Time Management

I would suggest three things:

One is obviously practice at as many questions as possible with a view to getting faster.

The second is that it is better to have all the questions partly answered, than to have some questions answered completely and other questions left out completely. You must do something for every part of every question. It is usually possible to get half the marks for a question in less than half the time, and you only need half marks to pass. If you can get half marks on every question quickly then you can then spend more time on each part and every extra mark becomes almost a bonus.

Finally, do allocate your time. Give yourself 1.8 minutes per mark and when the time for a question is up then you must move on to the next question. Again, it is better to have part finished every part of every question than to have fully finished some questions and have left other questions unanswered.

You are welcome, and good luck this time 🙂

This is hard to answer because everyone has their own ‘best’ approach, and what is best for me is not necessarily best for you (and vice versa).

However, although what you did for P3 seems very sensible (and obviously worked for you 🙂 ), for P4 I think things are a lot different.

I would actually spend very little time planning an answer. For question 1 you will almost certainly be required to write a report, and the format (i.e. a brief introduction, a brief conclusion, a discussion about the calculations, and (importantly) a section listing assumptions) is always the same and does not need planning during the exam.
For the choice questions, mostly part is getting on with the calculations required (for which is is not a question of planning) and the written parts are generally better written as short points rather than as a planned ‘essay’.

For me, most important is first to study the requirements carefully (before reading the full question), underling key words in the requirements where relevant – most of this you should be able to do in the 15 minutes reading time (during which you can write on the question paper).
For that reason I would allocate 1.8 minutes a mark during the exam, not just for each question, but for each part of each question.

It is far more important to have something done for every part of every question (even if none of the parts are completely finished because of getting stuck or running out of time) than finishing some completely but leaving others not attempted.

Provided you start each part of each question on a new page (and head up the page clearly as to which part of which question is being attempted), then if you have time left at the end you can always go back and be able to add more neatly to what you have already done.

That is the way I have always approached the P4 types of exams (although again, I do appreciate that what is best for me might not necessarily be best for you).

You are welcome 🙂