What to Do When You Cannot Answer the Whole Exam Question
A difficult part of a question does not have to take the whole question with it. Learn to separate the marks you can still earn, leave a clean return point and protect the rest of the paper.
Written by Michael Siaw Larbi · Wednesday, 21 October 2026
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You open a question and the first requirement is horrible.
Your mind immediately says, “I cannot do this question.”
That sentence is often too large.
You may be unable to do one part of the question. You may be unsure of one adjustment. You may know the discussion but not the computation. You may know how to set up the working and be stuck on one number.
The first skill is to shrink the problem.
The salvage question
Before giving up, ask:
Which marks inside this question are still visible to me?
A 20-mark question can contain several independent opportunities:
- a definition or principle;
- an initial setup;
- one correct adjustment;
- a labelled working;
- a discussion requirement;
- scenario application;
- a recommendation;
- an interpretation of a result.
You do not need all 20 marks for the question to help you pass.
Try the Mark Salvage Simulator
Afram Ltd is considering a new investment.
(a) Calculate the project's net present value. (10 marks)
(b) Explain three non-financial factors management should consider before proceeding. (6 marks)
(c) Recommend whether the project should proceed, using your findings. (4 marks)
Then give the student a situation:
You cannot remember how to calculate one of the tax-related cash-flow adjustments in part (a).
Ask: What can you still do?
Options should include:
- abandon the full 20 marks;
- set up the NPV working, calculate the cash flows you know, label the uncertain adjustment, continue using a stated assumption, then attempt (b) and (c);
- spend 25 minutes trying to remember the adjustment before moving.
The second response is the better exam strategy, with a clear caveat: whether an assumption earns marks depends on the marking scheme, and the candidate must never invent a rule as if certain. The purpose is to keep the rest of the answer moving.
Separate the requirements on the page
Take your pen and physically identify each requirement.
If the question has (a), (b) and (c), treat them as three separate jobs.
If one sentence contains several tasks, split them.
For example:
“Evaluate the proposed expansion, identify the major risks and advise the board on whether to proceed.”
That contains at least three jobs:
- evaluate the expansion;
- identify risks;
- give advice.
Being stuck on the evaluation does not erase every risk you can identify or the advice you can support from the scenario.
Start with what you can state accurately
Suppose a calculation defeats you halfway through.
Write the parts you know correctly.
Label the working.
Set out the formula or structure.
Insert the figures you can identify.
If a later requirement asks you to interpret the result, you may still be able to discuss the meaning of a positive or negative result conceptually, depending on what the question asks.
A blank page gives the marker nothing to work with.
Clear method may earn credit where the scheme awards method marks.
Be careful here. Professional exam marking differs by paper and requirement. Do not assume every incomplete working automatically earns a fixed number of marks. The practical rule is safer: show correct reasoning and workings whenever you have them.
Do not hide your partial knowledge in a paragraph
If you only know three of five valid points, make the three easy to see.
Use headings.
Apply them.
Explain them properly.
Three strong points can score three strong points.
A long paragraph containing half-remembered material can make the valid ideas harder to award.
Before and after
Question: Explain four risks created by a rapid expansion into a new regional market. (8 marks)
Weak panic answer:
There are many risks such as financial risk, competition, staff problems and the company may also find the new market difficult because customers are different and it may cost more, so management must be careful and research the market properly before expanding.
There are useful ideas inside it. They are underdeveloped.
Better partial answer from a student who can only produce three risks:
Cash-flow pressure
The expansion may require inventory, staff and marketing spend before cash collections grow. Afram Ltd should test whether existing cash and facilities can fund that gap.
Market-demand risk
Customer demand in the new region is uncertain. Sales assumptions should be tested rather than relying on performance in the current market.
Management capacity
A rapid expansion can stretch existing managers. If the current team is already operating at capacity, weak oversight could affect both the new operation and the existing business.
The student still owes the fourth point. The three visible points are much easier to reward.
If one number is missing, leave a clean placeholder
In calculations, messy panic causes secondary errors.
Imagine you cannot work out a depreciation figure needed in a longer computation.
Write:
Depreciation adjustment: GHS X
Then continue the later stages using X if the logic permits.
If you later remember the amount, return and replace X.
This preserves the structure and may help you avoid abandoning every downstream step.
Again, actual credit depends on the marking scheme. The technique is about preserving logical work and giving yourself a clean return point.
Use the scenario to generate marks when memory is thin
Discursive questions often give you material to work with.
Read the facts again.
Ask:
- What is unusual here?
- Which number changed sharply?
- Which relationship looks risky?
- Which deadline has been missed?
- Which assumption seems weak?
- Which stakeholder is affected?
You may not remember the perfect textbook list. A scenario-specific observation, linked to a sound principle, can still be valuable.
This is especially important in case-based professional papers where application is rewarded.
Set a rescue time limit
The biggest danger is spending the rest of the question's time trying to rescue one difficult mark.
Give the problem a boundary.
For example:
“I will give this adjustment another two minutes. If it does not come, I will label it, continue, and return only if time remains.”
The exact time depends on the mark value and paper.
The principle is to stop one blockage consuming marks elsewhere.
The live Blueprint guide on time per mark is useful here. Your total time budget still controls the answer.
A complete salvage example
Consider this fictional 15-mark question:
Sampa Ltd has experienced falling profit margins despite revenue growth. The directors want an analysis of the possible causes and advice on immediate actions.
(a) Calculate the gross profit margin and operating profit margin for both years. (5 marks)
(b) Explain three reasons, using the scenario, for the movement in profitability. (6 marks)
(c) Recommend two immediate actions. (4 marks)
Suppose you forget the formula for operating profit margin for a moment.
A poor response is to freeze on part (a) for ten minutes.
A salvage response could be:
- Calculate gross profit margin correctly.
- Write the operating margin working heading and leave a clear gap.
- Move to part (b) and use the scenario facts to discuss margin pressure.
- Complete part (c) with recommendations linked to the causes.
- Return to the missing formula if time remains or if memory returns while you are writing.
Often, memory does return once the panic has moved elsewhere.
The question that initially felt impossible may still yield a substantial share of its marks.
If you genuinely know nothing about one requirement
Sometimes the honest answer is that you cannot answer a part.
Do not manufacture technical rules.
Do not write confident nonsense.
Scan for any safe introductory point or format mark if relevant, then move.
Protect the rest of the paper.
One blank five-mark part is painful. A blank five-mark part plus two unfinished questions because you spent twenty minutes staring at it is worse.
Leave yourself a return marker
Use a clear symbol in the margin or on your planning sheet according to the examination format.
The marker is for you, not the examiner.
Examples:
- circle the requirement number on your question paper where permitted;
- write “RETURN” beside your plan;
- leave a deliberate space in a written script if the format allows;
- on a computer-based environment, use the navigation tools provided by that examination system.
Follow the rules of your specific examination. The method is simply to make unfinished work easy to find later.
The emotional reset matters too
A difficult question can become a story in your head:
“I am failing.”
“I did not prepare enough.”
“This paper is gone.”
You do not know that while the exam is still running.
Reduce the story to the next action.
Which part can I answer now?
That question is small enough to be useful.
If your mind has gone completely blank, use the separate Blueprint guide on recovering calm in the exam.
Practise salvage before exam day
You can train this.
Take a past question and deliberately remove one piece of information from yourself.
For example, cover one formula or pretend you cannot remember one adjustment.
Then practise:
- setting up the answer;
- collecting independent marks;
- leaving a clean placeholder;
- moving to the next requirement;
- returning later.
This feels strange in revision because you normally want to solve everything perfectly.
Exam technique also includes knowing how to work imperfectly when a problem appears.
A complete 15-mark salvage example
Suppose a requirement has three independent jobs:
(a) Calculate a ratio for two years. 5 marks
(b) Explain two reasons for the movement using the scenario. 6 marks
(c) Recommend one action management should investigate. 4 marks
You understand the ratio formula and one scenario reason. The second reason is unclear.
A panic response is to spend most of the available time trying to invent the missing reason.
A salvage response maps the marks first.
First pass
Part (a): complete the calculation cleanly.
Part (b): write the one well-supported reason you can see. Leave space.
Part (c): give a recommendation linked to the scenario.
You have now attempted every independent area you can address.
Second pass
Return to the missing reason.
Re-read only the scenario facts relevant to the movement.
Ask:
- which component of the ratio changed most?
- is there a price, volume, cost, financing or working-capital clue?
- can I explain the direction without inventing facts?
If a second defensible reason becomes visible, add it.
If it does not, move on when your time rule says to move.
The exact marks awarded always depend on the examiner's scheme and the quality of the answer. The purpose of this method is to protect answerable parts of the requirement.
The first two minutes when the question feels impossible
Use a small script.
0 to 30 seconds: read the requirement again, slower. Circle separate verbs and mark allocations.
30 to 60 seconds: write the headings for the independent parts.
60 to 90 seconds: write one fact, formula or rule you know under each heading.
90 to 120 seconds: choose the part with the clearest route and begin.
This converts “I cannot answer this question” into several smaller statements.
You may discover that one part is difficult while another is ordinary.
State assumptions carefully where the question genuinely leaves room
Sometimes a calculation cannot continue without choosing between two interpretations.
If an assumption is reasonable and the question permits you to proceed, state it briefly and continue.
Example:
“I have assumed the cash flow occurs at year end because no alternative timing is stated.”
Do not use assumptions to overwrite a fact that the question actually gives.
An assumption should clarify an ambiguity, not manufacture a more convenient question.
Return with a purpose
When you leave a difficult part, mark exactly what remains.
Bad placeholder:
“COME BACK.”
Better placeholder:
“Need second reason for margin fall. Check inventory/wastage clue on page 3.”
When you return, you have a search instruction.
Mark Salvage Simulator
After the choice, reveal the reasoning:
- independent and answerable sections deserve protection;
- high-mark difficult sections need a time boundary;
- a later part may be fully accessible even when an earlier part is not.
Do not score the student on one universal “correct order”. The tool should teach the decision factors.
What I tell students in the hall season
A hard question should become smaller, not larger.
Do not say, “I cannot do Question 3.”
Say, “I cannot do this adjustment yet. I can do the setup. I can do part (b). I can do the recommendation. I will return to the adjustment if the time allows.”
That language protects marks.
Five useful questions
Should I guess a technical rule if I cannot remember it?
Avoid presenting an invented rule as fact. Use what you know accurately, state a reasonable assumption only where appropriate to the problem, and protect the marks available elsewhere.
Can I still get marks if the final calculation is wrong?
Many professional examination schemes award credit for correct method or workings, but this varies by requirement. Show clear, logical workings so any available method credit can be seen.
Should I answer the easiest part of a question first?
If the paper format permits and it helps you secure marks efficiently, yes. Keep numbering clear so the marker can follow your script.
How long should I stay on a part I cannot solve?
Use the mark allocation and your overall time budget. Give the blockage a short rescue period, then move if it is consuming time needed for other marks.
What if I remember the answer after I have moved on?
Return if the examination format and remaining time allow it. This is why a clear return marker is useful.
Practise this once before the exam
Take one 15 or 20-mark question.
Pretend one part is unavailable to you.
See how many marks you can still create.
The first time you learn to salvage a question should not be in the exam hall.
Series note: The Excellence Blueprint is MSL Business School's weekly guide to studying, remembering and performing better in professional examinations.
The Excellence Blueprint by MSL Business School helps professional students study, practise and perform with greater purpose.
