Why is it that when I create a test list and run the list it runs so much slower than when I run the test within the list individually?  I have not edited any of the settings so it is running on the default test list setting but it takes anywhere from 3-7 seconds to verify an element on the page.  Is there any way to speed up Test Lists so they run the same speed as they do when run individually? 

I have noticed something similar when we add as little as 100ms delay in the test list settings.  It seems like the delay should be between test steps, but it is more fine grained than that.  You can see it when you turn on annotations - wait for visible can break down into multiple steps depending on where the visible style is defined (it walks up the tree looking for the attribute).  In some cases tests that run in 20 seconds with no delay turned into 2 minutes with just a 100ms or 200ms delay between steps.

Hello Sean,

The only significant difference between running a test in a test list and running it from the Record tab is that running the Record tab uses default execution settings while the test list will use the test list settings that are always linked to the test list. As David already explained, the 'ExecutionDelay' setting, adds the specified delay between each command, slowing down the entire run significantly. This setting is designed to make the test list execution more reliable. 

Another thing you can try is when executing the Test Lists to use 2 Test List properties which can help you to improve the performance - in Test List settings, Edit Settings, Web tab - KillBrowserProcessOnClose and RecycleBrowser. Try turing each of them on to see if this will help your execution - these options are to forcibly kill all browser processes when a test finishes and to reuse the browser window and not start a new browser for every test.

Regards,
Plamen
the Telerik team

Thanks gentlemen I will try your suggestions.  I especially like the explanation of walking up a tree to find the element as I have noticed a lot more going on when I run with annotations on.