United States
Hong KongSeventy-three seconds
At 73 seconds a question the budget is not evenly spendable. Recall questions should be answered in well under it so that calculation questions can take two or three times as long.
An average is not a plan. Seventy-three seconds is what you have on average, and no question takes the average.
The real distribution
| Question type | Realistic time | Share of the paper |
|---|---|---|
| Recall: a drug class, an indication, a storage rule | 20 to 40 seconds | Most of Medications, 28 items |
| Applied: a duplication, an intervention, an error type | 60 to 90 seconds | Much of Patient Safety, 19 items |
| Lookup-style federal rules | 30 to 60 seconds | Federal Requirements, 15 items |
| Calculations | 90 to 150 seconds | The largest part of Order Entry, 18 items |
Read that table as a budget rather than a description. The fast questions have to be fast to fund the slow ones.
Where the paper is lost
A candidate who spends 70 seconds deliberating over a drug class they half-know has spent a calculation's worth of time and gained nothing, because a half-known class question is rarely rescued by thinking harder. Answering it in 25 seconds and moving on is worth more than the mark it might have won.
The two-pass approach
- First pass: answer everything you know quickly and flag anything needing work. Do not start a calculation you cannot see the end of
- Second pass: the flagged questions, in ascending order of difficulty
- Never leave a question blank. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, only for an unanswered one
Checkpoints
At the halfway point of the time you should be past the halfway point of the paper, because the first pass is faster than the second. Forty-five questions answered with 55 minutes gone means you are behind, not level.
That is the single most useful thing to know before you sit down.
What to do when you are behind
Stop calculating. Answer every remaining recall question first, then return to arithmetic with whatever is left.
A calculation question and a recall question are worth the same mark. Spending three minutes securing one while three others go unanswered is the arithmetic that actually decides the result.
Common questions
How should I pace the PTCE?
Answer recall questions in well under 73 seconds so calculations can take two or three times as long.
Where do candidates lose time?
Deliberating over half-known recall questions, which rarely improve with more thinking.
What is a good halfway checkpoint?
You should be past halfway on questions when half the time has gone, since the first pass is faster.
Should I ever leave a question blank?
No. There is no penalty for a wrong answer.
What if I fall behind?
Stop calculating, clear every remaining recall question, then return to the arithmetic.