAT, guessing and returning to questions is a very important tactic for most students seeking to maximize accuracy and efficiency on the GRE.

In this post, we'll focus on pacing best practices for the Quantitative sections of the GRE so you have guidance and easy checkpoints for the section that you can use without falling into the trap of clock watching on every question!

Quantitative Pacing Goals
In a section with 20 questions in 35 minutes, the average is an easily calculated one minute and 45 seconds per question. That said, not all questions are created equally and question format will in large part dictate your overall pace.

Always be Asking: Am I Progressing to a Solution?
This is the golden rule for the quantitative section, because as soon as the answer is "no", it is best to immediately move to estimate, eliminate, guess, and move on in under 20 seconds. After all, there is not a definitively prescribed order of difficulty within the section and question 20 could be easier for you than question 10. Additionally, the faster you decide to abandon a question you aren't able to make progress on, the better the chance you'll have an opportunity at the end of the section to revisit the problem and possibly identify a path to solving on second look!

Allow a Maximum of One Calm Reread, Recalculate, or Tactical Reset per Problem
Have you ever had worked a quantitative problem confidently, in under 60 seconds, reached a solution, and moved to the choices only to find that your answer isn't amongst them? Of course! It happens to everyone, so don't overreact by thinking that you have forgotten all of the basics of mathematics when this inevitably happens to you. Instead, remain calm, go figure out where you said 5 times 8 was 30 or read a 7 as a 17, but if on that one rework you still mess up, you have to move on. Remain strict in applying this rule, but do try to catch possible simple mistakes or attempt an obvious alternative approach before moving on.

Quantitative Comparisons - Do First!
Now, let's discuss the pacing by question type, beginning with the good news - the question type with the fastest overall pace and best chance of guessing correct appears first in the section! Each quantitative comparison has a 25% chance of being guessed correctly, since the format has only four options and one selection. Therefore, you want to aggressively attempt each of the 8-9 quantitative comparisons that begin every quantitative section. Additionally, with good strategy that one in four chance will frequently become one in three or one in two if you can make effective decisions about plugging in values as a quantitative comparison tactic!

Multiple Choice | Single Answer - Do Now!
After the quantitative comparisons, the formatting of the section randomizes so any of the other three formats can appear at any time. Although, multiple choice, single answer is the most common and with a 20% guessing chance, these are the type you should engage with most readily, so attempt these question types immediately when you encounter them. However, apply the two golden rules above to ensure that you don't waste too much time on any individual problem if at any time you get stuck.

Multiple Choice | Multiple Answer - Do Later!
The default position on a multiple choice, multiple answer question with as many as 12 possible options and \(2^12\) possible option combinations is to leave it until the end of the section. That said, at least read these questions before moving on to determine if you see a quick solution, particularly with problems involving ranges, but if it at any point the required work can be identified as time consuming, guess a lucky combination, flag the problem in the interface, and move on to something more worth your time investment. Remember, there is no extra or partial credit for these questions, so discretion is often the better part of valor here.

Numeric Entry - Do Now! or Do Last!
The most immediately daunting questions for most GRE test takers are these buggers without any choices! How dare they pull such a move on an exam marketed as multiple choice!! Still, don't assume that you should immediately skip these problems without engaging the question at least a little bit. They can actually be pretty succinct if you know the content. Whereas the multiple choice multiple answer questions often have a number of steps to complete regardless of the content matter, a numeric entry that you understand could be pretty directly solved, so at least make a first attempt to see if you can reach the solution without any choices to help. That said, if you do get stuck, guess your favorite number and move on immediately, since alternative tactics and estimation are basically impossible without answer options available to you.

Check Your Pacing
Now, that we've covered the four question formats, there is one opportunity to gauge your pacing in the section - at the data interpretation set. The DI set should occur at questions 14-16 of any quantitative section and when you see those charts and / or graphs appear at question 14 you should, for the only time in the section, check to see how much time remains. Ideally, you want to have about 15 minutes left at this point allowing for the 1:45 average on each of the remaining questions as well as a couple of minutes to return to any questions you skipped as part of your pacing on the first pass through the section. At minimum, you'll need at least 10 minutes remaining to guarantee enough time to calmly attempt the three question DI set, which usually is comprised of relatively simple percentage and proportion questions that can be managed reasonably with the interface calculator, provided you don't rush and make careless mistakes.

Even if you are behind pace at the DI checkpoint, avoid the urge to begin cutting corners and taking shortcuts. That approach is sure to cause more unforced mistakes. Instead, stick to the pacing as dictated and only begin guessing blindly with under 30 seconds left to guarantee that you have an input for every problem to take advantage of the fact that the exam has no guessing penalty. By following all of these pacing recommendations, you'll have a gameplan to maximize your time and score on this fast paced test!