United States
Hong KongRunning out of time
Time runs out when lookups take minutes instead of seconds. The fixes are tabbing, knowing which book answers which category, and a two-pass strategy that banks known answers before any book is opened.
The characteristic failure of this exam, and it happens to people who knew the material.
How it happens
You start at question one and work forward. Question three needs a lookup and takes four minutes. So does question seven, and question eleven.
By question forty you have used two hours. There are eighty-five questions left and three and a half hours, and now every decision is made under pressure.
The three causes
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Untabbed or coarsely tabbed books | Tab to provisions, built from practice questions |
| Not knowing which book answers a category | Build and learn the category-to-book map |
| Working strictly in order | Two passes: knowledge first, lookups second |
It converts an unknown into a known. After the first pass you have banked fifty to seventy marks and you know exactly how many minutes each remaining lookup can have. Working in order, you find that out by running out.
Triage matters too
Not every lookup is worth attempting. With 34 wrong answers available, abandoning three questions in a category worth four is a rational trade.
What is not rational is spending five minutes on each of them to discover you cannot find the answer.
Rehearse the full length
Five and a half hours is a long time to concentrate. A candidate who has never sat more than an hour of practice discovers their attention fails at question ninety. Bank what you know.
Two full timed mocks fix that, and nothing else does.
The last ten minutes
Stop working and fill every blank. No penalty for a wrong answer means an unanswered question is a mark given away.
Common questions
Why do people run out of time on the NASCLA exam?
Because lookups take minutes rather than seconds, usually from untabbed books or not knowing which book to open.
What is the biggest single fix?
The two-pass strategy. Bank everything you know first, then work lookups with a known amount of time remaining.
Should I attempt every lookup?
No. With 34 wrong answers available, abandoning a few in small categories is rational.
How do I build stamina?
Two full timed mocks. Nothing shorter prepares you for five and a half hours of concentration.
What should I do at the end?
Stop working ten minutes out and fill every blank, since a blank scores the same as a wrong answer.