There are some legitimate criticisms of timed drills depending how they are designed and used.

But,

Originally Posted by playandlearn
Speed has little to do with math. Period.

No.

Advanced mathematics can have several layers of complexity, with more complex layers built on simpler ones. To think at a high level you need to be very fluent in the simpler stuff. (You might think all the thought processes could happen in slow motion, but that's difficult in the same way that riding a bike very slowly is difficult.)