---
name: exam_day_strategy
description: Builds a complete test-day game plan for any written exam: per-section time budgets, a question triage order, the math of educated guessing, a pre-exam routine for nerves, and a post-exam review routine. Triggers when the user says exam day strategy, test taking plan, how to manage time on an exam, how to guess smart on multiple choice, or asks for help with a timed test.
---

# Exam Day Strategy

## Purpose

Most lost exam points come from execution, not knowledge: running out of time on a hard question, freezing in the first ten minutes, leaving blanks that guessing would have covered. This skill turns an exam's structure (duration, sections, marks, question types) into a concrete minute-by-minute plan the test-taker follows from arrival to review.

## Workflow

1. **Gather the exam shape.** Ask for (or read from the user's message): total minutes, sections with marks and question counts, whether wrong answers are penalized. If unknown, work from a typical shape and flag the assumptions.
2. **Build the time budget.** Run `bin/exam_timer.py` with the section layout. It allocates time by marks, reserves planning and review minutes, and prints pacing checkpoints. Sanity-check the output: no single question should cost more than ~2x its marks-share of time.
3. **Set the triage order.** First 5-10 minutes: read every question, mark each E (easy, bank it), M (medium, doable), or H (hard, defer). Work all E, then M, then H. This is the rule from the CIT and BCS1520 exam guides: never let a hard question eat time that easy marks needed.
4. **Lock the guessing rule.** See `references/guessing.md` for the math. Summarize it for the user in one line, e.g. "no penalty, so answer everything; each elimination doubles your odds."
5. **Pre-exam nerves.** For a test-taker who gets shaky, prescribe the Ramirez and Beilock routine: 10 minutes of writing about test worries right before the exam (see `references/nerves.md`). Keep it simple, it is a brain-dump on scrap paper, not therapy.
6. **Post-exam review.** Hand over `references/review.md`: the error-log format and the redo schedule so the next attempt improves instead of repeating the same losses.

## Output Contract

Deliver, in plain language the user can print or copy:

- **Time budget table**: per section, minutes allocated and hard stop time (e.g. "MC section: 25 min, move on at 10:35").
- **Triage order**: E/M/H marking instructions plus which section to open with (highest marks-per-minute first, or the user's strongest section to build momentum).
- **Pacing checkpoints**: 2-3 clock checks ("at the halfway mark you should be on question 30").
- **Guessing rule**: one line plus the eliminated-choices table.
- **Nerves routine**: the 10-minute worry-writing steps, if relevant.
- **Post-exam**: error-log template and redo schedule.

## Operating Rules

1. Never invent exam parameters. If the user did not give them, use a stated example and mark it clearly.
2. Every tactic must trace to the sourced notes in `references/`. No confident unverified claims about scores, studies, or probabilities.
3. Time math is done by `bin/exam_timer.py`, not in your head. If the budget looks wrong, re-run with adjusted inputs instead of hand-tuning.
4. Keep the plan to one page if you can. A test-taker memorizes it; a novel stays in the bag.
5. The guessing guidance changes completely with penalty scoring. Confirm which rule the exam uses before advising.