Finding durations that cross hour boundaries or span multiple hours (e.g., 10:45 to 13:20), including counting on through noon/midnight.
Where your child meets this in real life: Working out journey times, shift lengths at work, or how long until an event
Each SEAG paper has 28 maths questions. Questions 29 to 50 are multiple choice with five possible answers, and questions 51 to 56 need a short written answer. With 56 questions in 60 minutes across English and maths, that is about a minute per question.
SEAGReady breaks calculate complex time durations into 3 steps, taught in order so each skill builds on the last.
Calculate duration when start and end times cross exactly one hour boundary (e.g., 10:45 to 11:20)
Calculate duration when start and end times span two or more complete hours (e.g., 10:45 to 13:20)
Calculate duration when times cross noon (am to pm) or midnight (pm to am), including in 24-hour format
Try three free questions from our calculate complex time durations course. They start easy and get harder, so you can see where your child's confidence runs out. If they manage the last one without a hint, this topic is probably secure. If not, the steps above show where to start.
The clocks show when Sean's football practice starts and finishes. How long is his football practice?
The displays show when a coach trip leaves and arrives. How long does the journey take?
The displays show when Thomas fell asleep and woke up the next day. How long did he sleep?
This is the exact interactive worked example your child sees in SEAGReady. Step through it and watch the method build up.
Olivia's swimming lesson starts at 10:45 and finishes at 11:20.
How long is her swimming lesson?
10:45 to 11:20
Start at 10:45. How many minutes to reach 11:00?
Step 1 of 4
Olivia's swimming lesson starts at 10:45 and finishes at 11:20.
How long is her swimming lesson?
Olivia's swimming lesson lasts 35 minutes.
The key insight: Bridge through the hour: count to :00, then add the rest!
Common mix-up: 11:20 − 10:45 = 0:75 = 75 minutes. You cannot subtract times like regular numbers. 20 − 45 gives a negative, which means you need to bridge through the hour.
These are the misconceptions we see most often in calculate complex time durations, including the ones our practice questions are specifically designed to catch.
Struggling with calculate complex time durations? The real gap is often in one of these earlier topics.
Sitting the SEAG test this November? Read our last-month revision plan, Paper 1 vs Paper 2 and test day guide.
SEAGReady finds the exact step where your child gets stuck, teaches it with worked examples like the one above, and brings it back for review so it sticks.
Free to start · no card needed