Time Tracker Practice Test Worksheets
Time tracker questions use horizontal bars to show when people were present. You read the start and finish of each bar, compare durations, and count who is present at one exact time.
For students who can read a clock, but lose marks when time intervals, start times, and end times are mixed together.
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What Do Time Tracker Questions Look Like?
Time tracker questions present a timeline or horizontal bar chart showing when different events or people started and finished, and ask you to determine durations, arrival or departure order, or who was active at a particular moment. Here is a worked example.
Find Who Left First
Question: This chart shows the times when 5 swimmers were swimming in a pool one morning. Who left the pool first?
Worked Method
Step 1: Look at the right end of each bar.
Step 2: Paloma's bar ends at 10:05, before Bianca at 10:10.
Answer: Paloma left first.
Rules to Help You Solve Time Tracker Questions
Every time tracker question uses a consistent set of principles. Once you know what to check, you can read starts, finishes, durations, and overlaps systematically without getting tripped up by boundary points.
⏱ Rule 1: Bar length is duration
Subtract the start time from the finish time to find how long someone stayed.
Example: 09:50 to 10:30 is 40 minutes.
⬅ Rule 2: Earliest start is furthest left
The person whose bar begins furthest left arrived or started first.
Example: Paloma starts at 09:45, before the swimmers who start at 09:50.
➡ Rule 3: First finish is the leftmost end
To find who left first, compare the right ends of the bars.
Example: Paloma finishes at 10:05, before Bianca finishes at 10:10.
🔎 Rule 4: Count arrivals, exclude departures
A person is present from their start time up to, but not including, their finish time. Count someone who arrives exactly at the stated time; exclude someone who leaves exactly then.
Example: Bianca finishes at 10:10, so she is not counted at exactly 10:10.
Two More Worked Examples
Here are two more examples showing how to count active people at an exact time and how to read intervals accurately from the timeline.
Count Who Is Present at an Exact Time
Question: How many swimmers were swimming at exactly 10:10?
Worked Method
Step 1: At 10:10, count swimmers who have started and have not yet finished.
Step 2: Paloma left at 10:05. Bianca finishes exactly at 10:10, so neither is counted.
Step 3: Cynthia and Kenji are still swimming at 10:10. Steve starts at 10:15, so he is not counted yet.
Answer: 2 swimmers.
Read a Duration from the Bar
Question: How many minutes did Kenji spend swimming?
Worked Method
Step 1: Kenji's bar starts at 09:50 and ends at 10:30.
Step 2: From 09:50 to 10:00 is 10 minutes, and from 10:00 to 10:30 is another 30 minutes. Add them: 10 + 30 = 40 minutes.
Answer: 40 minutes.
Tip: Each interval between labelled gridlines is 10 minutes. Kenji's bar spans four intervals (4 × 10 = 40 minutes), with five gridlines marking their boundaries. Count intervals, not gridlines.
