Exam Timer

An exam timer has one job while it runs: stay out of the way. The read-out is large enough to see from the front of the room, and it also shows the clock time the sitting ends at, which is what an invigilator writes on the board. While the timer is running, pause and reset are not on screen at all — they sit one deliberate step behind a "Pause or stop" control, so a single accidental tap during the sitting does nothing. Choosing to pause or stop is still two clicks away, for a fire alarm or any other real interruption; it is only the first, careless tap that the layout absorbs.

The timer is counted against the system clock rather than ticked down, so it ends at the right moment even if the tab was in the background for part of the sitting, and a reload during a sitting picks the same countdown back up rather than starting over.

Half an hour, 45 minutes, an hour, 90 minutes, two hours and three hours are one click each, and choosing one only LOADS that length — the clock does not start until you press Start, so the sitting begins when the room actually is, not the moment a preset is chosen while desks are still being arranged. Any other length can be typed in hours, minutes and seconds instead, for a sitting that does not match one of the six presets.

The same mode is also the shared timer's exam view — the countdown, its storage and its sound rules are the ones the general-purpose timer already has, simply presented with the controls a sitting needs and none of the ones it does not.

A notice appears on screen at 10 minutes remaining and again at 5, so the room has warning without anyone having to watch the clock or wait for an announcement. An optional soft chime can accompany each notice; by default the notices are silent and only the on-screen text appears, which suits a room where any sound at all would be a distraction. When the sitting ends, the chosen sound plays once, at reduced volume, and does not repeat, and the on-screen state makes plain that time is up without anything jarring.