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Hong KongPacing the three multiple-choice subtests
Three subtests, three clocks. English Language Skills gives 1.33 minutes a question, Reading 1.83 and Mathematics 2.86, on our arithmetic from FLDOE's published counts and times. Set a checkpoint at the halfway item of each and correct there, not at the end.
One number will not pace this test. FLDOE publishes an item count and a time limit for each subtest, and dividing one by the other gives three figures that are nothing like each other.
The three clocks
| Subtest | Items | Minutes | Minutes each (ours) | Halfway checkpoint (ours) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Skills (826) | 30 | 40 | 1.33 | item 15 at 20 minutes |
| Reading (827) | 30 | 55 | 1.83 | item 15 at just under 28 minutes |
| Mathematics (828) | 35 | 100 | 2.86 | item 17 at 50 minutes |
The item counts and the minutes come from FLDOE's Test Structure document. The two right-hand columns are ours - simple division, but almost nobody publishes it, and the gap between the tightest and the loosest column is more than a minute and a half a question.
That gap is the whole reason this page exists. We have written separately about what a spread that size does to a candidate who trained on one clock. This page is the operating instructions.
One checkpoint per subtest, at the halfway item
Not four checkpoints. One. Checking the clock repeatedly costs attention and produces small panicked adjustments that mostly make things worse.
At the halfway item of each subtest, look once. If you are inside the figure in the table, ignore the clock entirely for the rest of the subtest. If you are behind, you have a real problem with about half the paper left to solve it in, which is exactly enough.
English Language Skills is the one that catches people
Eighty seconds an item, and the items are short. That sounds comfortable and it is not, because a convention item you cannot resolve on the first read tends to swallow three minutes while you try each option aloud in your head.
Two rules here, and they matter more than anything else on this page. Never spend more than about two minutes on a single English Language Skills item. And when two options both sound right, that is your signal to mark it and move, because the ear is not going to settle it on the fourth reading either.
The published first-attempt pass rate for this subtest is 68%, the lowest of the three, and the clock is part of why.
Reading's clock is spent on passages, not on items
1.83 minutes an item is misleading, because a large slice of Reading's 55 minutes goes on reading rather than answering. Our bank deals five items per passage, which is the shape the subtest uses, so 30 items is six passage blocks and each block gets a little over 9 minutes including the reading.
Budget by block, not by item. Read the passage once and properly, then take its items in order. The way candidates lose Reading is not by answering slowly, it is by re-reading the passage three times because they read it inattentively the first time.
Mathematics has more time than you think
2.86 minutes an item is generous, and the people who most need to know that are the ones least likely to believe it. If mathematics is your weak subtest, the instinct is to rush, and rushing is what produces the one-step-short errors this subtest is built to catch.
Use the room. Estimate the size of the answer before computing. Re-read the last clause of the stem after computing. Both habits cost seconds you demonstrably have.
195 minutes is the three multiple-choice subtests. The essay adds 50 more, and a candidate sitting all four in one appointment books 245 minutes plus a scheduled 15-minute break. If you are sitting everything in one session, the fatigue is a pacing problem in its own right.
If you are behind at the checkpoint
- Answer the item you are on. Do not abandon work you have already paid for
- Then take the remaining items in order and cap each one hard: about ninety seconds in English Language Skills and Reading, about two minutes in Mathematics
- Anything that hits the cap gets your best remaining option and a mark, not a blank
- Come back only if the clock genuinely allows it, and expect that it will not
Nothing in the documents we hold describes a deduction for a wrong answer, and the passing standard is published as a percentage of correct answers, so an unanswered item and a wrong one look the same on your score. A guess is strictly better than a blank.
Practice each subtest on its own timer
This is the practical consequence of the whole page and it is the thing candidates most often get wrong. Running one rolling timer across a mixed practice session trains an average pace of roughly two minutes an item, which is too slow for English Language Skills and wastefully fast for Mathematics.
Separate sessions, separate clocks. The pace you want is muscle memory by the time you sit, and you cannot build three different ones at once.
Common questions
How long do I get per question on the FTCE General Knowledge Test?
It depends which subtest. English Language Skills gives 1.33 minutes an item, Reading 1.83 and Mathematics 2.86. Those figures are ours, from dividing FLDOE's published item counts by its published time limits.
How long is the whole FTCE General Knowledge Test?
195 minutes for the three multiple-choice subtests: 40 for English Language Skills, 55 for Reading, 100 for Mathematics. Adding the 50-minute essay makes 245, and a candidate sitting all four in one appointment also gets a scheduled 15-minute break.
Which FTCE subtest has the tightest time limit?
English Language Skills, at about eighty seconds an item on our arithmetic. It is also the multiple-choice subtest with the lowest published first-attempt pass rate at 68%, and candidates routinely underestimate it because the items look short.
Should I check the clock during an FTCE subtest?
Once, at the halfway item. Item 15 at 20 minutes in English Language Skills, item 15 at just under 28 minutes in Reading, item 17 at 50 minutes in Mathematics. Repeated clock-watching costs attention and produces panicked adjustments.
Is it better to guess or leave a question blank?
Guess. Nothing in Rule 6A-4.0021 or the Test Structure document describes a deduction for a wrong answer, and the passing standard is published as a percentage of correct answers, so a blank and a wrong answer score the same.