​GMAC claims that the scoring algorithm for the scored questions is the same. The number of SC questions in Verbal has gone down because they don’t need experimental SC questions since SC questions aren’t much easier to make. The extra RC and CR questions are experimental and do not count toward your score.

Note however that since there are fewer total SC questions in the test, and SC is still 40% of your score, it’s even more important not to miss SC questions, since there are fewer experimental questions to water down any missed questions.

That being said, don’t spend a ton of extra time per question on SC and lose out on CR RC since combined they make up 60% of your score.

​Sometimes we have to do the math setup up front. Other times it helps to briefly glance at the information given, because that will actually inform what we are looking for and how we should set up the problem.

For example in one of the rates unit conversion DS problems from the exam, if we do the setup first we actually have to convert twice, once for each statement. However if we glance at the statements we see that the units in the question are different from the units in the 2 statements. So if we convert first and then do the setup, we end up HALVING the amount of work.

Similarly, in RC it helps to do a 10 second skim just so we know where the passage is headed, and then do the depth reading+passage notes. 

In all GMAT problems, even CR and SC, GMAC can reveal a crucial clue at any step of the way.  Usually we should set up math as we read, but there are exceptions. GMAT is also testing for flexibility and adaptability, fluid intelligence. 

Every year students have this question, and most years the answer is the same: You can get by just fine with last year's version. That being said, the past 3 years' new editions have each come with about 10-15% new questions.  GMAC is constantly refining their question pool, so newer questions are slightly better, but not enough to make a substantial difference in your score.  If you have a version that is 1 year old, you're fine. You can study with the 2017 or even 2016 version and be alright.

The last exception to this rule was the 13th edition in 2012.  This was the year GMAC replaced one of the essay questions with the IR section. This year, you did need to use the newest version.