Managing Your Time Effectively During the Exam

One key element of your exam success is your ability to manage your time during the CBAP or CCBA exam period. The math is simple: you have 3.5 hours to answer 150 multiple choice questions. That's 210 minutes. So if you are able to strive for a pace of about 1 question answered per minute (more or less) your could answer your 150 questions and then have an extra hour to review everything. Be aware that spending an average of 90 seconds per question puts you 15 minutes over the time window for the exam.

While a "minute per question" timing sounds optimal, you will find that not every question and its set of answers can be read and answered in 60 seconds. Some questions will contain a lot of text, some questions may be a bit more difficult to reason through, and some questions you may just not know the answer to. Of course, these kinds of questions are usually balanced out by the ones that you read through swiftly and answer correctly.  So what is a test taker to do?

There are three pieces of advice relative to your time management skills when sitting your exam. 

1. Do not skim, skip or assume anything. If you see a question and a set of answers that looks almost exactly like one of your practice questions, don't assume that the correct answer is "C" and move on. Read the entire question and all its the possible answers before selecting your answer. Adult readers are notorious for skimming, scanning and searching versus just reading what is there in front of them. When you work through your practice questions, practice your "thorough, swift and accurate" reading skills. The more you practice this, the better you will be. Some folks like to read the question first and then the four possible answers. Others like to read the answers, then read the question.

2. Do not waste too much time on a single question. If you are stuck answering one particular question, don't stay with that question for too long. You have two choices: (1) skip the question and come back to try and answer it later on, or (2) select the best answer from the set of four multiple choice answers, mark the question for further review, and come back to it later if you have the time. I really prefer option #2 which allows me to answer everything and then go back and re-read the questions I wasn't sure about if I have the time. If I don't have the time, this approach minimizes my scoring risk since I attempted an answer versus not answering a question. Since you are not penalized for incorrect answers, do answer all 150 exam questions.

3. Iterate through your set of questions multiple times. Since your exam is most likely online, you will be able to access all 150 questions, one question at a time. You can mark questions you are unsure about, and you can see a menu offering you a list of questions you have and have not answered. A paper-based exam is not all that different, except that you have the full set of questions printed out right there in front of you. Take advantage of this test environment and consider iterating through your questions. Go through everything, answer what you are sure of and skip the rest. Make a second pass and pick up the ones you were unsure about or thought you didn't know.

Well, those are my three "do nots" for managing your time wisely when sitting your CBAP or CCBA exam. Good luck!

Susan Weese