A lot of good tips already.
Having spent more than a few sleepless nights for this exam, I though I’d put my two cents in now it’s all done.
I passed well - first go - this was not expected as I’ve been a middle of the road student most of the way through my other exams . I had done a sh1tload of study though - far more than any other subject.
What you need is to be able to look at a question and not have any doubt as to what it’s asking - being so time critical you need to do enough questions to just know where to start.
Applying the correct fuel policy is vital - Be very careful if it’s asking for RAMP or BRW fuel.
RTFQ - write down the pertinent info - you would be amazed how many times In the practice exams I planned the wrong direction or reversed tracks or added wind speed onto my track!! Slow down - there is time to check as long as you’ve got some speed to your process . (I did start to lose my marbles studying for this one - go fast and you lose accuracy , go slow and you don’t finish - it does all come together in time)
By the time I sat the exam I could do 5 markers in about 20 minutes. I had 3 fivers in the exam and I was far more careful with tracks and winds etc and they took me just over 1 hour 10 mins to complete - but I got them right. There’s 30% in the bag.
if you come across a question with a climb, one long leg and a descent, be extremely accurate with your GS. The penalty for a long leg with a rubbish GS calc is big enough to blow it. A question like that seems simple but it’s easy to butcher it.
Id made a plan to dump really time consuming questions or any question that stumped me if It was getting tight (hold table for example) . Losing 2 marks to gain 10 minutes of faffing is well worth it.
The exam was tricky timewise, but honestly was pretty straightforward - I’m sure that comes down to over preparing and I definitely got a question base that suited me (luck of the draw) but it wasn’t that bad..
One final thing . Don’t be brutalised by the practice exams - more than any other, this exam is the one you will get 50% or 90% - the questions are so heavily weighted .
On the day I was prepared to fail and this did relax me (strange as that may sound) I knew I’d prepared well and just needed to give it a go.
Doing the ATPLs was the most demoralising experience I’ve had in aviation - so impractical to current ops , such a drain of time , money and energy, but it just has to be done - my whining about it didn’t help anything - If you have the chance, do them all before you have a job, family and other commitments as the two year window is not that much if you get caught up on a subject .
It is doable - if I can do it anyone can.
Good luck.