The Principles of Public Speaking DSST is probably one of the most confusing exams Prometric offers. Even though the Fact Sheet does a good job of explaining the format, most people are still caught off guard—mainly because they underestimate that second part: the dreaded speech. The first part of the exam is multiple-choice and, good news, it's not timed. But once you finish the questions, the real challenge begins. The speech portion is timed, and that’s where many test-takers run into trouble. Here’s how it works: once you’re done with the question section, the proctor will hand you a specific topic—along with an intended audience for your speech. You’ll then have 10 minutes to write a 3-5 minute persuasive speech. And here’s the kicker: if your speech runs under 3 minutes or goes over 5, you automatically fail the exam. It sounds harsh, but really, they’re giving you a minute and a half of leeway, which is actually pretty generous. The speech is graded on a pass/fail basis. As long as you stay within the time frame and make a coherent, convincing argument, you should be okay. We’ll cover the speech section in more detail a little later, but for now, let’s take a look at what you can expect from the question portion of the exam.