Turning the clock into a per-question budget
Start every paper by working out your rough budget.
- Take the section's time and its number of questions from the notification.
- Reserve about 10 percent of the section time as a buffer for review and marking.
- Divide the rest by the question count for an average seconds-per-question.
For example, a 20-minute, 35-question section leaves roughly 18 minutes after a buffer, which is about 30 seconds per question on average. That average is a guide, not a rule for each question - some take five seconds to skip, some take ninety to solve.
The two-round approach within a section
Rather than going strictly in order:
- Round 1 (scan and bank): go through the section once, doing every question you can solve comfortably inside your average time. Skip anything that looks long or unclear, marking it for later. This secures the easy marks before the clock pressure builds.
- Round 2 (return): with the remaining time, come back to the flagged questions in order of expected payoff - a half-solved DI set before an untouched hard puzzle.
- Round 3 (mark and check), if time remains: verify your marked answers, especially any where you changed your mind.
The common failure is spending round 1 in order and getting stuck on question 4 while easy questions 20 to 30 go unseen.
A personal walk-away limit
Decide in advance the maximum time you will give a single question or set before moving on - many candidates use something like 45 seconds for a standalone question and 4 to 5 minutes for a full DI or puzzle set. When you hit that limit without a clear path to the answer, leave it, even if you feel close.
The reason is opportunity cost: two more minutes on a stubborn question is two minutes not spent on two or three you could have solved. Practise this limit in mocks until leaving a question stops feeling like a loss.
Sectional timing versus one overall clock
- Sectional timing: each section has its own time limit and you cannot move to the next section early or go back. Plan each section on its own; there is no borrowing time from a strong section to rescue a weak one. Prelims of several of these exams use this model.
- Overall timing: one clock for the whole paper; you choose the order and how long to spend on each section. Here you can start with your strongest section to bank marks and calm nerves, then allocate remaining time by difficulty - but you must still protect a minimum for every section because of sectional cut-offs.
Check the current notification for which model applies to your stage.
Common mistakes
- Attempting the paper strictly in order. You will meet a hard question early and lose the easy ones later.
- No walk-away limit. Without a pre-set cap, a single question can eat five minutes.
- Leaving no review buffer. The last minutes are for verifying marked answers, not for a final panic.
- Over-investing in a favourite topic. Extra time on your strong section past its questions is time stolen from a weak one that still has a cut-off.
- Planning for overall timing when the stage is sectional. You cannot rescue a section later, so treat each on its own.
- Practising untimed. Time pressure is a skill; it has to be trained in mocks, not discovered on exam day.
Quick revision
- Compute a per-question budget: (section time minus a ~10 percent buffer) divided by the number of questions. Treat it as an average, not a per-question rule.
- Work each section in rounds: bank the easy marks first, return to flagged questions by payoff, then check.
- Set a personal walk-away limit (for example ~45 seconds a question, ~4 to 5 minutes a set) and honour it - opportunity cost is the reason.
- Sectional timing: plan each section alone, no borrowing time. Overall timing: choose order (often strongest first) but still protect a minimum per section for cut-offs.
- Confirm the timing model from the current notification, and train pacing in timed mocks.