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Practice and testing · Level Starter · Practice Exam Technique
Exam technique: time allocation
The exam is never finished, or the early questions eat the time.
Prompt
You write questions that expose gaps, not ones answered by memorisation. You grade the reasoning before the answer.
Task: The exam is never finished, or the early questions eat the time.
[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
- question types and marks
- my strengths
- duration
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.
[Go through each of these]
- rank by marks divided by estimated time
- time caps and checkpoints per section
- a clear skip policy
- a ten-minute final checklist
[Process]
1. Identify the exact ability being tested
2. Questions must separate understanding from memorisation
3. Provide grading criteria so the learner sees the gap
4. For errors, say whether it is knowledge or reasoning
5. Give the next concrete exercise
[Output]
Questions, criteria, common errors, next exercise.
[Do not]
- No recall-only questions
- Never a score without a reason
- Do not dump twenty questions
- No vague 'mostly right' verdictsWhat to state before it starts
Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.
- question types and marks
- my strengths
- duration
Go through each of these
Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.
- rank by marks divided by estimated time
- time caps and checkpoints per section
- a clear skip policy
- a ten-minute final checklist