Is there truly a balance

Is there actually a moment at which I could stop the microwave and have all my popcorn popped. It seems to me a razor thin line between having a bunch of unpopped kernals and a solid chuck of charcoal.

You could pop your popcorn one kernal at a time. Just how important is perfection to you?
Most microwave popcorn manufacturers recommend waiting until the pops are about three seconds apart to shut off the microwave. Works for me!