This was going to be easy, Debbie Mallery said to herself as she sat down to take her test, a midterm exam covering the basics of restaurant management. She had spent a few hours the previous night and an hour right before class studying key terms and concepts. She felt she knew the material. She felt ready.

Debbie was surprised to see, though, that the exam had two parts: a multiple-choice section and an essay section. Debbie hadn't thought about what she might say in an essay. But she figured working on the multiple-choice questions might help give her some ideas.

The first two multiple-choice questions Debbie answered easily, but she got stuck on the third one. She went back and forth over two possible answers and finally decided just to leave that question blank. The pattern was the same for the rest of the multiple-choice questions. A few questions Debbie would answer easily, then she'd get stuck on a hard one.

Finally, Debbie finished the multiple-choice questions and came to the essay. Only then did she notice the instructions that indicated the essay was worth 50 points, and the multiple-choice questions 25 points. Then Debbie got another shock: She realized she had 10 minutes left to write her essay! Her mind froze-and Debbie had the horrible feeling that she didn't have enough time to complete the test. Even though she had studied, Debbie now felt certain she would fail.

If you were in Debbie's shoes, what would you do with only 10 minutes left in the test?