ACE YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT

This is a fairly simple method of figuring out approximately how much time you have in an exam to answer each question. All it takes is a tiny bit of research beforehand, as well as some simple maths which can do on a calculator. This method is particularly useful for exams in which you have lots of questions to answer, such as Science or
Maths papers.

1. Before the exam, find out both the time limit and the total number of marks available. Then, divide the amount of minutes (e.g. 120 minutes) by the total number of available marks (50 marks). This will give you the approximate amount of time you have to secure each mark. In this example, you have 2.4 minutes for each mark.
2. Using this methodology, you can figure out how much time you should spend on each question. In this example, a 1-mark question should be worked on for around 2.4 minutes, a 10-mark question should be attempted for 24 minutes, and so on. If you divide your time like this, you should be able to ensure that you have enough time to answer each question.
3. Remember that these calculations only give you an approximation of how much time you should be spending on a question. Obviously, you’re going to need more time to answer questions which you find more difficult, and will probably need less time to attempt questions which you are more comfortable with. This is why it’s usually a good idea to take a look through the entire question booklet, scout out every question you’ll have to answer, and then quickly figure out how much time you’ll need for each question.

You can use the above method in essay-based exams as well. Let’s say that you have two hours to complete an exam (120 minutes). You also have two essay questions to complete. If these are worth the same amount, ten you split your time equally so that you have enough time for each. However, if one is worth more than another, you’ll need to do some simple maths to figure out how much time you should spend on each.

In this example, let’s say you have 120 minutes, and the total available marks is 50. One of the essays is worth a maximum of 30 marks, and the other is worth a maximum of 20 marks. This is a ratio of 3:2. Divide the total amount of time (120) by 5, giving you 24 minutes. This is the amount of time you have to score ten marks. Since one of the essays is worth 30 marks, multiply 24 by 3 to get the amount of time you should spend securing 30 marks (72 minutes). This means that you should spend 72 minutes on the 30-mark question, and the remaining 48 minutes on the 20 mark question. You can then use these figures to work out how much time you’ll need to plan your answer.

Many students taking essay-based subjects make the mistake of not planning their answers. However, many students instead make the mistake of planning an essay, but not taking planning time into account when figuring out how long they have to write their answer. Generally speaking, an essay plan should take somewhere between five and ten minutes, depending on how long the essay is.

The amount of time spent on your plan should be roughly proportional to how much time you have to answer it, and how many marks it’s worth. If you only have 15 minutes to write the answer, then there’s not much point in spending 5 minutes of it planning! Instead, do a quick 1-2 minute outline of your ideas before getting started.

However, if your essay is going to be much longer, you should take more time to plan. If you have an hour to write your response, you should try to spend 10 minutes on the planning stage. This also gives you an opportunity to remember all of the notes you’ll need from all of the revision you’ve done!

While it’s important to devote a good chunk of time to planning your essay, it’s just as vital that you don’t spend too much time on it. Ultimately, your plan isn’t for essay, so you won’t get marked for it! Make sure that your head on to your answer as soon as you’ve finished planning, and don’t waste time planning your essay.

In the majority of cases, there will be a large clock at the front of the exam room so that you’re able to keep an eye on the time. While this is useful, it requires you to stop and look up fairly frequently to make sure that you have time to write your answers. Rather than stopping to look up at the clock at the front of the room, bring a watch into the exam room so that you can quickly take a look at it without having to stop your train of thought. This way, you’ll be able to manage your time more effectively.

Hopefully, you’ve given yourself enough time to finish the question with a standard of quality that you’re happy with. If this isn’t the case, you might find that you’re running out of time! If this often happens to you, then you need to learn to cut your losses, wrap up a question as best as you can, and then move on to the next one.

Simply put, there’s no great way to abruptly end an essay. However, if you overrun on one answer, your next essay is going to suffer for it. For this reason, you should try and conclude your argument as quickly as possible.

Here are some tips for wrapping up an essay question as quickly as possible so that you can move on to the next one:

1. If you make your essay more focused on a single idea from the very beginning,  it’s less likely that your answer will get out of hand. If you aren’t moving too far away from the main core of your argument, it should be fairly easy to bring it full-circle if you need to finish up quickly.
2. If you’re running out of time, finish your essay on the current point that you’re making. If possible, try not to shove the rest of your ideas into this paragraph, since this will make your essay look rushed and unsophisticated. Instead, try to link this final point back to the main argument of the essay as best as you can.
3. Don’t spend too long on your conclusion. This is generally a good rule when writing essays, but is even more important if you’re running out of time. Try to summarise your argument in three sentences or less.
4. Try and save time for some proofreading at the end. However, if you’re really short on time, just opt for a quick scan at the end of the test. If you’re running out of time, you won’t have the opportunity to make any significant changes to your essay anyway. Just try and catch any spelling or grammatical errors on your final read of the essay.
5. If it helps, you can proofread each answer once you’ve completed it. For example, if you have two essays, then you can start by answering essay one. Once you’ve finished it, then you can proofread it. After that, move on to essay two. Then, once you’ve finished that, proofread it at the end. This might prevent you from stressfully reading through multiple essays in the final minutes of the exam.