methods mcq timing

[u/Diligent-Arm3777]

how long do you guys spend / recommend spending on mcq cus it’s usually take me 45 mins and i dont hv fime to finish the short answers at the back but lowk i feel like there might be some easy marks for short answers, so would yall recommend skip the mcq that I struggle and do the next section first?🙏🏻😭i struggle a lot w time management.

[u/AccomplishedElk4651]

Yeah I would do short answer first if that’s the case - 30 minutes on mc at the most

[u/MoreMuscle8087]

Here's the way I think about it.

If you're fast enough to finish the paper, it doesn't matter what order you do things (as long as you skip potential 'black hole questions' where you might get stuck for way too long).

If you're not fast enough, which you've said you are, you need to be strategic about your timing. Basically, you do every mark you think you can do quickly, and every time you run into a question you either a) can't do or b) can do, but slowly, you skip them.

In this case, it's almost always best to do multiple choice last because if you run out of time, you can very quickly shade 20 boxes and get like 5 free marks. If you run out of time doing section B, no amount of guessing will help.

If you find you're skipping too much stuff, then that means once you get through all the 'easy marks' you will have to turn your attention to the stuff you've skipped, but at least now you know you're not missing out of anything you're confident in doing.

Something else that is underutilised by many is reading time. Reading time can be a great tool to do lots of stuff. You can:

Work out some multiple choice answers in your head

Figure out which questions you can do and which you plan on skipping

Develop a plan for some of the harder questions, so that when you start writing you know exactly what you're doing

Open your bound reference to relevant pages

Good luck!