Example: use 100 required marks, not 160 printed marks
- Required work40 + 30 + 30 = 100 marks
One compulsory section and two selected questions.
- Working time120 − 15 = 105 min
Keep a fifteen-minute checking reserve.
- Proportional pace1.05 min per mark
The forty-mark section gets 42 minutes; each essay gets 31.5.
Count the paper you must complete
A paper might contain six essay questions but ask you to answer only three. Dividing writing time by the marks printed across all six questions gives the wrong pacing rate. You need the mark total for the permitted answer combination you will actually submit.
Begin with the exam cover sheet. Identify compulsory sections, optional choices, section-specific restrictions and the time available for writing. A general minutes-per-mark calculation cannot override those instructions. Do not assume that answering extra questions will earn extra credit or that an examiner will select the strongest answer for you.
Separate selection, working and checking time
Your plan may need time for choosing questions, writing answers and checking the script. If a separate reading period exists, confirm what you are allowed to do during it and whether it falls inside or outside the stated writing duration.
For example, University of Melbourne rules restrict writing, selecting answers and other actions during reading time unless the exam cover sheet says otherwise. That is an institution-specific rule, not a universal instruction for every exam. Follow the rules for your own paper before assigning a task to a particular time period.
Build a required-marks worksheet
Consider a hypothetical 120-minute paper. Section A is compulsory and carries forty marks. Section B offers four questions worth thirty marks each, but you must answer two. The required answer total is 40 + 30 + 30 = 100 marks.
The booklet prints 160 marks of questions, but you should not divide by 160 because sixty printed marks belong to questions you will not answer. Check that your selected combination meets every section rule; a numerically correct total can still describe an invalid selection if a compulsory question is omitted.
Work through the pacing calculation
Suppose you reserve fifteen of the 120 writing minutes for final checking. This leaves 105 working minutes. Dividing by 100 required marks gives 1.05 minutes per mark. Section A receives 40 × 1.05 = 42 working minutes, and each selected Section B question receives 31.5.
The complete allocation is 42 + 31.5 + 31.5 + 15 = 120 minutes. A value of 31.5 means thirty-one minutes and thirty seconds, not thirty-one minutes and five seconds. The Exam Time Allocation Calculator can check each question allowance once the required-mark total and reserve are confirmed.
Turn allowances into elapsed-time checkpoints
If you begin working on Section A at the start of writing time, the first checkpoint is 42 minutes elapsed. After the first selected essay it is 73.5 minutes, and after the second it is 105 minutes. The remaining fifteen minutes are the planned checking reserve.
Convert those elapsed milestones to clock times only after confirming the actual start time. If writing begins at 10:00, the example milestones are 10:42, 11:13:30 and 11:45, finishing at 12:00. Use whatever clock or timing method is permitted rather than bringing an unauthorized device into the venue.
Choose questions by coverage and evidence
When selection is allowed, compare the task words, subparts and evidence each question demands. Recognizing a topic heading does not mean you can answer the complete question. A short permitted planning step can identify whether you have enough relevant material for every part of a proposed answer.
Try an optional-question practice paper before the exam and record how long selection takes. If that time must come out of the writing period, budget it explicitly. For instance, reserving five minutes for selection as well as fifteen for checking leaves 100 working minutes, changing the proportional rate to one minute per required mark.
Respond to a missed checkpoint deliberately
If a thirty-mark answer takes forty minutes instead of its 31.5-minute allowance, the overrun is 8.5 minutes. Continuing without changing the plan does not restore that time. Review what remains, identify essential unfinished parts and decide how to use the reduced budget within the paper’s instructions.
The proportional schedule is a starting framework, not an instruction to abandon a sentence at an arbitrary second. Different question formats may need different planning or calculation effort. Preserve awareness of the whole paper, and avoid repeatedly taking time from an untouched compulsory section because the current question feels almost finished.
Use the final reserve for a defined review
Checking time is more useful when you know what to check: unanswered subparts, omitted units, answer numbering, inconsistent signs, unsupported claims or a missed instruction. The appropriate list depends on the subject and assessment format. It is not simply fifteen minutes to reread every word without a purpose.
After practice, compare each allocation with the time actually used and the marks lost through omissions. Revise the plan using that evidence. Optional-question pacing works best when selection rules, required marks and the available writing period are all correct before the first division is performed.
Frequently asked questions
Should optional questions count in total marks?
Count the marks for the required answer combination, not every question offered. Follow the paper’s compulsory and optional section rules.
Can I use reading time to write a plan?
Only if the actual exam rules permit it. Reading-time restrictions differ, so check the cover sheet and supervisor instructions.
Must equal-mark questions receive exactly equal time?
Not necessarily. Proportional timing is a starting budget. Practice can reveal different planning needs, but any change must still fit the whole paper.