test taking strategy and tips

[smtitmas]

i'll admit that when it comes to studying for and taking a test, that im not the quickest knife in the drawer. ;) my construction experience started at 16 and every thing i'v learned over the past 22 years has come from either 'on the job' experience or 'on the way to the job' so large scale test taking is not that familiar to me. i want to improve my study habits over the next 6 weeks and develop some useful test taking strategys for the Florida licensed contractors exam that i've applied for. for those of you not familiar with floridas exam it is one of, if not THE, hardest and most involved contractors licensesing exam in the country. it consists of 170 questions over 2 days in an open book format that covers everything from legal issues, accounting, taxes, business structure, concrete and rebar science, estimating, AIA contracts, OSHA, and of course floridas wonderful building code book. this is probably the single biggest 'test' that i have ever attempted and i want to hear from any of you guys or girls who have taken similar type exams and how you have prepared for them and what types of strategys you used.

[BigLou80]

Sean

I did really well on my SAT's hung over if that helps.

What kinda test is it ? Multiple guess ? essay ? one line answers ?
My guess would be its a multiple guess test to avoid subjectivity.

You can almost always eliminate at least 2 of the answers right off the bat so don't waste any time evaluating the correctness of those answers.

Trust your gut more then 90% of the time your first answer is your right answer. never change an answer unless you are 100% sure your first answer was wrong.

Answer the questions you can easily answer first. Save the other ones for later. that will save you some stress and if you run out of time you will have answered more questions.

good luck

Lou

[Norm Yeager]

Smitmas,
I've taken the S.C. & Tennessee G.C. tests successfully. Soon to take the Georgia test.
A couple thoughts'
1).Invest or borrow all the books- you don't have a chance without them
2). Tab the books, if allowed, so you don't spend needless time looking through tables of contents or indexes
3). Go through the test and answer all the questions you're sure you know. Mark the ones you're reasonably sure of and concentrate on them second, and so on
4). There are undoubtedly courses you can find that will help you prepare, it's probably worth the investment
5). I don't know about the Florida test but the ones I've taken were multiple choice with four possible answers - make sure you answer every question during the time you have. Go back as you have time to evaluate the answers you weren't sure of.
6). Learn to navigate your way through the books efficiently. I don't believe the tests are as much about what you know as they are about your ability to find an answer. I probably answered 50% of the questions without the books but when you get a question like "how thick does a 100 sq. ft glass panel have to be if it's 20 ' above ground , in a class 3 wind zone" or some other equally uncommon knowledge question, you must know how to find the answer.
7). Take a few timed practice tests and study for 10- 20 hrs. before you take the test.
Hope you do well

[NW Architect]

All of the above is absolutely on-point. I would add 1 thing:
As you work through study guides (one's that eventually tell you the correct answer) figure out if the test writers want the "academic" answer or the "real world" answer. You will often find that the two answers you may be debating on any one question boil down to this choice.

Example:
If, having properly filed your advance Lien Rights Notice, your client fails to make timely payment against your invoice, what should you do?
A (Stupid answer)
B (Equally stupid answer)
C Stop work and file a lien
D Phone the client to make sure all paperwork was correct, and secure the date by which the client will make the payment

good luck!

[MarkNov]

Florida exam appears similar to the Quebec exam; open book, similar duration and topics. I wrote it four years ago and passed on my first attempt.

The advice about tabbing the books is an excellent one. That is exactly what I did and, since the test was an open book, was perfectly acceptable. Don't try to memorize the information, just know where to find the answer.

Know what is or might be important. Depth of footings, height of railings, statements that impose responsibility, maximum and minimum numbers, etc all appear on exams in one form or another. Highlight and tab.

The business part of the exam is the most challenging part, at least on the Quebec exam. I have a business degree, and I had to recall concepts that I learned in my last year of study, and still answered three questions wrong.

You should know the difference between an Income Statement and the Balance Sheet. Be aware that assets like trucks and equipment are in the balance sheet and the depreciation of these assets is in the income statement. You will need to combine the info from both to calculate overhead, and/or hourly charges.
You might be asked to calculate the Accounts Receivable turnover ratio, working capital, etc.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/...noverratio.asp

I have to disagree slightly on the "real world' vs "academic" concept. On an exam the right answer is the academic one.

One of the most important concepts in finance is that things get paid in order of cost, not the amount. The most expensive debts in terms of interest are paid first, not the biggest ones. As an example if you owe a supplier $10K and he charges 5% for late payment, and you have the $10k, but you can get 6%
at the bank, the right exam answer is: supplier does not get paid.

I know, try that in real life.


Don't get stuck on a question. For example, 20 questions on an hour exam gives you 3 minutes per question. Some will take less, save the time and comeback to the more difficult ones at the end. If you run out of time, guess.

MAKE SURE YOU MARK YOUR ANSWER IN THE PROPER PLACE. Nothing worse that filling in row 4 when you are answering question 3.

Bring a couple of GOOD erasers and lots of sharp pencils.
Get a good night sleep. Don't worry about the exams you already did, think ahead to the next one.

Good luck

Mark

[Justin Thomas]

Smitmas,
I've taken the S.C. & Tennessee G.C. tests successfully. Soon to take the Georgia test.
A couple thoughts'
1).Invest or borrow all the books- you don't have a chance without them
2). Tab the books, if allowed, so you don't spend needless time looking through tables of contents or indexes
3). Go through the test and answer all the questions you're sure you know. Mark the ones you're reasonably sure of and concentrate on them second, and so on
4). There are undoubtedly courses you can find that will help you prepare, it's probably worth the investment
5). I don't know about the Florida test but the ones I've taken were multiple choice with four possible answers - make sure you answer every question during the time you have. Go back as you have time to evaluate the answers you weren't sure of.
6). Learn to navigate your way through the books efficiently. I don't believe the tests are as much about what you know as they are about your ability to find an answer. I probably answered 50% of the questions without the books but when you get a question like "how thick does a 100 sq. ft glass panel have to be if it's 20 ' above ground , in a class 3 wind zone" or some other equally uncommon knowledge question, you must know how to find the answer.
7). Take a few timed practice tests and study for 10- 20 hrs. before you take the test.
Hope you do well

Norm made some good suggestions. When I took my VA exam I went to a exam prep class by the American Contractors Exam Prep company. Not that I'm trying to tell you to take a short cut but they have people that work for them and go into all of the state exams and pull questions from that exam and pretty much will tell you all of the questions that will be on it.
VA was open book as well. So if you take the class they will outline 90% of all the answers to the questions that will be on the exam. Open book or not if things aren't tabbed and Highlighted you just will not be able to find the answers to what you need in the time you are given.
I don't know if American Contractors Exam Prep gives a seminar for Florida but if they do I would highly recommend it.

[Kye GC]

Titty, do they have the test prep schools there? If they do, you should definately go. I've taken and passed the contractors exam on the first try in both AZ and CA. In AZ I did the test prep school and I was totally prepared and nailed the test. Later in CA I spent 4x the amount studying the books and had several years of contracting experience under my belt but barely passed. If Florida's test is anything like other states, there will be some wacky a$$ questions that have nothing to do with contracting.



Kye

[Stacey]

I passed the AK exam 10 years ago. We could only bring a UBC 94 book.

I'd find out how many questions are on the exam and what the minimum passing score is. You just need to pass. So take a practice exam from one of the test prep books and see how you do.

Make sure to time it within the same time frame that the normal test will take. So if it's a 2 day test, plan a weekend for taking a prep test and see how you do. Then you will get a feel of how you do under pressure, how long it will take for you to think about all the questions and how to answer them, and how many roughly you can pass without any studying right now. Then you'll know how much studying you need to do and what kinds of things you don't know well.

I got a low score when I passed the exam, but I passed it and that's all that matters. And my husband was REALLY happy he didn't have to sit for it :)

Last year I passed the NCIDQ (national interior design exam). Again I didn't get the best scores, but I passed and that's all that really matters.

[David Meiland]

+1 on the prep school idea. When I took the CA test I went to a 3 day prep class first. They hammer the info into your brain so that when you take the actual test you are nothing more than a drone spilling out the correct answers. My goal was simply to pass the test. There are other, much better avenues for learning about work, such as hanging out here.

[Dick Seibert]

+1 on the prep school idea. When I took the CA test I went to a 3 day prep class first. They hammer the info into your brain so that when you take the actual test you are nothing more than a drone spilling out the correct answers.

I hate those license mills, I've had employees sign up for the schools, take the test and pass, then ask me basic questions a month later. When I ask why they didn't learn when they studied for the test the answer is always that the promptly forgot everything they learned, they just memorized answers, they didn't learn the material.

This is one reason we have so much incompetent low priced competition today, anybody can go to the schools and become a contractor without knowing the information necessary to become a good contractor. In the days before the schools many carpenter friends could never pass the test, so they remained in the available workforce for those who could, now everybody's a contractor, and nobody's a worker. Professions like law, architecture, and medicine make it very hard to enter, keeping competition low, we should do the same so we could make money like they do, and before anyone challenges this, I want to say that the real purpose for licensing is to protect those in the profession by weeding out incompetency upon entry, and then by regulation after entry, it was originally contractors groups who advocated licensing, not the supposedly poor consumers who licensing is purported to protect.

The state can't stop the schools, back in the 70s a place in Texas called Acme was sending people to take the FAA exams and having them memorize one question at a time, then publishing the questions and answers, the FAA sued Acme to stop it and the courts found that Acme had a constitutional right to do it, so if something as important as flight safety doesn't qualify to stop the license mills, contracting never will.

[MarkNov]

so if something as important as flight safety doesn't qualify to stop the license mills, contracting never will.

After I passed my test I got a call from a guy who failed for the seventh time begging me to "give him the answers" I said that giving him the answers would do no good since, I assumed, every exam would have different questions. Much to my surprise, the questions have not changed in many years.

All it takes to put those license mills out of business is a bank of questions and a random number generator.

The original poster will be up a creek if he memorizes the answers and the exam changes.

Mark

[Dick Seibert]

Mark:

What it would really take is making the test essay questions, there is no way otherwise, at least California is still closed book: although open book can actually be harder in that they can ask more detailed questions to be looked up and the ability to find answers may actually be more important than the ability to memorize answers over the long haul. I would think that a three day exam, one day of closed book, a day of essays, and a last day of open book would probably be ideal and further the goal of protecting the industry and the consumer.

[Stacey]

Come on Dick, no test is any measure of being a general contractor. Actions speak louder than any words. It's like passing an ethics test, there's nothing that says you're going to follow the ethics rules you just passed a test on.

[Derrell Day]

Sean

I did really well on my SAT's hung over if that helps.

What kinda test is it ? Multiple guess ? essay ? one line answers ?
My guess would be its a multiple guess test to avoid subjectivity.

You can almost always eliminate at least 2 of the answers right off the bat so don't waste any time evaluating the correctness of those answers.

Trust your gut more then 90% of the time your first answer is your right answer. never change an answer unless you are 100% sure your first answer was wrong.

Answer the questions you can easily answer first. Save the other ones for later. that will save you some stress and if you run out of time you will have answered more questions.

good luck

Lou

I'll tell you what it's like...... I had to do a steel takeoff on a 6 story commercial building. That was ONE of 64 questions I had one morning session.

One question involved all the concrete that was going to be needed for the six story elevator shaft. It didn't give you information about whether to subtract the RO's for the doors. One of the answers was correct if you didn't deduct for the RO's and the other answer was correct if you did. You had to know the code for the amount of sump at the bottom, also. The wrong answers were off by less than 1/2 cu. yd.

Questions like how many revolutions did the cement truck tank revolve before it reached your job, based on truck speed, job distance and RPM. It then asked if you would accept the load based on National Cement Association guidelines. Criminy!

Many site excavation questions with different soil types and packed/unpacked fills.

I've heard lawyers who decided to go into construction lament that it was easily as hard as the Florida Bar Exam, if not harder. It was the hardest test I've ever taken.

80% of all test takers on a given session are re-takes.

Study your a** off.

[smtitmas]

wow, great replys. let me start by saying that the reason im taking the exam is to become a legitimate contractor according to florida law and build a business that i can be proud of and than some day(many years from now) either sell it or hand it over to my son.
i enrolled in Cam Tech School of Constructions exam prep class. they have a good reputation and some of their instructors are code enforcers and inspectors for the state. all of them have taken and passed the GC test themselves. they hired the guy who wrote the actual state exam and have him write the course book. it is 9 days of 8 hour classes spread over 5 weekends from now till the middle of june. i bought all the books required for the test, all $950 and 60 lbs of them and started tabbing and highlighting them according to the sample exams. even though the actual question and answer, they are all multiple choice, may differ from whats on the sample exam its the general location in the book that has all pertinent info about each subject that i need to become familiar with.

Kye, your right about the weird a$$ questions that have nothing to do with real world construction, there are lots of them. but if the answer is in the books than thats the answer i'll use, no matter how "wrong" it may sound.

thanks again for all the tips. me and my slightly humorous and off color comments will be scarce around here for the next 5 weeks because i'll be spending more time studying instead of chattin'. if all goes well by the end of june i'll have my licenses.


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