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Exam Timer
Choose the length of the paper, put the countdown on full screen and press Start when writing begins.
1 hour
Spacestart / pauseRresetFfull screen+ −add or remove a minute0–9type a time
Time per question by exam length
| Exam length | 20 questions | 40 questions | 50 questions | Keep for checking (10%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 1 min 30 s | 45 s | 36 s | 3 min |
| 45 min | 2 min 15 s | About 1 min 7 s | 54 s | 4½ min |
| 1 hour | 3 min | 1 min 30 s | 1 min 12 s | 6 min |
| 1½ hours | 4 min 30 s | 2 min 15 s | 1 min 48 s | 9 min |
| 2 hours | 6 min | 3 min | 2 min 24 s | 12 min |
| 3 hours | 9 min | 4 min 30 s | 3 min 36 s | 18 min |
Per-question times divide the whole exam evenly, before any checking time is set aside. They assume questions of equal weight; where marks differ, divide by marks instead.
How to use it
- Tap the length of the exam. For any other duration, including extra-time allowances, set hours and minutes with the steppers.
- For a quiet room, set the alarm sound to Silent so the screen flashes at the end and nothing rings.
- Press the full-screen button and put the page on the projector or a large monitor. The display shows the time left and an “Ends at” clock time.
- Press Start when you tell the room to begin. Write the start and finish times on the board as a backup.
Running a test with the clock on the wall
A visible exam clock ends the stream of “how long is left” questions and treats every candidate the same. Announce the start and end times aloud, write both on the board, and then say as little as possible. Give the 15-minute and 5-minute warnings yourself, in a calm voice: the timer does not speak, and a warning from the invigilator is what exam rooms expect.
Students with an extra-time accommodation need their own finish time. Twenty-five percent extra on a 1-hour paper is 75 minutes; fifty percent extra is 90 minutes, which is the 1½ hours chip. If they sit in the same room, write their end time on the board too, or run a second device for them.
Pacing a paper by marks
For students, the most useful sum in any exam is minutes per mark: total minutes divided by total marks. Hold back about 10% of the time for checking first. A 90-minute paper worth 60 marks leaves 81 working minutes, about 1 minute 20 seconds a mark, so a 6-mark question deserves roughly 8 minutes and no more.
Practice under real timing. Sitting a past paper with a countdown running shows you where the minutes go, which no amount of untimed revision will. When a question stalls, mark it, move on and come back. The marks at the end of the paper are worth as much as the ones you are stuck on.
Common mistakes
- Starting the countdown before papers are handed out. Start it on the word “begin”, so the clock and the announced end time agree.
- Leaving a ringing alarm on in an exam hall. Use Silent for the room and end the exam with your own voice.
- Relying on the screen alone. A laptop can lose power or the projector can sleep; the end time written on the board does not.
- As a student, spending a third of the exam on the first question. Work out the minutes per mark before you write a word.
- Practicing only without a clock. Knowing the material and producing it in 60 minutes are different skills.
Questions people ask
How do I work out how much time to spend on each exam question?
Divide the minutes by the marks, after setting aside about 10% for checking. In a 2-hour, 100-mark paper that is 108 working minutes, a little over a minute per mark, so a 10-mark question gets about 11 minutes.
How do I set extra time for a student?
Multiply the exam length by the allowance and set the result with the steppers. For a 1-hour test, 25% extra is 75 minutes and 50% extra is 90 minutes. For a 2-hour paper, 25% extra is 2 hours 30 minutes.
Can the exam countdown timer run silently?
Yes. Choose Silent in the alarm sound list and the screen flashes when the time is up, with no sound. The remaining minutes are announced to screen readers only, so nobody else in the room hears anything.
Does it give a 5-minute warning?
No spoken or sounded warning. The clock is in view the whole time, and the invigilator should announce the 15-minute and 5-minute marks aloud.
Can I use it as a practice test timer at home?
Yes, and that is one of its best uses. Set the real length of the paper, put your phone in another room, and do not pause. Afterwards, note which questions ran over their share of the time.