How long to wait before i look at the solution while preparing for a competitive exam
I am currently a Physics MSc Graduate from India. To get good PhD positions with a good stipend in India there is a competitive exam known as CSIR-NET. It's an MCQ based exam where they test problem solving and understanding as you'd expect.
Issue is my college in which I did both my BSc and MSc mainly focused on derivations and theory, so while im pretty good at reproducing derivations my problem solving skills are lacking. I frequently look at a problem and just bang my head having no idea what to do. And worse I sometimes think ik what to do and get an ans I'm confident in, but which is wrong when I look at the solution . I have essentially 6 months to build it up for the exam.
One big issue i struggle with is how long to wait before i look at the solution. Earlier I used to wait 5 mins after going nowhere and look at the solution. I've since increased that time however I still dk how much is enough cos most of the time I end up looking at the solutions anyway. Obviously 40+ mins is not possible if I wish to finish the syllabus in time. So any advice would be appreciated.
(I've uploaded some random problems I was doing just to give you an idea, I can upload more if you guys want a better idea)