Exam Timer
Simulating the real thing
The value of an exam timer is entirely in how closely it matches the actual conditions: the real time allowance, no notes unless the real exam allows them, and — as far as you reasonably can — no pausing partway through.
Reading and planning time is easy to forget when practising alone, but it’s part of the real allowance. Building it into the timer rather than starting the clock once you begin writing gives a far more honest picture of your pace.
What to do when the timer runs out
Stop, even mid-sentence. The discomfort of stopping unfinished is exactly the information a practice run is supposed to surface — better to feel it now, with time to adjust, than for the first time on the actual day.
Afterwards, look specifically at which sections ran over and by how much, rather than only the total. That’s usually where the pacing problem actually lives, not spread evenly across the whole paper.
Questions people ask
Should I include reading time in the timer, or start it once I begin writing?
Include it, if the real exam does. Practising without it tends to make your practice pace look better than your actual exam pace will be.
What if I consistently run out of time on the same section?
That’s more useful information than a slower overall time — it points at exactly where to focus practice, rather than treating the whole paper as equally weak.