Practice under time pressure is a skill of its own. This exam timer gives you a clear countdown and early warnings so that you learn how long you really spend on each question.
How the warnings work
- 15 minutes left: the display turns amber and shows a message with a soft tone.
- 5 minutes left: another amber message so you can finish the section you are on.
- 1 minute left: the display turns red.
- At zero: the alarm sounds, and the overtime counter shows how long past the limit you have gone (you can switch this off under More options).
You can switch the tones off and keep just the colours, which is useful in a quiet room. Press Test sound first.
Choosing a length
The presets cover 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, 90 minutes, 2 hours and 3 hours. For anything else, type hours and minutes into the boxes. Remember to add reading time or extra time if that applies to you, as a separate step or by adding it to the total.
Practising effectively
- Simulate the real conditions. Same length, no notes, phone away, a similar time of day.
- Plan your time before you start. Use the pacing table above to set a time per question or section.
- Mark where you were when each warning appeared. If you were still on question 3 of 10 at the halfway mark, you now know where the problem is.
- Keep going into overtime once. Finishing late in practice shows you what was slow.
- Review afterwards. Note which questions took too long, and practise those under shorter time limits using the classroom timer or the 45 minute timer.
For teachers running mock exams
Project the timer in full screen at the front of the room. The amber and red states are visible from a distance. Use the share link to keep the same settings, such as 1 hour 30 minutes labelled Mock paper 1. Test it on the room's computer first, including the sound.
Minutes per mark: a pacing table
If a paper tells you how many marks it is worth, you can work out roughly how long to spend on each one. It is simple division, and it leaves no time for reading or checking, so leave a margin at the end.
| Paper length | Total marks | Time per mark |
|---|---|---|
| 60 min | 50 | 1.20 min (72 s) |
| 90 min | 60 | 1.50 min (90 s) |
| 90 min | 100 | 0.90 min (54 s) |
| 120 min | 80 | 1.50 min (90 s) |
| 180 min | 100 | 1.80 min (108 s) |
For example, a 90 minute paper worth 60 marks gives 1.5 minutes per mark: a 4-mark question is worth about 6 minutes. Reserve the last 5 to 10 minutes for checking, and watch the amber and red warnings.