Texas CBE Test Day Playbook — Pacing, Proctorio, and the Three-Pass Strategy

Preparation is only half of a Credit by Examination (CBE). The other half — the one that determines whether the prep converts into a passing score — is the exam itself: environment, pacing, timing decisions, and the mental strategy for staying steady across three hours. This guide is the test-day companion to our 3-week final prep checklist. If the checklist gets a student ready, this playbook gets them through.

Both Texas CBE routes are covered:

• TEC §28.023 (Acceleration) — passing threshold: 80%.
• 19 TAC §74.24 (Credit with prior instruction) — passing threshold: 70%.

The mechanics below are the same for both. What differs is the target score line the student is trying to cross.

Before the day: confirm the format

The single biggest test-day surprise is discovering that the exam format is different from what a student prepared for. Two hours before the exam is not the time to learn the exam is on paper instead of online, or that a graphing calculator is not allowed, or that scratch paper is not permitted. Confirm the following by Thursday of test week, in writing, with your campus counselor or the CBE proctor:

• Format — paper-based, on a school computer, or remotely proctored at home.
• Duration — most Texas CBEs run about three hours in a single sitting; some subjects split across sessions.
• Allowed tools — approved calculator model (if any), scratch paper, formula sheet.
• Photo ID requirements.
• Arrival window — typically 15 minutes before start.
• Score reporting — when and how you will get the result.

Setup: online-proctored exams (Proctorio)

If the CBE is administered through UT High School, TTU K-12, or another provider using remote proctoring, the exam almost certainly runs through Proctorio, ProctorU, or a similar service. Proctorio is the most common. A first-time Proctorio experience routinely eats 10–15 minutes of the exam window on setup if the student is unprepared.

The night before

• Install the browser extension. Proctorio runs as a Chrome or Edge extension. Install it from the exam provider's link (not a random source), verify it activates in the practice environment if one is offered.
• Test webcam and microphone. Use the browser's built-in test — most operating systems have Settings → Privacy → Camera / Microphone. Confirm the browser has permission.
• Test the internet connection. Wired is more stable than Wi-Fi. If Wi-Fi is the only option, sit close to the router. A dropped connection during the exam interrupts everything.
• Close other apps. Proctorio flags open applications. Close Slack, Discord, Zoom, everything.
• Clear the desk. Nothing on the desk except allowed items (ID, calculator if permitted, water, tissues). Proctorio's room scan will catch a phone, an open notebook, a smartwatch.

The morning of

• Log in 15 minutes early. Do the room scan calmly. Show the desk from all angles; show the walls behind the monitor; show the underside of the desk. Rushing this is where students lose composure before the exam starts.
• Bathroom before. Most remote-proctored exams do not allow breaks. If a break happens, it may be flagged for review. Plan around this.
• Single monitor. Multiple monitors are typically not allowed. Unplug the second one; do not just turn it off.
• Notification silencer. Turn off system notifications on the whole machine. A single popup during the exam is a flag.

If something goes wrong

Most remote-proctoring services have a live chat support option. If the exam interface freezes, the camera disconnects, or the check-in fails, contact support through the exam's own interface — do not open a browser tab elsewhere to search, which will end the session. The provider almost always logs the issue and reschedules or extends time if the failure is on their end.

Setup: in-person exams

In-person CBEs are simpler, but preparation is not zero:

• Bring photo ID. Even if the proctor knows the student, the rules are the rules.
• Bring the approved calculator. Confirm the specific model (TI-84 series is commonly permitted for math and physics; the district may allow others). Bring fresh batteries.
• Bring two pencils, an eraser, and a pen. The pen is for the sign-in form; the pencils are for the exam.
• Wear a watch, not a smartwatch. Analog watches are usually allowed; wearables are typically not. If in doubt, leave it at home and use the room clock.
• Arrive 15 minutes early. Use the extra time to visit the bathroom, settle, and read any last posted instructions.

The first three minutes

Before answering the first question, spend two to three minutes on strategy. Students who skip this step almost always finish the exam with time left on the clock but questions missed for the wrong reason — poor pacing, not poor knowledge.

Step 1: Compute the per-question time budget

Divide the total exam time by the number of questions, then subtract about 10% for pacing overhead:

Per-question budget = (total minutes × 0.9) ÷ (number of questions)

Example: a 180-minute exam with 50 questions gives about 3 minutes per question. A 60-question exam gives about 2.7 minutes. Write the number down at the top of scratch paper (or memorize it). This becomes the flag threshold — a question that is not solved within about 1.5× the per-question budget gets flagged and skipped.

Step 2: Note the exam structure

If the exam divides questions into sections, note the section counts. If some questions carry more weight (rare on CBE but common on some standardized tests), note that too. Read any instructions once, carefully. Skipping instructions to save time is a common source of avoidable mistakes.

Step 3: Scratch-paper header

Write the target score at the top of scratch paper. For a 50-question §28.023 exam, that is 40 correct (80%); for §74.24, that is 35 correct (70%). This is not to obsess over; it is to keep pacing in perspective when you hit a hard question late in Pass 1.

Pass 1 — answer what you know (0 to 60% of time)

Pass 1 is a speed pass. The goal is to bank every question that is doable within the per-question budget and to flag everything else without spending time on it. The most common Pass 1 mistake is spending eight minutes on one hard problem in the middle of the pass; the correct behavior is to flag it and move on within 90 seconds.

Flagging discipline

• Set a mental timer at 90 seconds per question. If the answer is not clear within 90 seconds, flag and move on.
• Even if the answer feels close, if it is not written down at 90 seconds, flag it.
• The exception: if the question is a straightforward calculation that is 80% complete, finish it. Do not flag a nearly-solved question.

The dead-time trap

Students often burn time on a hard question and then rush through three easier questions right after. The score effect is usually negative — one hard question lost, three easier ones missed for pacing rather than knowledge. Flagging protects the easier points that come later.

Pass 1 target

By 60% of exam time (108 minutes on a 180-minute exam), aim to have answered every non-flagged question. If you finish Pass 1 with 20 flags, that is fine — you have 30% of exam time left specifically for them. If you finish Pass 1 with 5 flags, use the extra time to slow down on Pass 2 and think carefully rather than moving to Pass 3 too early.

Pass 2 — flagged items (60% to 90% of time)

Pass 2 is a slower, thinking pass. Now you have the luxury of time on each flagged question — typically 3 to 5 minutes per item on a well-paced exam. Use it.

Approach for each flagged question

1. Re-read the question. Not just the last sentence — the whole thing. Test writers put critical constraints in the first line ("A rectangle with integer side lengths…") that a rushed first pass misses.
2. Identify the topic. Is this the quadratic-formula category? The unit-conversion category? Naming the category shifts you into the right mental toolkit.
3. Try the fastest approach first. If the numbers are simple, try substitution. If a diagram would help, sketch one on scratch paper. Do not immediately reach for the hardest technique.
4. Eliminate impossible choices. On multiple choice, remove any answers that are dimensionally wrong, unphysical, or contradict a stated constraint. This alone often narrows four choices to two.
5. Commit and move on. Once an answer is chosen, write it and move on. Do not re-visit unless Pass 3 gives extra time.

The change-answer trap

Multiple studies of standardized testing find that when students change a multiple-choice answer on a second look, they are more likely to change from correct to incorrect than the reverse — but only when the change is driven by "it feels wrong" rather than a specific realized reason. The rule: only change an answer if you can state, in one sentence, exactly why the first answer is wrong. If the reason is "I'm not sure", leave the first answer.

What if you go blank

If you sit down to a Pass 2 question and the topic feels foreign, do not spiral. Two techniques:

• Backward from the answers. Take each multiple-choice option and check whether it satisfies the question's conditions. This turns an unknown-solution problem into a known-verification problem.
• Special cases. Try the simplest possible instance (x = 0, x = 1, a right triangle with legs 3 and 4) and see which choice is consistent. Special-case elimination is faster than solving from scratch.

Pass 3 — verify and fill (90% to 100% of time)

Pass 3 is the last ten percent of exam time — about 18 minutes on a 180-minute exam. Two jobs:

Job 1: Fill every answer

Most Texas CBEs do not penalize incorrect answers, which means a blank answer is a guaranteed missed point. Verify with the exam provider ahead of time, but in the standard case, guess on anything still unanswered. Guessing on a multiple-choice question with four options yields on average 25% of a point; blank yields 0%. Even a semi-informed guess (having eliminated one obvious wrong choice) yields 33%.

Job 2: Verify high-effort questions

Do not re-check every answer. Re-check the ones where the answer felt like an outlier — very large, very small, off-pattern, or where the student had to guess between two options in Pass 2. On these, apply one quick sanity check (dimensions? sign? order of magnitude?) and confirm.

What NOT to do in Pass 3

• Do not re-open a question you were confident on in Pass 1 unless something specific triggers doubt.
• Do not change five answers in the last five minutes; changes made under panic almost always trade correct for incorrect.
• Do not stare at the clock. Set a mental cutoff at 3 minutes remaining and use the remaining time to fill blanks, not to re-verify.

Mid-exam mental resets

Three hours is long enough that most students will hit a stretch where their attention drifts, their handwriting gets sloppy, or they realize they've been reading the same question for two minutes. Two techniques:

The 30-second reset

Put the pencil down. Close your eyes. Breathe in for 4 counts, hold for 4, out for 6. Open eyes. Read the current question fresh. Total elapsed time: 30 seconds. Score effect: usually positive because the next 20 minutes are alert instead of fogged.

The section switch

If a stretch of the exam has all been the same category and it is dragging, flag the current question and jump forward five or ten items. A change of topic re-engages attention. Come back to the flagged one in Pass 2.

After you submit

The exam ends, the submission goes through, and — for most students — a wave of "did I pass?" hits. Two rules:

1. Do not talk about specific questions with other test-takers immediately after. In classroom settings this is often against test rules; in online-proctored settings the browser may still be flagging any post-exam chatter. Beyond compliance: reconstructing a wrong answer while it is still fresh does not change the score and does not help.
2. Confirm score reporting timing. Ask the proctor or check the provider portal for when results are released. Some districts publish scores within a few business days; some providers take longer. Set expectations before you leave, so the waiting period is not stressful.

If the score does not clear the threshold

Retake rules vary by district, provider, and route. Most districts allow retakes; some require a cooldown period; some limit the number of attempts. The important thing to know: a below-threshold score is not the end of the path.

• Request the score breakdown. Category-level scoring tells you where the misses concentrated, which becomes the study plan for retake prep.
• Ask about the retake window. If the next opportunity is three weeks out, restart the 3-week prep plan — this time with a much better diagnostic (the actual exam score).
• Consider switching routes if applicable. A student who missed the §28.023 (80%) threshold but scored 72% may qualify under §74.24 (70%) if the district allows the alternate route with prior instruction. Ask the campus counselor.

Bottom line

Test-day performance is a distinct skill from content mastery. The playbook is: confirm format Thursday, set up the environment early, spend the first three minutes on strategy, run the three-pass structure with strict flagging discipline, and reserve the last ten percent of time for filling every answer. The score reflects both what the student knows and how the exam window is managed. This playbook manages the window.

Start Week -3 of prep with our day-by-day checklist, or download the free two-page planner PDF. Free sample questions for every subject are on the subjects page — no signup required.

Legal note. Texas CBE™ is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), UT High School (UTHS), The University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech University K-12, Proctorio, ProctorU, or any school district. All practice questions are independently authored and modeled after the official Credit by Examination format for educational preparation purposes only. Passing thresholds cited (80% for §28.023 acceleration; 70% for 19 TAC §74.24 credit with prior instruction) reflect Texas statutory and administrative rules as of publication. District administration, retake policies, allowed tools, calculator models, score reporting timing, and remote-proctoring software vary — always verify with your campus counselor or CBE proctor before the exam.