External Examination: Time Allocation in the Written Paper
In a timed external written examination, a student, Maria, has 130 minutes. The paper has three parts: a listening section (about 20 minutes of audio, played twice, with questions), a reading section with two texts and short-answer questions, and a writing section requiring one 250-word text in Greek chosen from two options. Maria typically spends too long on reading, writes excellent but overlong answers, and has twice run out of time before finishing her composition. In practice she wrote 400 words for a 250-word task and lost marks for relevance and task completion, not language. She reads slowly in Greek but her listening is strong.
1. Propose a minute-by-minute time budget and justify it against Maria's known weaknesses.
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A workable budget: listening ~35 minutes (the audio itself plus answering, since it is played twice and she is strong here - she should not bank time she cannot recover); reading ~35 minutes; writing ~50 minutes; 10 minutes reserve for checking and transferring answers. The reading cap is essential because it is her overrun risk; she should set a per-text limit of about 15 minutes and move on with unanswered items flagged. Writing gets the largest single block because it carries the most marks and she has previously failed to finish. The reserve protects against the overlong-answer habit. She should practise with a visible timer so the budget becomes automatic before the exam.
2. How should Maria change her writing behaviour to avoid the 400-word overrun?
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She should plan for two minutes: identify the text type, audience, purpose, and required content points, then allocate roughly 40 words per content point. She should write to the task's specified length and stop, because exceeding it risks relevance penalties and consumes checking time. A practical rule: draft the required content points first, then add one linking sentence per point, then stop. She should rehearse this on two timed practice compositions and compare word counts. The goal is task completion and relevance, not maximum length; her language is already strong, so extra length adds risk without marks.
3. Her reading is slow. What is the best strategy given she cannot change her reading speed in the exam?
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She should read strategically rather than fully. First skim the questions to know what information is needed, then scan each text for the relevant sections, using headings, cognates, and discourse markers to locate answers. She should answer in her own words only where required and keep answers concise. For items she cannot resolve within the per-text limit, she should mark a best attempt and move on, returning only in the reserve time. This protects the writing block, where her marks are most at risk, and accepts that perfect reading comprehension is not worth sacrificing the composition.