The following tips are specific to maritime license written examinations and can also have application to other forms of training and subject matter. Proven over many years of serving as instructor for a wide variety of training syllabus and technologies. Some of them may fit your needs, other ideas may not. Regardless of what type of test taker you are, or become, you should at the least plan for the big day in a very directed fashion.
Here are a few tips for your consideration:
Highlight the Correct Answers - Perfect for use in practice books with sample questions. Pertaining to a good, sound study regiment this is based on the fact that you are preparing for examination and in reality you only test once. Everything prep is before the event, retest after if not successful. Taking a pre-test is not a good indication of your readiness to pass the examination. Reading the question with the correct answer rapidly builds familiarity and recall, increasing the odds of passing.
Utilize Scratch Paper - A slang term for blank copy paper. Permitted in the test room by USCG standards, an innovative, simple tool for study aids such as Memory Graphics for the Rules of the Road examination, considered one of the toughest of the license modules. Numerous other uses include writing the exam question down on paper then attempting to answer before looking at the multiple choices. Blank paper can be used as a dumping ground for all the formulas and other bits of information you have stored in your memory. Downloading this data prior to taking the test also helps concentrate your focus on the intense task at hand.
Never Change Your Answer - Unless you are 100%, without any doubt, positive that you are making the proper move to correct a wrong answer. Most of the time your "gut feeling" is the right decision and also your first selection!
Plan For Success - Throughout history this has been an undeniable truth...You Are What You Think. Given the option, envision success. Anything else is a mental commitment to failure, the exact opposite of what you seek.
Design Your Countdown Clock - Everyone needs a push now and then to defeat the enemy; Procrastination. Developing an internal countdown to test day helps reduce the incidence of this happening and compels you to study more effectively...high frequency, short periods of intense study of the material. If the examination consists of modules then prepare in the very same sequence you intend on taking the series of tests.
PASS THE EXAM !!!
