The "View PDF" button is really just a convenience for having the SmarterMaths system generate a side-by-side landscape pdf. This is done by our servers, and can take some time, however you can get the same functionality (on exactly the same page you would press the "View PDF" button) by instead using "File->Print" from your browser menu.
When you print or generate a pdf this way, there is nothing to download, and no waiting time!
Here's how to get the best results...
After selecting "File->Print", for Chrome (and this will vary a little for Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari), you will see the following page - make sure the "Headers and footers" checkbox is deselected (this just stops the date, url string and other unnecessary information from printing) and have the "Background graphics" checked as shown in the image immediately below, and then click "Print using system dialog ..."
Once you've clicked "Print using system dialog ..." you will see a dialog box similar to the one below (but it will vary depending upon if you're using Windows/Mac and the OS version.)
Your specific printer brand and model will likely be different, but that is of little consequence, and you would select "Pages per Sheet: 2" as you can see in the image below. It is normally set to 1, but you must manually change it to 2 for the side by side printing. With a Mac operating system, one would then either press "Print", to send it to the printer, or select the PDF dropdown that you can see at the bottom of the below image and save it as a PDF, but for some operating systems you have to "Print as PDF". Either way, the important part is to ensure you select 2 pages per sheet, and that is something that can be done on both windows and mac.
Need more help?
If you can't follow these instructions with your specific setup, but really want this type of zero-wait printing, let us know (you can email us at support@smartermaths.com.au) and we'll put together the exact instructions for your specific setup - just let us know your operating system and version (e.g. Windows 7, or 8, etc.) and your browser and version (e.g. Internet Explorer 11.0, or Chrome version 42.0.2311.90, etc..)
Other Printing Hints
By the way, even with the "View as PDF" button, the server work will never take more than about 30 seconds to generate your pdf (downloading may take extra - see below for more on this). And the message should look like it does in this image:
And then after some time, that will not normally be longer than about 30 seconds, the message should change from the spinning circle and "Your worksheet is being prepared, etc.." to a tick mark and say "Your browser will now download your worksheet." Depending upon your internet connection speed, it could take some time to download, since the server generated files are quite large.