EXAM - What's done is done ...

Well, the exam date came. I'm pretty certain I didn't pass.

When I arrived at the location, a half hour early, there were signs that the room location had changed. Fortunately, it was easy to find. I tend to stress out over such things.

The exam started promptly at 8:00AM.

I read through and answered about half the questions in the first 2:15 hours. In this first pass, I circled probable answers and crossed out improbable answers. This really helped later as time was running out. If I didn't answer the question, I circled the entire question block for ease of finding it the next pass.

After this first pass, I took about a ten minute break to stretch my legs. I think four straight hours necessitates a quick "breather".

Then I went back and looked up (or tried to look up) about 20-30 more. It's funny that in the second pass, some questions became clearer and an obvious answer became apparent. Unfortunately, not in all cases.

Then with a half hour left, I just started to re-read questions and just pick the right answer, often taking my choice from the first pass. This is probably where I lost it.

With 15 minutes left, I had to select something, but in almost all cases I was able to rule out some answers or determine some reasonable answers to increase the 25% probability of selecting one out of four answers.

There were about 4 questions where I completely guessed at the answer. There were also about a dozen that had two correct answers.

It was way too hectic at the end. I feel I needed a better completion percentage on the first pass.

A couple observations:

- No questions on CMM, but 2-4 on CMMI
- No questions relating specifically to Deming, Juran, Crosby, etc.
- Only a few of the multi-level multiple choice questions. This was a nice surprise.
- There were a few questions on standards.

Cyclomatic complexity, PERT, histograms, pareto, defect rates, earned value were all addressed with 1-3 questions. The questions were "all over the board" as far as subject matter.

I created a grid to track my probability of right answers during the exam. It contained the question number and check boxes for 90%, 75%, 50%, and 25% probability. I don't think you can ever say you're 100% certain on this exam. I took a slightly pessimistic approach to determining probability. When I tallied up and multiplied by the probability at the end, I figure I scored about 50%. Yup. That's bad.

Prior to time running out (10-15 minute mark), count the answers you recorded on the answer sheet. Make sure there are 160.

Keeping the appendix and index separate was crucial to fast lookups. That really helped. The ASQ Glossary was useful but not critical. I referenced it a few times. It helped to reinforce knowledge.

Although I didn't do well, this is not an impossible exam. I think a couple more weeks could have made a difference. It was challenging, but do-able.

Now I just kick back and wait for the results.