How should you allocate your time in the HSC?

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According to the blurb on the front of the HSC Economics exam paper, this is how NESA thinks you should spend your time:

Don’t allocate your time this way. Source: NESA.

Don’t allocate your time this way. Source: NESA.

  • Multiple choice: 35 minutes for 20 questions

  • Short answer: 1 hour and 15 minutes for four questions

  • Essays: 35 minutes for each essay.

I always wondered why they allocated the time this way. A smart teacher told me it was just NESA equally distributing the time (3 hours) across 100 marks. 

(180 minutes divided by 100 marks gives you 1.8 minutes per mark)

But these sections are NOT of equal difficulty. I think it is very hard to get an A-range response on the essays in only 35 minutes. You need more time here, and definitely less time on the multis.

Here’s how I suggest you allocate your time:

Multiple choice (do this first)

Maximum of 20 minutes here. Maybe less? Perhaps 15 would be ideal, but 20 minutes works okay.

Short answers (do this second)

Allocate 15 minutes per 10 mark question. All up, one hour for this section.

Essays (do this last)

Give yourself 50 minutes per essay. This is a much better allocation of time to try and access higher marks.

You have to be RUTHLESS about sticking to this timeline.

When you’re doing practice papers, use this timing and resist the temptation to go over. You’re just robbing time from another section!