You Can Pick Your Section Order Now. PRACTICE It Before You Pick It.

By EMPOWERgmat on August 1, 2017

Picture it. You've checked in, emptied your pockets, sat down at the computer, and the screen asks you to pick your section order. You've never really thought about it. So you go with your gut. Ten seconds of guessing just decided how the next three and a half hours of your life are going to feel.

THAT is a terrible way to make this decision. The fix is simple, though, and you can start on it this week.

What changed, and why it matters

Since July 11, 2017, GMAT Test Takers get to choose one of three section orders. The sections themselves did not change. You still face four of them:

Analytical Writing: one essay, 30 minutes
Integrated Reasoning: 12 questions, 30 minutes
Quant: 37 questions, 75 minutes
Verbal: 41 questions, 75 minutes

GMAC lays all of this out on its page on the sections and timing. The whole Exam runs about three and a half hours, with two optional 8-minute breaks.

Now here's the part that matters most. Your 200 to 800 score comes from Quant and Verbal ONLY. Both of those sections are adaptive, which means the computer picks your next question based on how you handled the last one. You also can't go back and change an answer. So the order you choose decides WHEN you face the two sections that build your big score. You might face them fresh, warmed up, or worn down. That is not a small detail.

Your gut has never been tested

I'll bet you already have a favorite order. I'll also bet you've never taken a full practice test in it.

You've probably heard the 'rules'. "Get your weak section out of the way first." "Start with your strong section to build confidence." Both sound smart. Neither one is proof. Some people do their best Verbal work early, before their focus fades. Others need an hour of warm-up before their brain fully switches on. You don't know which person you are until you have data.

Stop reading for a moment and answer this question. On your last full practice test, in which section did you make the most silly mistakes in the final 15 minutes?

If you can't answer that, you don't have a section order problem yet. You have a data problem. As a future MBA, you are NOT allowed to say "I have no idea." You have to go find out.

A long running track where a runner starts tall and quick and slowly hunches over and slows down near the finish line. — Focus fades over a long Exam. The question is WHERE your fade hits.

How to let your practice data decide

Write down the three orders. Look them up on the official page and copy each one onto paper. Then cross out any order that clearly makes no sense for you, and say why in one sentence.
Test the ones that are left. Take one full-length practice test per week, no more. A practice test is a measuring device. It tells you where you are, but it does NOT make you a better Test Taker. The training happens between the tests.
Take each test the way you'll take the real one. All four sections, fully timed, with the breaks at the same spots you'd get them on Test Day. If your practice software doesn't run the order you want to test, run the sections yourself in that order with a timer.
Track more than the score. A score alone hides the story. Use the table below.
Decide, then lock it in. Once you've picked, your final practice tests before Test Day should ALL be in that order. No switching at the Testing Center.

What to track in Quant and Verbal	What it tells you
Wrong answers in each third of the section	Where your focus fades
'Gettable' questions you missed	Whether you're tired or truly stuck
Time spent on the last 10 questions	Whether you're rushing to the finish
How full your notepad is near the end	Whether you quit taking notes

That last row is the sneaky one. When people get tired, the first thing they drop is their notes. Then the silly mistakes pile up. Here's the kind of question that a tired brain gets wrong, not because it's hard, but because it skips the notes.

Try it

This is a Problem Solving question, the regular kind of GMAT math question with five answer choices.

During a practice test, a Test Taker works through a section of 37 questions in exactly 75 minutes. She spends an average of 1.5 minutes on each of the first 25 questions. What is her average time, in minutes, on each of the remaining questions?

2.5
2.875
3
3.125
3.5

Show the answer

Step 1: Take notes. Write it down: 37 questions, 75 minutes total, first 25 at 1.5 each. Remaining questions = 37 minus 25 = 12.

Step 2: Find the time already used. 25 times 1.5 = 37.5 minutes.

Step 3: Find the time left. 75 minus 37.5 = 37.5 minutes for 12 questions.

Step 4: Test the answers. Start with (C). If she spends 3 minutes on each of 12 questions, that's 36 minutes. 37.5 plus 36 = 73.5, which is 1.5 minutes short. We need a bigger number. Try (D): 3.125 times 12 = 37.5, since 3 times 12 = 36 and 0.125 times 12 = 1.5. Then 37.5 plus 37.5 = 75. That's a match.

The answer is (D).

The trap: A tired Test Taker does the subtraction in their head and writes 13 remaining questions instead of 12. Then 37.5 divided by 13 is a bit less than 2.9, which lands right next to (B). Another trap is dividing 75 by 37 and picking something near 2. Both mistakes come from skipping notes, not from weak math. Notice too what this Test Taker's numbers show: she crawled through the end of the section. THAT is what a fade looks like in data.

The mistakes I see people make with section order

Picking on a gut feeling at the Testing Center. You're 'excited' on Test Day, and that's the worst moment to make a brand new decision. INSTEAD: Make the choice at least two weeks before Test Day, based on what your practice tests showed.
Following someone else's 'rule'. "Always do Quant first" is a guess dressed up as advice. INSTEAD: Treat every rule as a hypothesis, then test it on yourself.
Practicing in one order and testing in another. Your stamina is trained for the order you practice. INSTEAD: Run your final practice tests in the exact order you'll choose.
Skipping the short sections in practice. The essay and Integrated Reasoning don't feed your 200 to 800 score, but they still burn energy. Schools see those results too. INSTEAD: Always practice all four sections, wherever they fall in your order.
Skipping the breaks. Some people think breaks waste time. They don't count against your sections. INSTEAD: Take both 8-minute breaks on every practice test. Stand up, drink water, eat a small snack. Train the reset.
Reading too much into one test. A small score change between two practice tests usually means you performed at about the same level. INSTEAD: Look for patterns that repeat, like misses piling up in the last third of Verbal on more than one test.

Three paths branching from one starting point, each lined with the same four stones arranged in a different sequence, with a hiker studying a map before choosing. — Same four sections, three possible paths. Pick yours with a map, not a coin flip.

Comfort or score?

You have to decide what you want MORE: the order that FEELS comfortable, or the order that EARNS the higher score. Sometimes they're the same. Sometimes they aren't. The GMAT will give you the score that you EARN, and choosing your order on purpose is part of earning it. It's a predictable, standardized test, so you can train for this choice just like you train for Data Sufficiency or Sentence Correction.

Here's your task for today. Pull up your most recent full practice test. Split your Quant and Verbal results into thirds. Count the wrong answers in each third, and circle the ones you KNOW you should have gotten. Then finish this sentence on paper: "I lose focus in ______ around ______." That sentence is your first hypothesis. Your next practice test is where you prove it right or wrong.

Sources

GMAC: GMAT sections, timing and format