How to Manage Time During WAEC & NECO Examinations

Understand advantages of Time Management in WAEC & NECO

• Improve your speed and accuracy by practicing time management, helping you complete all questions on time.
• Enhance your confidence during the exams, knowing you have a clear plan for answering each section.
• Minimize stress by ensuring you allocate enough time to each question without feeling rushed.
• Maximize your chances of scoring higher by carefully reviewing your answers with leftover time.
• Avoid skipping questions unintentionally, as proper time management ensures you attend to every section.
• Develop better exam habits that will be useful for future academic and professional assessments.

1. Read Through the Entire Question Paper First

When you Read through the entire question paper, you ; 

• Gain a clear understanding of the questions before you start answering, helping you prioritize easier ones.
• Identify questions you are more confident about, so you can tackle them first and build momentum.
• Allocate time appropriately by estimating how long each section can take, ensuring you stay on track.
• Avoid surprises by familiarizing yourself with all sections of the paper early on.
• Spot any tricky or confusing questions, giving you time to plan your approach.
• Reduce errors by clarifying instructions before you start writing, ensuring you don’t miss key details.

2. Allocate Time Per Question Wisely

Allocating time per question wisely is key to completing your WAEC or NECO exams successfully. 

Once you’ve read through the entire paper, divide your time based on the marks assigned to each question. 

Spend more time on hard & high-mark questions and less time on simpler ones. 

Ensure you stick to your time limits for each question to avoid spending too much time on one section and leaving others unanswered, if you encounter a difficult question, move on and return to it later if time permits.

Effective time management enables you to tackle more questions with precision, ultimately boosting your overall exam score.

3. Start With Questions You Are Confident About

Starting with questions you are confident about is a smart strategy for managing your time effectively during WAEC and NECO exams. 

Tackling familiar questions first helps you build momentum and boosts your confidence early in the exam. 

This approach also ensures you secure easy marks quickly, reducing the risk of running out of time before answering straightforward questions.

Additionally, completing easier sections first allows you to allocate more time to difficult questions later. 

Starting with what you know best, you can minimize exam stress, improve your focus, and increase your overall efficiency.

4. Avoid Spending Too Much Time on One Question

Avoid spending too much time on one question to ensure you complete the entire exam within the given time. 

If a question seems difficult or time-consuming, move on to other questions you can answer quickly and confidently. 

This strategy prevents you from losing valuable marks on easier questions due to poor time management. 

You can always return to challenging questions later if you have extra time. 

Spending too long on one question increases anxiety and reduces your overall performance, so it’s better to maintain a steady pace and keep track of time throughout the exam.

5. Stay Aware of Remaining Time During the Exam

Staying aware of the remaining time during the exam helps you maintain a steady pace and avoid last-minute rushes. 

Regularly check the clock or your wristwatch to ensure you are on track with your time allocation for each section. 

If you notice that time is running out, prioritize answering remaining questions quickly and accurately. 

Staying time-conscious also allows you to leave a few minutes at the end for reviewing your answers. 

By being mindful of the time, you reduce the risk of incomplete answers and improve your chances of finishing the exam confidently.

6. Review Your Answers Before Submitting

Reviewing your answers before submitting is essential to catch and correct mistakes that can have been overlooked during the initial writing. 

Use the last few minutes of the exam to carefully go through your answers, checking for errors in spelling, grammar, calculations, or missing details.

Ensure that all parts of each question have been answered correctly and that you followed any specific instructions. 

Reviewing also helps you identify and improve incomplete or unclear responses; this final check can significantly boost your overall score by ensuring accuracy and completeness in your work.

7. Maintain a Steady Pace Throughout the Exam

Maintaining a steady pace throughout the exam is key to completing all questions within the allocated time. 

Start by answering familiar questions quickly, but carefully, without rushing, stick to your planned time allocation for each question, and avoid lingering too long on any single section. 

Keeping a steady pace helps you stay calm and focused, reducing anxiety as you progress, it also ensures you have enough time for more challenging questions and a final review. 

Maintaining consistency in your approach, improves your chances of providing well-thought-out answers and finishing on time.

8. Stay Calm and Composed During the Exam

Staying calm and composed during the exam is vital for maintaining focus and clarity while answering questions. 

Nervousness can lead to mistakes or forgetting what you’ve studied, so take a moment to breathe deeply if you feel overwhelmed. 

Staying composed allows you to think more clearly, manage your time effectively, and approach difficult questions with a positive mindset. 

If you encounter a tricky question, don’t panic, move on and come back to it later. 

Keeping a calm attitude throughout the exam helps you stay in control, reduces errors, and boosts your overall performance.

9. Mark Questions to Revisit if Unsure 

Marking questions to revisit if unsure is a smart time management technique during WAEC and NECO exams. 

When you come across a question that seems difficult or unclear, don’t dwell on it for too long, mark it and move on to the next one. 

This approach ensures you don’t waste valuable time and allows you to focus on answering easier questions first. 

Once you’ve completed the rest of the paper, you can return to the marked questions with a fresh perspective. 

Revisiting marked questions also gives you an opportunity to rethink your answers and improve your chances of scoring higher.

Pro Tips for Managing Time During Exams

• Practice time management during mock exams to develop a sense of how long each section takes.
• Set specific time limits for each question or section before you begin answering.
• Break the exam into manageable parts, focusing on one section at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
• Stay flexible with your time allocation if a question turns out to be more difficult than expected.
• Leave a few minutes at the end to review your answers for errors or omissions.
• Stay calm if you fall behind; refocus and prioritize completing the remaining questions efficiently.