How topnotchers budget 100 questions in two hours

A two-hour, 100-item board block gives you about 72 seconds per question. The mistake most reviewees make is spending that time evenly, so a handful of hard items quietly steal the easy points waiting at the end of the set.

Watch what actually happens in a testing room. A reviewee hits item 14, a long situational question with two answers that both look right. They read it four times, argue with themselves, and finally pick one after five minutes. That is four easy questions somewhere else in the booklet they now have to rush. The hard item was worth exactly one point; the rush costs three or four.

The habit that separates passers from re-takers is triage. On the first pass, answer everything you know cold and flag anything that makes you pause for more than a few seconds. Bank the certain points first, then spend your remaining time on the flagged items with a clear conscience.

A simple pass plan for a 100-item block: first pass, 60 to 70 minutes, answer the sure ones and flag the rest. Second pass, 30 to 40 minutes, work the flagged items with real attention, starting with the subjects that carry more weight. Final minutes, sweep the sheet for blanks and misreads. Never leave a blank; there is no penalty for a wrong guess, and a blank is a guaranteed zero.

Pacing also protects your judgment. Deciding under mild time pressure on every item is far better than deciding in panic on the last twenty. Panic is where reviewees change right answers to wrong ones.

Practice this under a real timer, not just untimed drills. CrimForge mock exams use the same weighting and the 75% rule, so pacing becomes a reflex before exam day, not a surprise on it.