Thefollowing is a review and comparison of the available online question banks for the Core Exam.1Not included are the various casebook series such as A Core Review which overlap as well and are discussed in this post. More detailed and generate thoughts on approaching the Core Exam are here.
Because RadPrimer is free for many if not most residents and is big, the other resources have an upward climb to be worth your time and money. I was able to secure reader discounts for BoardVitals and RadsQuestions.
Verdict: BV has all the trappings. Software and product are much better than FTC or RTB. In 2016, I gave FTC an edge on question content, but recent consensus has been that BV is the strongest content-wise compared with the other choices. Qevlar has some neat software tricks and is cheap, but BV has the stronger questions if you want to pay a bit more.
Verdict: Great value and worth a go due to its software, usability, and overall quality. Questions are a bit patchy and certainly not inclusive but great for getting into Core mode and an easy choice (along with Physics 300) for studying on the go.
Question Quality: Overall, the good FTC questions are really solid. They definitely retain the feel of the real deal and do by far the best job of integrating physics. Given the number of irritating gotcha questions, I think integrated physics may even be the true highlight of the product. The quality control is a bit off, and I think there are probably more truly bad questions than Qevlar. FTC also has the most typos and other such issues than any product except Rock The Boards. The practice exams are both just compilations of their highest-rated questions in other sections, so they make for nice self-assessments.
Design & Software: Software is busted. Images appear as warped thumbnails and must be clicked on to enlarge. No tutor mode, must finish a section to read answers/explanations. You can submit feedback on a per-question basis, which is nice. Feedback responses are prompt, though I got the distinct impression the RTB staff got tired of me pointing out their mistakes.
Question Quality: Overall decent questions. Clearly a product of recent residents. Explanations are super thin (incorrect answers are rarely explained) and contain a noticeable number of errors. Also lots of typos. Combination of inadequate explanations and black pearls demonstrates a serious lack of polish.
I want to do Radprimer and one other qbank, and I was going to go with Qevlar but your most recent reply to a comment makes me think maybe I should do Board Vitals? Do you have any new insight into whether Qevlar or BV is better? Thanks!
Wanted to chime in with some of my thoughts on Radiology Cored, having worked through the whole QBank in my boards study. Agree that it tests decent, high-yield facts but not at all reflective of the format of the real Core exam.
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If you are in the field of security, or if you're looking to get your foot in the door, you have probably heard about the dreaded CompTIA Security+ certification exam. In this article, I'm going to share with you some important tips/tricks and helpful resources that I used to pass the exam. But before we begin, let's go through the exam format.
CompTIA recommends gaining 2 years of IT experience along with the A+ and Networking+ certifications before taking Security+. This is because these exams help build a foundation for Security+. However, while these would certainly help in understanding the core concepts, it is possible to pass the exam without them. When I took the exam, I didn't take any of the previous exams and I had little to no experience in cybersecurity! To help you study, I've compiled a list of resources that I relied heavily on along with everything I did to prepare for the exam.
These summarize my experiences studying for and passing the Security+ exam. While it is a hard exam, having a schedule and sticking to it is going to make all the difference. It's important to note that taking breaks is healthy, but not studying for even five days in a stretch can really put you behind again. Find breaks that are consistent with your schedule, long enough to keep you sane but also short enough to retain what you have already learned. Setting milestones and goals will help keep you determined. Also, the great part about certifications is that you always have a second shot even if the first doesn't go as planned. Failure is a lesson learned, and you'll learn so much going into your second attempt. The key is to not give up. Finally, remember that nothing is better than investing in yourself. Regardless, if you're about to take the Security+ exam, know that you are already putting yourself ahead of the curve.
I am currently preparing to take the PSMI and it seems I am doing exactly what you did in terms of reading and mock test taking even before reading your post. So it's good to know that this level of preparation may lead to success on a first attempt.
Lots of questions from all the different sources were here in exam, like word-to-word questions... so to answer them was no-brainer, because you memorize everything during mock exams. But a few questions were rather challenging. Somehow I managed to nail most of them. I guess you just start thinking logically and apply common sense in such cases. I prepared lots of notes in advance, but oddly enough I didn't use them. Everything is my notes I remembered by heart, and for every "puzzling question" i could't find clear answer on the internet.
I've been studing for the test since last week: read the Scrum Guide many, many times, took my own notes and done the free mock tests (open assessments in
scrum.org and michael). I started getting very good grades in a row (more tham 95% in average in both) and decided to buy the password for the certification.
Then I read your tips in the forum, and went in
volkerdon.com as well. Harder mock tests, failed in the first one (40 test questions), barely passed in the second and third mocks. As you mentioned, `trickier` questions (attend x participate) , detailed questions not in the Scrum Guide (cone of uncertainty, scrum poker, technical debt, sucess metrics for PO, automated builds, scrum of scrums, integrated Increment) - though one can guess after a while.
For ELLA WODZINSKA, thanks for the suggestion of investing (not spending!) USD 10,00 in It was really worth for me. In my opinion their questions are the more similar ones to the real exam. Thanks also for the tip to "look for the obvious "no way!" answers and exclude them." Not so obvious if you only practice with the open assessments. Important tip for non-native speakers, like me.
And finally, thanks to Orkhan Efendiev for answering my previous questions. At that moment I was really panicking (could not find any other Brazilian which passed the test recently), so your answers gave me the confidence I needed to keep going, that I was in the right path.
2) I was really afraid about the site performance issues that were mentioned in many forums, but I didn't have any (maybe because it was Friday!). My tip is: try to select a time for the real exam where there are (probably) less users logged in.
3) I finalized the test in 45min, so I had time to go over all my bookmarked questions. In order words: manage time. Practice the other assesments (open, quizzes, mock) much as possible to finalize early, very early. It can be tough, because in real life, after all hours studying and knowing that you have only one attempt to pass, it's really tempting to submit the test and get the final results asap. By taking time to carefully review your bookmarked questions, for sure you will improve your score.
For ELLA WODZINSKA, thanks for the suggestion of investing (not spending!) USD 10,00 in It was really worth for me. In my opinion their questions are the more similar ones to the real exam. Thanks also for the tip to "look for the obvious "no way!" answers and exclude them." Not so obvious if you only practice with the open assessments. Important tip for non-native speakers, like me. And finally, thanks to Orkhan Efendiev for answering my previous questions. At that moment I was really panicking (could not find any other Brazilian which passed the test recently), so your answers gave me the confidence I needed to keep going, that I was in the right path.
Above you wrote that real exam on
scrum.org was slow. How do you think (or maybe somebody else), is it enough 45 seconds per question or maybe due to slow the user will have only 35-40 seconds per question?
I just cleared PSPO I yesterday with 88.8% score. I think you would have sufficient time to answer all the questions and come back to bookmarked questions if you have gone through the open assessment practice tests and those on other free practice sites mentioned above with attention and prepared well.
I cleared the PSM1 certification today with a score of 96.3%. It was my first attempt and I must confess I was really nervous before clicking that 'Start Assessment' button. I would like to thank people in this forum who have shared their experiences and preparation strategies which worked tremendously for me. I have been practicing scrum since many years as part of the Development team and that really helped me in understanding the concepts of the Scrum Guide. My prep strategy:
6.Purchased the mock tests from
www.volkerdon.com for 12$. A lot of their questions are really helpful and tricky and would clear a lot of your concepts which are not covered in the Open Assessments.
My main conclusion of this is that you don't need to have previous practical experience as Scrum Master. Currently I am working as Project Manager following PRINCE 2 methodology. This fact didn't impact my preparation for PSM I exam at all.
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