RES Exam Day: What to Expect & What to Bring

Knowing exactly what RES exam day looks like takes most of the nerves out of it. You've done the studying; now the job is simply to turn up prepared, calm and on time. This guide walks you through the whole day — the night before, what to pack, arriving at the venue, the format and timing you'll face on the paper, the technique that saves marks, and what happens with results and re-sits afterwards.

Before the day

The single best way to walk in calm is to have already sat full timed mock exams so nothing on the paper is a surprise. In the last 24 hours, though, the priorities change: stop taking in new material, review your mistake bank lightly, and protect your sleep. A fresh brain scores higher than a tired, crammed one.

• Confirm the venue and time. Papers are sat at SIM HQ in Clementi, and each paper usually starts at 9.30am. Check your confirmation email for your exact room and reporting time.
• Plan your route.Work out how you'll get there and add a buffer — you want to arrive about 30 minutes early, not screeching in at the last second.
• Pack the night before(see the checklist below) so you're not hunting for your NRIC in the morning.
• Sleep. Do one light timed set if it settles you, then switch off. Cramming past midnight costs more marks than it earns.

What to bring

The calculator matters: stamp duties and financing questions (BSD/ABSD/SSD, LTV/TDSR/MSR) are calc-heavy, and fumbling arithmetic under time pressure loses easy marks. Practise with the same calculator you'll bring, and lock the rates cold from our one-page RES cheat sheet beforehand.

Arriving at the venue

Aim to reach SIM HQ around 30 minutes beforethe reporting time. That gives you room to find the right room, clear ID verification, store your bag and phone, and settle at your seat without rushing. Latecomers risk being denied entry, so build in slack for traffic or a delayed train. Once you're seated, take a breath — you've prepared for this.

The format and timing on the day

Each paper runs for 2 hours 30 minutes. If you're sitting both papers over a weekend, that's Paper 1 on the Saturday and Paper 2 on the Sunday.

Here's a rough timeline to keep you on pace across the 150 minutes. With 80 questions, that works out to roughly 1.8 minutes per question — with a healthy margin left over for review:

Full breakdown of sections and the pass mark is in our RES exam format guide.

2026 sittings

The RES exam runs several times a year, with Paper 1 on the Saturday and Paper 2 on the Sunday. The 2026 sittings are:

• 14–15 March 2026
• 18–19 July 2026
• 31 October – 1 November 2026

Confirm your slot and closing dates when you register for the RES exam, as dates and availability are set by NTUC LearningHub.

Technique on the paper

Good technique is where prepared candidates pull ahead:

• Watch the stem for NOT / EXCEPT.Negatively-worded questions flip the answer, and it's heartbreaking to lose a mark you knew because you skimmed the word "not".
• Don't over-dwell. If a question stalls you, flag it, put down your best guess, and return with fresh eyes later.
• Answer everything. With no penalty for wrong answers, a blank is strictly worse than a guess.
• For Section B, read the question first, then the scenario, so you read the facts for what actually matters.

More of these are covered in our RES exam tips, and you can drill exam-style questions by topic over at the practice topics.

After the exam: results and re-sits

Once both papers are done, you wait on your results. Remember you need 60% in each paper and must pass both— a strong Paper 1 can't rescue a weak Paper 2. If you fall short on just one paper, the good news is you only re-sit the paper you failed, not the whole exam. For the official results timeline and re-sit process, follow the guidance from CEA and NTUC LearningHub.

If a re-sit is on the cards, don't just repeat the same study — focus practice on the paper and topics that let you down. The full plan is in how to pass the RES exam.

The fastest way to make exam day feel routine is to have already lived it in practice. Create a free account, sit full timed mocks in the real format, and walk into SIM HQ with nothing left to surprise you.