Time management on exam day

Kwame's first timed practice set does not go well. He answers the first thirty questions in twenty minutes, feels confident, then spends nine minutes on a single multiple-response question about support plans, panics, and finishes with five questions unanswered. His score is lower than his untimed diagnostic, even though he knows more now. Gwen is not surprised. "Time is a skill," she says. "You have plenty of it on this exam, but only if you spend it on purpose." This lesson covers booking and the rules of the day, and then builds a timing plan for the 90 minutes.

Booking the exam

You book through your AWS Certification account, which connects to Pearson VUE, the delivery partner. You choose either a testing centre or online proctoring, a date, and a time. Make sure the name in your certification account matches your government-issued identification exactly; a mismatch can mean you are turned away and lose the fee. Book early enough to get the slot you want, particularly for testing centres, and read the confirmation email for the rules that apply to your appointment. AWS allows rescheduling and cancellation up to a deadline before the appointment; check the current policy when you book, because late changes may forfeit the fee. Candidates whose first language is not English can request extra time through an accommodation in their account before booking, and accommodations for disabilities are also available on request.

Mateo has chosen a testing centre in Calgary because he does not trust the clinic group's home internet connections and wants a quiet room. Kwame has chosen online proctoring from home because the nearest testing centre is a long drive and he has a quiet study with a good connection. Both choices are reasonable; the right one depends on your situation.

The rules of the day

AWS's policies, checked for this course in November 2026, say that scheduled breaks are not configured for AWS certification exams. At a testing centre you may take an unscheduled break, but the exam timer keeps running, you cannot leave the building, and you must repeat check-in to return. For online and kiosk exams, no breaks are permitted at all: you cannot stand up or leave the camera's view for any reason. Plan accordingly: use the washroom before you start, have water if the rules allow it, and treat the 90 minutes as one continuous session.

For online exams, prepare the room and the computer the day before. Run the system test that Pearson VUE provides on the computer and network you will use. Clear the desk and the area around it; no notes, phones, second monitors or other people. Close other applications. Have your identification ready. Arrive at the check-in window early, because the check-in steps take time. If your connection drops, the proctor will try to reconnect you; contact support if they cannot. Kwame plans a full rehearsal in his study a week before the exam, at the same time of day as his appointment.

How the exam screen works

The exam interface shows one question at a time. AWS's policies note a Flag for Review button that marks a question for later, and you can move to the next or previous question at any time unless the exam tells you otherwise. Before you finish, a review screen lets you see all questions, incomplete ones, or flagged ones. You can leave comments on questions, but comments use exam time, so AWS recommends flagging and commenting after you have answered everything. Use the flag freely: it is the key to the timing plan below.

A timing plan for 90 minutes

Gwen's plan has three parts: a per-question cap, checkpoints, and a review reserve. With 65 questions in 90 minutes, the average is about 83 seconds per question. Keep a reserve of 15 minutes at the end for review, which leaves about 69 seconds per question on the first pass. Set a soft cap of about two minutes on any single question: if you reach it, choose your best answer, flag the question, and move on. Never leave a question blank while you move on; an answered and flagged question is safe if time runs out, a blank one is not.

Checkpoints tell you whether you are on track without watching the clock constantly. Gwen suggests three: question 22 by about minute 25, question 44 by about minute 50, and question 65 by about minute 75, leaving 15 minutes for review. If you are ahead at a checkpoint, relax. If you are behind, speed up by moving on from hard questions sooner, not by reading less carefully.

# Checkpoints for 65 questions in 90 minutes with a review reserve
questions, minutes, reserve = 65, 90, 15
pace = (minutes - reserve) / questions   # minutes per question on the first pass
for q in (22, 44, 65):
    print("Question", q, "by about minute", round(q * pace))
print("Seconds per question on first pass:", round(pace * 60))

Question 22 by about minute 25
Question 44 by about minute 51
Question 65 by about minute 75
Seconds per question on first pass: 69

The calculation shows the checkpoints for the 15-minute reserve. Some candidates prefer a smaller reserve, such as 10 minutes, which gives about 74 seconds per question on the first pass; the important thing is to decide in advance and practise with the same plan, so that exam day feels familiar.

Using the review reserve

When you reach the end of the first pass, open the review screen and filter for flagged questions. Work through them in order. For each, reread the question as if for the first time, using the four-part routine from lesson 2. Change an answer only if you can say why the new answer is better: you noticed a constraint you missed, or you remembered a fact. Research on multiple-choice tests suggests that considered changes are more often from wrong to right than the reverse, but changes made from vague unease are coin tosses. If you have time left after the flagged questions, check that no question is unanswered, then review any you remember as tricky.

Rehearsing the plan before the day

A timing plan only works if it is familiar. Gwen asks both candidates to use the same plan on every full practice set from now on: the same soft cap, the same checkpoints, the same review reserve. The first time, it will feel awkward to leave a question you have not finished thinking about. By the third practice set, flagging and moving on should feel normal, and the checkpoints should come round without surprise. If a practice set shows you are consistently far ahead or behind at the checkpoints, adjust the plan then, not on exam day.

Rehearse the setting too. Mateo plans to take one practice set at a public library desk with headphones off and his phone in a locker, to get used to working without his usual comforts. Kwame plans to take one at the same time of day as his booked exam, in the same room, on the same computer, after running the Pearson VUE system test, so that nothing about the real day is new. Both plan to practise with water only, no snacks and no breaks, because that is what the exam allows.

Practise the first five minutes in particular. Nerves are strongest at the start, and a shaky first few questions can unsettle the whole session. Gwen suggests a short routine for the opening: read the on-screen instructions calmly, note the start time on the whiteboard or noteboard if one is provided, take one slow breath, and read the first question with the four-part routine even if it looks easy. Starting deliberately sets the pace for the rest of the exam.

Plan for the unexpected as well. If a testing centre runs late, the clock does not start until your exam does, so stay calm. If an online session has a technical problem, follow the proctor's instructions and contact Pearson VUE support if the session cannot resume; do not try to fix things by leaving the camera's view. If you feel unwell during an exam, tell the proctor. Knowing in advance what you will do if something goes wrong takes much of the fear out of it, and fear is what wastes time.

Kwame writes his plan on a single card: "69 seconds. Two-minute cap: answer, flag, move. Q22 at 25, Q44 at 50, Q65 at 75. Fifteen minutes for flags. No blanks." He reads it before every practice set and plans to read it again in the car park, or in his case the kitchen, before check-in.

After the session, Mateo works through the arithmetic one more time on paper so he can do it without a calculator: 90 minutes minus 15 for review leaves 75; 75 divided by 65 is a little over one minute each. Two minutes is about twice the average, which is why it works as a cap: one long question costs roughly the time of one extra question, not five. If he is ever unsure of the plan in the exam, that single comparison is enough to keep him moving.

Gwen adds a word on nerves. Most candidates feel a jolt of anxiety on the first few questions, which often seem harder than they are. Expect it, take a slow breath, and use the reading routine. If a question makes no sense at all, it may be one of the unscored questions AWS is trialling; answer it, flag it if you like, and move on without letting it shake you. Your score depends on the 50 scored questions, and you cannot tell which they are, so treat every question calmly and the same.