Time management in the exam: using the 3 hours

The CBSE Class 10 Maths paper gives you 180 minutes for 80 marks. At 2 minutes a mark, the questions take 160 minutes and 20 are left to read and check. So the 20 one-mark questions get about 40 minutes. This plan is arithmetic from the paper's own marks, not a CBSE rule.

Is 3 hours enough for the CBSE board exam?

It is the time every student gets, so the useful question is how to spend it. The 2026-27 Maths Standard sample paper has 80 marks and 3 hours. So do the Maths Basic and Science papers.

In 2026, CBSE's Class 10 date sheet ran the Maths paper from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm. Before that, the 2026 papers gave 15 minutes to read the question paper, from 10:15, with no writing in the answer book until 10:30. The clock is fixed. What you can plan is where the minutes go.

A plan matters because marks are not spread evenly across questions. A 5-mark answer is worth five times a 1-mark one. It should get about five times the time. The 15 minutes of reading are a good moment to mark the long questions and decide which option to take in each.

How should you split 3 hours in the Maths paper?

Give each section time in line with its marks. The Maths paper has 38 questions in five sections. Here is what each section is worth.

• Section A: 20 marks. 18 multiple-choice questions and 2 assertion-reason questions, 1 mark each.
• Section B: 10 marks. 5 very short answers, 2 marks each.
• Section C: 18 marks. 6 short answers, 3 marks each.
• Section D: 20 marks. 4 long answers, 5 marks each.
• Section E: 12 marks. 3 case studies, 4 marks each.

Now do the sum. 80 marks at 2 minutes each is 160 minutes. That leaves 20 minutes, to read the paper at the start and to check at the end. Section A gets 40 minutes, B gets 20, C gets 36, D gets 40 and E gets 24. The 2026 board season, paper by paper shows how the 2026 papers were built.

Treat the numbers as a guide. Some 1-mark questions take seconds. Some take longer. What matters is that no section eats the time another section needs.

How should you attempt the CBSE Class 10 Maths paper?

Every question is compulsory, but some give you a choice. The paper has a choice in 2 questions of Section B, 2 of Section C and 2 of Section D. Each case study also has a choice in its 2-mark part.

• Choose once, then commit. Reading both options is fine. Starting both wastes time, and only one option is to be attempted.
• Number every answer as the paper does. The instructions do not ask you to answer in order. If you change the order, clear numbers help the examiner find each answer.
• Write the steps, even when time is short. Marks are given for each step. So a long answer that stops early still keeps the marks for the steps on the page.

What should you do when one question takes too long?

Move on and come back to it. In Section A, a hard question is worth 1 mark, the same as an easy one. The marking scheme says these questions carry "no part marks". So time spent on a hard one earns nothing extra.

Case studies work the same way. Parts (i) and (ii) are 1 mark each, and part (iii) is worth 2. Each part is marked on its own. If part (iii) is hard, the first two parts still count. How case-based questions are marked shows one worked through.

How do you manage time in the Class 10 Science paper?

Plan it by subject. The 2026-27 Science sample paper has 39 questions in three sections: Biology, then Chemistry, then Physics. Adding up the marks printed beside each question gives Biology 30, Chemistry 25 and Physics 25.

At 2 minutes a mark, that is about 60 minutes for Biology and 50 each for Chemistry and Physics. That again leaves 20 minutes to read and check.

For the 2026 exam, CBSE also split the Science answer book into the same three sections. Its circular of 9 December 2025 says an answer written in the wrong section "will not be evaluated". Check your year's instructions.

Each section has short questions, one 4-mark question built on a short case, and one long question of 5 marks. Diagrams and numericals take longer to write than they look. Where the marks go in CBSE Science explains which parts carry marks of their own.

How do you attempt a lengthy CBSE paper in 3 hours?

One reason a paper can feel long is that writing takes longer than working it out. Timed practice at writing full answers is one way to find out.

• Know your pace before the exam. Time yourself on a full sample paper. Note how long each section really took.
• Write each step once, clearly. Steps earn marks, so they are worth the time. How to write answers the marking scheme can mark shows which ones matter.
• Keep rough work short and near the answer. A long search for your own working is time lost twice.

How is time different in ICSE papers?

ICSE papers print their reading time at the top of the first page. That rule is in the ICSE Regulations for Examination. CISCE's syllabuses for the 2028 exam set Maths as a three-hour paper and Physics as a two-hour paper, both for 80 marks. Check the edition for your exam year.

CISCE's report on the 2025 ICSE Maths paper gives students two time tips. Use the reading time to read and choose questions. "Use the last 10-15 minutes to review the answers."

Physics has less time for the same 80 marks, so the margin is thinner. How step marks work in ICSE Physics numericals shows what each step of a numerical is worth. CISCE's Physics report also asks candidates to "attempt the questions in the same order as given in the question paper". That differs from the CBSE advice above. How the CBSE and ICSE papers compare sets out what differs between them.

How can you practise timing before the exam?

• Sit one full paper in 3 hours. Use a sample paper, a clock and no breaks. Write the time at the start of each section.
• Compare with the plan. Find the section that ran over. Then find the question that caused it.
• Mark it against the scheme. A rushed answer shows up as missing steps. Why marks go missing on answers you knew explains where they go.
• Plan the weeks, not just the hours. A 30-day plan built from where your marks went turns this into a revision plan.

Time on the day comes from practice before it. A plan you have tried twice is one you can trust in the exam hall.

About the author

Deepti Sardana

Founder Member & Academic Lead

An IIT alumna (M.Sc., M.Phil.) with over 25 years in teaching, child psychology and learning assessment. As Academic Lead at EduBrahma, she leads the method TRUtesting uses to find where and why a child loses marks.

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