Allocating effort means deciding, before you start, how your time and words will be shared between the tasks, using what the paper actually says. The numbers in this lesson are practice examples, not the timings of a real paper.
This lesson sits in timed reading and writing and follows planning a response. The skill is about being accurate with the instructions, then letting the marks guide your time.
How do I find the task requirements?
Before any timed practice, collect these facts from the paper you are using.
- The number of tasks and what each one asks you to produce.
- The marks for each task.
- Any length guidance printed in the task.
- The total time for the sitting or practice.
- Whether a task needs you to read a text first.
For the real exam, these facts belong to your exam year, so check them through the English First Language learning guide, which points you to the official syllabus, and on a current specimen paper. If a detail is not printed, ask your teacher or exam centre instead of assuming.
Worked example
Practice set (original): 40 minutes in total. Task A is reading and is worth 20 marks. Task B is writing and is worth 30 marks. You want to keep 5 minutes at the end for a final check.
Step 1, reserve the check. 40 − 5 = 35 minutes of working time.
Step 2, total marks. 20 + 30 = 50 marks.
Step 3, time per mark. 35 ÷ 50 = 0.7 minutes per mark.
Step 4, share the time.
| Task | Marks | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| A reading | 20 | 20 × 0.7 = 14 |
| B writing | 30 | 30 × 0.7 = 21 |
Step 5, verify. 14 + 21 = 35, and 35 + 5 = 40. The plan uses the whole session.
Step 6, adjust for the work inside each task. Task B should include two or three minutes of planning from those 21 minutes, so you would draft for about 18 and leave space to finish the ending.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is to split time equally because the tasks look the same size on the page.
Mistaken plan: 40 minutes ÷ 2 = 20 minutes each, with no check time.
Task A gets 20 minutes for 20 marks, while Task B gets only 20 minutes for 30 marks. The writing is the larger task and it is squeezed, and nothing is left for checking.
The correction is to reserve the check first, then share the rest by marks. If one task plainly needs more thinking per mark, such as a long text to read, adjust by a minute or two and write your new numbers down.
Check yourself
1. A practice sitting lasts 60 minutes. Task A is worth 10 marks, Task B is worth 20 marks. Keep 6 minutes for checking. How long should each task get?
Show answer
Working time is 60 − 6 = 54 minutes. Total marks are 30, so 54 ÷ 30 = 1.8 minutes per mark. Task A: 10 × 1.8 = 18 minutes. Task B: 20 × 1.8 = 36 minutes. Check: 18 + 36 + 6 = 60.
2. A 45-minute practice has three tasks worth 10, 15 and 20 marks. Keep 9 minutes for checking. Give the minutes for each task.
Show answer
Working time is 36 minutes and total marks are 45, so each mark gets 36 ÷ 45 = 0.8 minutes. The tasks get 8, 12 and 16 minutes. Check: 8 + 12 + 16 = 36, and 36 + 9 = 45.
3. Your teacher gives you a practice paper with no mark totals printed. What should you do before timing yourself?
Show answer
Ask your teacher what the marks and time would be, or use a past or specimen paper that shows them. Do not invent weights, because a plan built on invented numbers trains the wrong habit.
Where this leads next
The next lesson deals with what to do when a paragraph drifts: recover when a paragraph goes off-topic. Try the timed reading and writing practice set with a stopwatch, and use the summary selection and paraphrase studio to practise choosing what to read closely.
Timing is a skill that improves fastest when someone watches it happen. That is one of the things our teachers do in online one-to-one English First Language tuition.