The key ideaThe average is about a minute and a half per question, but questions are not equal. The time you save on the first ones is the time you will spend on the last.
Difficulty rises, time does not move
Reading has 39 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes. Documents follow a progressive difficulty: messages and small ads first, then everyday texts, opinion articles and, finally, long and complex texts.
If you read every document in full with the same attention, you will run short exactly where the texts are longest.
A plan in three blocks
Split the test into three blocks and give each a checkpoint. Look at the clock at the end of each block, not at every question.
- Questions 1 to 13: 12 minutes. Short documents, answer found in one read.
- Questions 14 to 26: 20 minutes. Medium texts, one piece of evidence per question.
- Questions 27 to 39: 25 minutes. Long texts, where targeted reading is essential.
- Reserve: 3 minutes to return to answers you marked as doubtful.
Read the question before the text
On long texts, start with the question and the four choices. You will know whether you are asked for a precise fact, the author’s intent or the meaning of a passage, and you will read to search, not to discover.
Decide fast when you hesitate
First eliminate the two least plausible choices. Between the two that remain, go back to the text once, choose, then move on.
Train this plan on full, timed sets. After three or four sets you will know your real pace and can shift a minute or two from one block to another.
Checklist
- I know my three checkpoints: 12, 32 and 57 minutes.
- I read the question before long texts.
- I find the sentence that proves my answer.
- I go back to the text only once per question.
- I have tested this plan on at least three timed sets.
