How to improve on time for CR questions

[sw001]

Hello Instructors,

I have been maintaining good accuracy on CR questions 90-95%, but I am taking more time then I should. Most of the questions I am solving is taking me 2.5 mins to solve and then some tough Qs - number %, etc 3.5 to 4 or even sometimes 5 mins to solve.

My approach to solve a question -
1. Reading the question stem -
- understanding what it is asking (strengthen, resolve the paradox, weaken)
- any extra info given (I try to extract most out of the info given in the q stem, e.g. what would help explain students point, ok I need to look for what is the students point). I am usually taking almost 30 secs to analyze the question stem.

Also, I tend to write e.g. S - for strengthen, and students opinion - is what I want to look for, I just write it down on paper.

2. I read the argument. And try to write/ draw the info given. This helps me understand the argument better.

3. Paraphrasing. After I paraphrase, I tend to write down - what I paraphrased. Thus, writing down the possible answer choices. This way I know what I thought should be the answer and I do not get confused after reading the answer choices. Sometimes, answer choices tend to confuse - usually for except, least questions.

And then, finally reading the answer choices.

This whole process - is taking mostly 2.5+ mins, 3.5 mins, and 4-5mins. And sometimes under 2 mins.

Also, note that the accuracy - I am maintaining is when I am solving CR questions one by one (timed) OR solving 15 questions or 20 questions at once from OG. So far, I have not seen the same accuracy on the mock CATs I have given.

I feel I am wasting time in writing. But writing, helps me better understand and results in accuracy. Can I avoid writing at any of the steps above, where I am currently spending time on writing/ drawing.

[tim]

Three observations:

1) Spending 2.5 minutes on CR is not a problem. You should *always* allow 2.5 minutes if you need it, and some CR problems will require even more.

2) You do not need 30 seconds to evaluate the question stem. The stem itself is very short and often contains ONE key word that you need to identify in order to know what kind of question you are dealing with. If you spend more than 3 seconds looking for this word you are doing it wrong.

3) If you want to improve your time management, get faster at SC. The faster you can get at SC, the more time you will have for CR.

That said, if you still find yourself taking much longer than 3 minutes on CR problems, you may need to find ways to read and process faster, and if that doesn't work, you may need to selectively skip a few CR questions in order to have time to deal with the rest.

[sw001]

Hello Tim,

Thank you so much for your reply.

I have just started practicing CR, and so far I have covered the initial 55 questions of OG 12 (the initial questions are usually the easy ones). So, for those I am taking 2.5mins or 2.5+.

Also, I am too much inclined on writing down - e.g. after reading question stem, if it gives any info of the argument - I tend to write it down. Plus, when I am paraphrasing - ie. estimating the range of possible answers - I write them down too (I do try to do it quickly). This helps me in not getting confused while looking at answer choices (for usually the tough and confusing ones it helps). But, obviously thats eating up my time.

Do you think I am doing too much writing? Obviously everyones style is different, but I have been studying for just a few months and still trying to figure out the best approach for each question type. I think an expert may be able to point out if I am doing something drastically wrong.

[tim]

I obviously haven't seen your notes, but I certainly assume you are writing too much. Here's an easy way to check: Do you ever write a complete sentence? Do you ever write a word with more than 5 letters without abbreviating it? Could you reconstruct the details of the argument from your notes without referring to the screen? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are writing too much. See what you can do to write less and speed up the process. You may find our Foundations of Verbal book helpful in this regard.

[sw001]

Thank you Tim for your awesome reply!!! :)

[tim]

Glad to hear it helped!