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How to Manage Your Time
on the GED Math Test
Managing your time on the test is essential. By finishing the test and guessing at any questions you can't answer, you should be able to add at least 20 points to your score. A video, here, summarizes some of the suggestions here and on the next page.
Here are my suggestions:
- You have 115 minutes to answer about 46 questions. That's an average of two and a half minutes.
- Keep reminding yourself that you only have to answer about six out of ten questions correctly. So don't think you've failed when you guess and move on. It's smart to do that.
- Get a kitchen timer and set it to 2-1/2 minutes. Use it whenever you do a practice question, so the alarm goes off at that time.
- Use the timer enough to develop a sense of when you're getting bogged down with a question, when it's time to guess and move on.
- You should average four questions every ten minutes. When you're working with a clock, either on the real test or the GEDReady test, check the time after every fourth question to see if you're on track.
- The test's first five questions - the ones without a calculator - are easier. You should be able to handle them in seven or eight minutes rather than ten. That should give you a cushion as you move into the rest of the test.
The GEDReady test, explained here, is an important way you can actually practice these skills. There are at least three versions, so you may want to take it more than once to improve your skills.
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