1) Micromanagement, which roughly means limiting yourself to APPROXIMATELY two minutes per problem.
this doesn't mean that you have to cut the rope at exactly two minutes; even in our 9-session course we acknowledge that there are certain problem types (most notably word translations and sometimes geometry) that routinely demand over 2 minutes even from very able students. conversely, there are also problem types (most notably fdp's) that should take substantially less than two minutes per problem. the idea is to get this to balance out.
2) macro-management, which means checking in on the timing guidelines periodically (= DO NOT stare at the lil timer in the corner of the screen after every single problem). this is where you figure out EVERY SO OFTEN whether you're in a hole, and whether you need to throw away questions.
(1) and (2) complement each other. DO NOT PRACTICE ONE OF THESE TWO FORMS OF TIME MANAGEMENT TO THE EXCLUSION OF THE OTHER ONE. in other words:
1) don't concentrate so much on spending exactly two minutes per problem that you wind up cutting off lots of productive solutions just because you're obsessed with the clock. this applies here; if you know you can nail this problem type in 2:30, then it's worthwhile to spend the extra :30 (as long as you don't find yourself in that situation more than a few times per test, AND you can solve other problem types fast enough to make up the deficit).
2) at the same time, don't completely neglect your per-problem timing responsibility. you don't want to wait until the next big checkpoint on your timing map (every 15 minutes or so) and suddenly discover that you're behind by 5 questions and you have no idea what happened.
this doesn't mean that you have to cut the rope at exactly two minutes; even in our 9-session course we acknowledge that there are certain problem types (most notably word translations and sometimes geometry) that routinely demand over 2 minutes even from very able students. conversely, there are also problem types (most notably fdp's) that should take substantially less than two minutes per problem. the idea is to get this to balance out.
2) macro-management, which means checking in on the timing guidelines periodically (= DO NOT stare at the lil timer in the corner of the screen after every single problem). this is where you figure out EVERY SO OFTEN whether you're in a hole, and whether you need to throw away questions.
(1) and (2) complement each other. DO NOT PRACTICE ONE OF THESE TWO FORMS OF TIME MANAGEMENT TO THE EXCLUSION OF THE OTHER ONE. in other words:
1) don't concentrate so much on spending exactly two minutes per problem that you wind up cutting off lots of productive solutions just because you're obsessed with the clock. this applies here; if you know you can nail this problem type in 2:30, then it's worthwhile to spend the extra :30 (as long as you don't find yourself in that situation more than a few times per test, AND you can solve other problem types fast enough to make up the deficit).
2) at the same time, don't completely neglect your per-problem timing responsibility. you don't want to wait until the next big checkpoint on your timing map (every 15 minutes or so) and suddenly discover that you're behind by 5 questions and you have no idea what happened.
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