Exam Time Plan
Fill in the top half before the exam. Write the minutes-per-mark figure on your answer booklet during reading time.
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The paper
- Subject
- Exam length
- Total marks
- Reading time reserved
- Checking time reserved
- WORKING TIME
- MINUTES PER MARK
- Start time
- Finish time
Plan each question, then track it
| Q | Marks | Budget (min) | Start by | Actual | Over/under |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The arithmetic
- Working time
- exam − reading − checking
- Minutes per mark
- working time ÷ total marks
- A question's budget
- its marks × minutes per mark
- 120 min, 100 marks, 20 reserved
- 1.00 min per mark
- A 12-mark question
- 12 minutes at that rate
- ⚠ By question count
- ignores what each is worth
- ⚠ Opening marks
- the cheapest on the paper
In the room
- Minutes per mark written at the top of the booklet
- Whole paper read before starting anything
- A 'start by' clock time written next to each question
- Every part of every question located (check overleaf)
- Marks per part noted where the paper gives them
- Moved on at the budget rather than finishing in order
- Space left to return to anything abandoned
- Checking time actually used, not absorbed
Abandoning on time is the skill
The last marks of a nearly-finished question are the most expensive on the paper; the opening marks of an unstarted one are the cheapest. Moving on at the budget and returning later beats finishing in order almost every time.
Check for parts you never saw
The most common thing checking time catches is not an arithmetic slip — it is a part (b) on the back of the page that was never attempted at all. Locate every part before you start writing.