section 4 exam tips? strategies?

[sayakiyoho]

Hi all, do you guys  have any tips for taking exam 4? any strategies?

I plan on doing all the word questions (multiple choice; multiple response) first, and come back to graphic drag drop/grading questions. I have heard about long essay complicated excessive information included in some of the graphic ones and I have had experience using 20 minutes on a grading/inv pipe question. So I think its very important for me to save enough time for graphic/grading questions too but also get as much as I can from non-graphic questions; I do spend a lot time reading and can't decide answers for multiple response question and that eat up lots of time. A plan like 2 hrs on non-graphic questions, almost 2 hours for others and 10-15 min to review?

any thoughts/suggestions to best utilize the time? this test is expensive I want to pass :(

good luck everyone!

[skapalnart]

It looks like you have figured out the right strategy, which is what I used, but it didn't quite played out that way.

It's pretty much impossible to finish the non-graphic questions in 2 hours. You have 120 questions: 100 actual and 20 "gotcha" questions, all in 4 hours? Let's be realistic!

It would have been great to have 2 hours for graphic questions, but that was not the case. If you know your stuff that well, then maybe it will go as planned, but based on my experience I doubt it.

Some questions might be able to be completed in 30 seconds, but others are more complex. Try to stay within 2 minute or less per question, otherwise you'll run out of time.

It would be great to know how did it go for you compared to as planned!

Also, it would be a great feature on the exam to be able to skip all the graphic questions until the end without seeing them; that way at least you know you completed the most part of the exam.

I doubt CLARB will make this feature possible.

Wish you all the best!

[AC]

Your strategy will work best! address all multiple choice first.

when I took the exam i was going in order, then in the middle I realized how much it was actually taking me so I decided to address all multiple choice, one answer questions first. Then I came back and did the ones that required more time. Wish I would've done that since I started the test... 

On Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 5:15:59 PM UTC-7 sayakiyoho wrote:

[Kindra E. - One of a Kind Farm]

Practice using a computer calculator and a whiteboard paint board to do the grading/math problems. 

[skapalnart]

A calculator on the computer might be helpful, but a white board no!

As far as I know, we learn by doing, hands on, pen and paper, thinking into action.

White board is not palpable and can be very time consuming.

If we learn to use the white board just to pass an exam, how practical is that?

I wonder how many offices do use white board to go grading?

I haven't heard of one yet.

[Kindra E. - One of a Kind Farm]

All you are given is an online calculator and a cumbersome whiteboard. I recommend you get used to doing the problems with these tools to speed up your test taking.

[r k]

some testing centers aren't allowing paper for notes or calculations.  It has to happen entirely on the computer screen using the built in calc and whiteboard.  

So this is actually great advice.  

[Douglas Short]

The worst part about the computer white board they provide is that it has a tremendous lag, so you are "writing" on the board and nothing shows up for a few beats, then it starts showing up and sometimes big bits show up--it's very disconcerting.  Just took two parts and this was the case at two different testing centers.  It's absurd we can't use pencil/paper as one would do in the real world.

[Sarah Gronquist]

One of my students figured out a great hack. She used the Comments box to make notes. She said it was much more stable than the whiteboard, as long as you remember to save. Your notes are right there with the question. 

You can't draw in the Comments box but you can't really draw in the Whiteboard either...

On Monday, September 11, 2023 at 11:49:47 AM UTC-7 hio...@gmail.com wrote:

I meant 6-10min, which still impedes with the ability to take the exam efficiently. 

Le lundi 11 septembre 2023 à 11:18:23 UTC-7, Hui Yang a écrit :

Another problem with the digital clipboard alternative to scratch paper is that it does not stay open throughout the duration of the exam. You will need to close, then reopen the clipboard each time moving to a new item, otherwise any input data will be lost if you simply keep it open. The clipboard also opens at a default size, so once it fills up, you'll always need to resize or scroll each time. With 100 items, that can be a loss of 10 minutes (3 seconds opening then closing clipboard), even 12-15 minutes with navigation or manipulation of the window. 

Of course, experimenting with the clipboard is possible with the few items on the CLARB Demo exam but when actually in practice during the exam and amplified to 100 items, it becomes a technical inconvenience which interfered with my test-taking experience. We can agree it's a given to expect candidates to have a knowledge of basic computing skills, but counterintuitive or underdeveloped beta apps that are irrelevant to our actual knowledge and test-taking ability should not be acceptable until effective and ready to release. 

In addition, flagging items can be difficult to manage because some items you're more sure of than others. If you want to build on an existing system, could be helpful to introduce the option of two flags (or red flag and yellow flag), so when it comes to reviewing at the end, you're able to prioritize and check the items you're less certain about first. Again, this would be much less burdensome and time-consuming with scratch paper or removable physical whiteboard in a physical testing center. 

Architecture/ ARE candidates launched a petition, but seems the decision is final as CLARB followed NCARB who is also contracted with PSI.

https://www.ncarb.org/blog/digital-whiteboard-replacing-physical-scratch-paper

PSI appears to be the Walmart of testing centers with absence of QC as not all PSI testing centers are equal. Streamlining costs has applied across the board for all disciplines. Take FAA exams for example. 

https://www.atec-amt.org/news/psi-notifies-third-party-test-centers-of-fee-reimbursement-decrease

During the last exam, I went to a different center. There was only one proctor scurrying about as streams of candidates flowed in and packed into a small room. I arrived 15 min early as recommended but started 45 min later. The desk dividers were thin, warped and looked like someone tore them off from an amazon box in a warehouse. Unfortunately, my peripheral vision was unable to screen out my neighbor's fluorescent yellow earplugs in his ears and I could practically hear him breathe during the whole exam. No quality earmuffs provided despite considerable level of noise outside at a busy urban intersection - just a set of flimsy non-functioning call-center headphones from the 90s with extended talkpiece that ultimately ended up being a psychological placebo. 

Prometric, on the other hand, which was CLARB's previous testing contractor, still currently allows scratch paper. One would think that a profession whose fundamental skill set is based on visuospatial eye-hand-brain processing would elect to stay with Prometric (3. End of Test Procedures). We are still living in a hybrid world - society hasn't moved to completely eliminate paper and no office I know of operates on a fully digital basis. 

https://www.prometric.com/covid-19-update/test-center-policies 

All that said, the actual exam content seemed +/- fine with me. Considering the already substantial effort with Task Analysis, it should be of equal high priority when administering the exam to ensure candidates are equipped to properly execute their knowledge.