Reading Comprehension Under Time Pressure
A candidate has 25 minutes left in the English section and 20 questions remaining. The questions are a mix of grammar, vocabulary, and two long reading passages with 4 questions each. The candidate reads slowly and has spent 40 minutes on the first 15 questions. One reading passage is about river erosion and the other about a border treaty. The candidate is unsure whether to attempt the passages first, guess the grammar items, or read every question carefully and risk running out of time. Past practice shows the candidate answers grammar items correctly about 80% of the time and reading questions about 55% of the time, and each reading question takes about 3 minutes while each grammar item takes about 45 seconds.
1. Calculate the time needed for each strategy and recommend an order. Show your arithmetic.
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Twenty questions remain, of which 8 are reading (2 passages × 4) and 12 are grammar/vocabulary. Reading: 8 × 3 = 24 minutes. Grammar: 12 × 0.75 = 9 minutes. Total if all attempted carefully: 33 minutes, which exceeds the 25 available. Grammar first: 9 minutes leaves 16 minutes for reading, enough for about 5 of the 8 reading questions (5 × 3 = 15). Reading first: 24 minutes leaves 1 minute for grammar, which would force guessing 12 items. Since grammar has a higher success rate (80% vs 55%) and lower time cost, the candidate should do all 12 grammar items first in about 9 minutes, then spend about 15 minutes on 5 reading questions, and use the last minute to guess the remaining 3.
2. Explain why the higher-accuracy section should generally be attempted first, and state one condition under which that advice would change.
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Attempting the higher-accuracy, lower-cost section first maximizes expected marks per minute. Grammar yields about 0.8 correct per item at 0.75 minutes each, roughly 1.07 correct per minute; reading yields about 0.55 correct per 3 minutes, roughly 0.18 correct per minute. The gap is large, so grammar first is clearly better. The advice would change if the reading questions carried much higher marks each, or if the candidate's reading accuracy were much higher than 55%, or if the grammar items were unexpectedly long. In an exam where all questions carry equal marks, the expected-marks rule holds.