The art of timing

 9:00 a.m. Outside the exam room.

 

Your heart wants to explode, beating 200 times a minute.

 

You did the most revision you could do. You set 69 alarms to make sure you wouldn’t rush to school. You’ve prayed 420 times in the last hour, hoping to get some support from the universe.

 

Ah yes, the teacher’s finally here. Opening the classroom doors so you can all settle down. The scary sound of the paper knife ripping the paper folder opening. Your fate depends on the very papers in there.

Five minutes later, you have them in front of you, quickly flipping through to look for missing pages, but slowly enough so you could attempt to peak at the actual questions.

Looks like the budget this year is a little tight. The papers are a little thinner than usual. There are smudges on every other page. “You could’ve done better, smh”

 

Being bored, you start reading the cover page for the 101th time.

2 hours, 110 marks.

 

Let’s get to the point: how to make the most of the 2 precious hours you’re given?

Pacing

At HL, you should be working at 55 marks per hour. At SL, 53 marks per hour.

This does not mean all marks are created equally.

 

Section A

Half of the total marks.

 

The first handful of questions should take you no more than 15 minutes if you’re well prepared.

Finding the equation of a tangent? Easy. Calculating the mean, mode, median and range? Simple.

Even a baby can do that.

 

At SL, aim to get the first 4-5 questions out of the way in 15 minutes. You can do this.

If you grind my survival papers, they should really be a piece of cake.

 

At HL, aim to get the first 4-5 questions out of the way in 15 minutes. Yes, I repeated the wording on purpose. The first few questions on AAHL are actually AASL questions. And if the SL kiddos could smash em, what a shame if you’re struggling.

 

NOW we start talkin’.

It’s harder and harder to get marks on section A. It’s designed like that.

Should you power through or go straight to section B?

 

Here’s my honest advice: for the remaining section A questions, ask yourself: “could I figure out how to do this question in 30 seconds.” If yes, duh. Why are you looking at me, GO FOR IT. Otherwise, go on to the next one. And once you hit the end of section A, doing everything you could do, it’s time to move on to section B.

 

 

Section B

Slightly more than half of the total marks. 3-4 questions.

 

Longer questions, multiple parts. BUT the difficulty ramp resets every question.

The first part (or parts) always tries to lure you in. Inviting you to have a go at them. Chances are the last section A questions are harder than the first part of the first question in section B.

 

If you hit a roadblock and you don’t know where to go next, moving on to the next question is not a bad move.

 

Keep an eye on the clock. Allow yourself at least 15 minutes per section B question. Don’t send the easy marks at the end of the exam down the drain!

 

If you’re well prepared I don’t think you’ll run out of time. But success in examinations is more than just your maths skills. It’s timing. It’s strategy. It’s making sure you have some calories to burn. It’s the good night’s sleep. Be prepared, but don’t sacrifice your sleep. Not worth it.

  

Bref, here’s my prediction of the difficulty curve. Partially inspired by AQA’s document on difficulty of exams, adapted to you guys. Proudly supported by MS Paint.

 

I hope summer’s already started for y’all. But for the unfortunate souls who have their mocks in September, hopefully this will come in handy.

 

Peace!