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📜 WAYPOINT LESSON

Pacing both sections

⭐⭐⭐ advanced⏳ 10 min read📍 Lesson 237 of 256

Two-pass MCQ pacing with slack; the FRQ rhythm of 20 minutes each plus a review bank.

Section 1 (MCQ, 40 questions / 90 minutes): a 2-minute pace with slack. The plan that survives contact:

  • Pass 1 (about 55 minutes): answer everything solvable in under 2 minutes. Mark skips immediately — a mark costs nothing.
  • Pass 2 (about 25 minutes): return to marks; eliminate two options, then commit. An unanswered question scores zero; a eliminated-to-two guess scores on average a quarter — always answer before time expires (the AP has no penalty for wrong answers).
  • Buffer (about 10 minutes): recheck marked-but-answered questions ONLY if a specific doubt exists ("did I read <= or <?"). Aimless rechecking loses points to second-guessing.

Section 2 (FRQ, 4 questions / 90 minutes) is a different animal: about 20 minutes per question plus a 10-minute review bank. The Q1/Q2 pair (methods, classes) usually runs faster than Q3/Q4 (ArrayList, 2D) — bank the difference early.