Open-Book Exam Strategy: How to Manage 4 Hours of Test Time

The math of an open-book exam

TDLR Journeyman: 80 questions in 4 hours = 3 minutes per question average.

California General Electrician: 100 questions in 4.5 hours = 2.7 minutes per question average.

Three minutes sounds like enough. Until you spend 8 minutes on question 4 because the calculation is unfamiliar. Suddenly question 80 has 90 seconds.

The wave-pass method

Don’t answer questions in order. Answer them in priority order. Five passes, each one targeting a different category.

Pass 1: Know-it answers (30-40 minutes)

Read every question. Answer the ones where you know the answer without opening the book. Mark the rest. Goal: 30-50 questions answered, 30-50 marked.

Why this works: Easy points first means you bank them before fatigue or panic affect judgment. You’ve also seen every question, so the marked ones don’t surprise you on pass 2.

Pass 2: Think-it answers (45-60 minutes)

Loop back. Questions where you have a hypothesis but want to verify with the book. Quick lookups only, under 90 seconds per question. If you can’t verify in 90 seconds, mark it again and move on.

Pass 3: Calculations (45-60 minutes)

All the math at once. Voltage drop, conduit fill, motor sizing, box fill, dwelling load. Doing calculations one-at-a-time scattered through the exam wastes mental energy switching context between code lookups and math.

Pass 4: Deep lookups (45 minutes)

The hard questions. Use what time remains. Budget 2-3 minutes per question. If you have less, guess and move.

Pass 5: Review (15 minutes)

Catch obvious errors. Make sure no question is blank. Unanswered scores zero. A guess scores 25%.

The 90-second rule

If a question takes longer than 90 seconds in the verification phase, the question is fighting you. Mark it, guess, move on. The cost of 90 extra seconds on one question is one less minute on the next ten. Time spent fighting one trap question is time stolen from ten clean ones.

The questions to skip first

Some question types deserve to be marked-and-moved before others:

• Multi-step calculations with unclear setup. Skip on first read; come back fresh on pass 3.
• Long word problems with multiple conditions. The reading time alone eats into your budget.
• Questions referencing rare articles (hazardous locations, special occupancies). Low yield, high cost.
• Questions with answer choices that look almost identical. The differentiation is the trick. Needs full attention, not partial.

What to do when you panic

If at the 90-minute mark you realize you’re behind pace, don’t speed up. Tighten the wave passes. Skip pass 2 on questions that need more than a 60-second verification. Bank guesses on the remaining questions to ensure none are blank, then circle back. The exam grades correct answers, not effort. Get every blank filled with a hypothesis before time expires.