When I took the computer-based GRE the first time, it said that I had 30 minutes to finish the tutorial and then the test would start. So I went through the tutorial as fast as possible since I had alot of buttons to click in that tutorial.
It also seemed to me that my first minute in the essay went faster because I might have used more than 30 minutes in the tutorial. As you know, in between sections if you choose to take a 1 minute break (10 minutes after the writing section), the next section will start once the minute is up whether you want it to or not. Plus, you can take a bathroom break any time, but you can’t stop the test.
If I had unlimited time for the tutorial, why did it say I had 30 minutes to finish it, after all?
Yet Barron’s 2005-2006 edition says on page 17:
At the end of the tutorial section, a moment comes when you have to click to indicate either that you’re done with reviewing this material and are ready to move on to the actual test, or that you want to review some of the tutorial sections a bit longer. Don’t click. This is a good time for you to set up your scratch paper answer sheet…
Before you move on from the tutorial section to the actual test, take a break.
Once you’ve finished making your rough answer sheet, don’t be in a rush to click and start the test. Raise your hand to let the proctor know you need assistance, and, when he or she comes up to your carrel, ask for a restroom break. You’ll be escorted out of the computer room and allowed to sign out. You may have spent half an hour or more mastering the material in the tutorials section, and if you’re new to working with a mouse, you may be a bit tired or tense… Any time out you take before the test actually starts is “free:” it doesn’t cost you any of that all important question-answering time.