Special Officer:
timing and pacing

156 minutes, evenly loaded

Every section of our Special Officer exam has twenty questions, so the differences between sections are all in the clock: 120 questions in 156 minutes, about 78 seconds each.

Time Sharing needs its 87 seconds

This is the only section where a single question can mean reading three documents. A sensible order: read the question first, then skim each document for the name, time or room it asks about, then compare. Reading every document top to bottom before looking at the question is the slow way and most people only discover that halfway through the section.

The rest sits between 72 and 78

Written Expression is the fastest at 72 seconds and also the most predictable; pick the version that says exactly one thing. Problem Sensitivity at 75 seconds is about noticing, so the first detail that strikes you as wrong is often the answer.

With no arithmetic, maps or memory page, there is no section that changes rhythm suddenly. The risk is fatigue, not a sprint. By the fifth twenty-question block, attention drifts.

Practicing it

Time one Time Sharing section alone until 87 seconds feels routine, then sit the full 156 minutes once, without breaks, to learn where your focus fades.

An empty answer is the only certain zero. Leave no question unanswered.

DCAS does not publish a time for this exam. Ours is a practice choice.