Hey Guys,
Although I haven't posted on this forum before, I have been ghosting these forums for the past few months as I studied.
Some really good info, I would just like to share my exam experience as it was certainly unique (to me anyway)
I'll start by saying my practice exam score leading up to this were around 65-89% with a average of 75%. I was thinking about delaying the test, but since my work had paid for it I thought I could use this to at least get some exam experience.
The Test,
Firstly, once I completed the test I honestly thought i failed. When I got to the last question and confirmed the end of the test, I had already made up my mind 30 questions ago that I had failed.
I really struggled with the first 1-12 questions and simlets, my concentration was all over the place. I was struggling to even read basic "Show Run" outputs and answer simple questions. The noise in the testing room (even with earphones) was very off putting. I really got myself worked up and was slightly pee'd off with other candidates making noise, basically it was all turning into a bit of a nightmare. Thoughts about revising again and going through the whole exam experience also cropped up during questions.
There was 54 questions in 90 minutes. I worked out that I would need to be roughly at question 27 with 45 minutes to go. I wrote that on the laminate paper they gave me to remind me.
I was at
question 14,
with 42 minutes to go and struggling. At that point I sat back from the screen and sighed and thought "i have failed so I might as well try to relax and just get on with it and see what happens". It was probably the best thing that could have happened. From that point on, I rarely thought more than twice about a question. When the question came up and I didn't know the answer I just clicked my best guess and moved on immediately. I never tried to second guess myself at any point. I proceeded to answer 40 questions in 32 minutes, before I knew it I had completed the last question and still had 10 minutes to go. I pressed "End Test" waiting for the fail and it said "Congratulations you have PASSED, Your Score:870".
Now that was a turn up for the books!
So really, just remember things can go wrong....like REALLY wrong in the exam, but the best thing you can do is sit back and relax when answering the questions. Being 10 cm away from the screen is not going to help. Try and get comfortable and not all hunched up. If you struggle with concentration like me, try and devise some plans or tests to see what can stimulate you and get you focused. If that means eating or drink at a certain time or avoiding certain things like music, then it will help you on the day. Most importantly, it's not over until you see that result at the end, anything is possible.
Good luck to everyone who is sitting their exam soon. Cheers
