The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for supporting user equipment in task execution, which are used to resolve a problem that a result of measurement and/or synchronization performed by user equipment is erroneous. In the method, a first network-side device acquires duration of a cell working state, where the duration of the cell working state includes duration for which a cell performs signal sending and/or duration for which the cell does not perform signal sending; and the first network-side device determines a time for user equipment to perform measurement and/or synchronization, where the time for the user equipment to perform measurement is within a range of duration for which a to-be-measured cell performs signal sending, and the time for the user equipment to perform synchronization is within a range of duration for which a serving cell performs signal sending.