United States
Hong KongTiming 125 questions in 330 minutes
You have about 158 seconds a question. Take a first pass on everything answerable without a book, then work the lookups with a known amount of time remaining.
Five and a half hours sounds like plenty until you spend four minutes on a lookup.
The arithmetic
330 minutes across 125 questions is about 158 seconds each. Comfortable on average and useless as a plan, because the variance is enormous.
| Question type | Realistic time |
|---|---|
| Answerable from knowledge | 20 to 40 seconds |
| Lookup in a well-tabbed book | 45 to 90 seconds |
| Lookup in an untabbed book | 3 to 5 minutes |
| Calculation | 2 to 4 minutes |
How that compares with other licensing exams
The NASCLA paper gives more time per question than any other exam in this catalog, and candidates still run out.
| Examination | Questions | Minutes | Minutes per question |
|---|---|---|---|
| PTCB PTCE | 90 | 110 | 1.22 |
| HKSI LE Paper 1 | 60 | 90 | 1.5 |
| Certified Food Protection Manager | 80 | 120 | 1.5 |
| SAFE MLO Test | 120 | 190 | 1.58 |
| FTCE General Knowledge | 95 | 195 | 2.05 |
| CFP Exam | 170 | 360 | 2.12 |
| NASCLA Commercial General Building | 125 | 330 | 2.64 |
Each row is that awarding body’s own published question count divided by its own published time limit. Questions administered, not scored, because unscored items take time too.
At 2.64 minutes a question it is more than twice as generous as the tightest paper on the list. That is not a small margin.
Every other exam here is closed book, so its clock buys thinking time. NASCLA’s clock buys searching time, and searching is unbounded. A tabbed reference turns a three-minute hunt into a twenty-second lookup, and the difference between a candidate who tabbed and one who did not is the difference between the most generous clock in the catalog and not enough time.
Read the table the other way round and it becomes a warning: the awarding body gave you that much time because it expects you to need it.
The two-pass strategy
First pass: answer everything you know without opening anything. Mark the rest and keep moving.
A typical prepared candidate answers 50 to 70 questions in that pass, in perhaps 40 minutes. You then know exactly how many lookups remain and how many minutes each can have.
Working in order, you discover at question 90 that you are in trouble. Two passes, you know at minute 40 precisely where you stand, and you can decide which lookups to attempt rather than finding out by running out.
Checkpoints
End of first pass by minute 50. Two thirds of the lookups done by minute 240. Everything answered by minute 320, leaving ten minutes to fill blanks.
Triage the lookups
Not all are equal. A question you know is in a book you have tabbed well is worth attempting. One you have no idea where to find, in a category worth three questions, is worth a guess and a move on. Fill every blank.
With 34 wrong answers available you can afford to abandon a handful. What you cannot afford is spending five minutes each discovering that.
Answer everything
No penalty for a wrong answer. Any question left blank when time runs out is a mark given away.
Common questions
How much time per question on the NASCLA exam?
About 158 seconds on average, though lookups take far longer than questions you know.
What is the two-pass strategy?
Answer everything you know without opening a book first, then work the lookups knowing exactly how much time remains.
How many questions can I answer without a lookup?
A prepared candidate typically manages 50 to 70 in the first pass, in around 40 minutes.
Should I attempt every lookup?
No. Triage them. With 34 wrong answers available you can abandon a few in small categories rather than spending five minutes each.
What if I run out of time?
Fill every blank before the clock stops. There is no penalty for a wrong answer.