14 tips for taking exams as an adult learner

Before the exam

• Schedule the exam ahead of time. Schedule your certification exam early in your exam prep process. Setting a date and paying for the exam instills a sense of discipline and obligation that both maintains motivation and reduces test anxiety.

• Pay attention to other life events. Don't schedule your certification exam while also planning a wedding or anticipating the birth of a child. Certification exam prep is hard work and requires focused effort.
• Use your productive hours. Identifying the time of day when you think most clearly and are most engaged mentally is essential. Again, be aware of changes in what routine works best for you now, as an adult learner, then routinely use these times for test preparation. Schedule your exam during these productive hours, too.
• Decide where to take the test. Consider whether to take the exam at home or at a local test center. Some certification exam companies offer at-home, or in-office, options. However, if your environment is loud or you're likely to be interrupted, choose an authorized exam center to avoid distractions. Check with the exam vendor for locations.
• Use the practice test to manage the clock. Regardless of your opinion of practice tests and quizzes, they offer one essential feature: time management. Most exams have a time limit. Some people take exams very quickly, while others require much more time. It's vital to know your test-taking speed so you can manage the clock effectively. Take a practice exam at a comfortable pace and note how long it takes to complete. With a little applied math, you'll determine how much time you can spend on each test question.

On exam day

• Sleep well. One of the most critical features of exam success is simple: Get a good night's sleep. Being well-rested increases the likelihood that you'll analyze questions effectively.
• Don't break routine. Maintain any normal habits or routines on the day of the exam. If you typically eat a good breakfast most mornings, be sure to do that on test day. If you're not a breakfast person, don't break your routine by consuming a big meal your body isn't anticipating.

• Arrive early. Be sure to research the exam center location before test day, and plan to arrive early. Don't let unexpected stressors -- car problems or traffic -- impact all the time and effort you've invested in exam success. If you're taking the exam at home or the office, be sure to understand and meet the location requirements. You'll need a clear desk with one monitor, blank walls and preinstalled exam-specific software. Each exam vendor is different, so investigate their requirements early, not last minute. Test proctors expect punctuality.

• Bring your ID. Bring your ID to the exam center, but nothing else. You'll be required to empty your pockets and leave everything -- watch and cellphone included -- outside the exam room. Many locations provide lockers, but these might not be sufficiently secure. It's better to minimize belongings.

• Review your notes. If you don't know the material by exam day, there's little point in cramming. Of course, it's OK to look at notes or skim an article before the test but be certain to arrive at the exam center well-prepared. Briefly reviewing study materials one last time helps focus your mind on the upcoming exam and its keywords. A few deep breaths help, too.

During the exam

These tips help ensure you approach questions correctly and answer all test questions completely.

• Try something different with multiple-choice questions. When facing multiple-choice test questions, try reading the answers before reading the question. This counterintuitive trick gives your mind a preview of the possibilities. With practice, when you do move to read the question, you'll more easily identify its crucial information. For example, suppose you read the following answers before reading the question:

1. 1. Switch
   2. Router
   3. Firewall
   4. Raspberry Pi

It looks like a question about a network device. What do you know about these devices?

• • Switches generally deal with MAC addresses.
  • Routers generally deal with IP addresses.
  • Firewalls generally filter IP addresses and ports.
  • Raspberry Pi computers aren't related to the others, so it's a likely distractor.

Now, as you read the question, you should watch for relevant information about network devices:

A help desk team member asks you for help with a network troubleshooting question. The troubleshooting utility they are using indicates an issue with a spoofed MAC address for the device at 192.168.2.200/24, and the firewall is active. Which device should you check first?

Aha. You already have information at the front of your mind on a particular device that deals with MAC addresses. Knowing the possible answers helps you determine the essential information in the question.

• Checkboxes vs. radio buttons. Be careful to complete the questions fully, especially when working on a multiple-choice question requiring several answers. Certain questions state something such as "Choose two," indicating how many answers are needed. Others won't. Remember that radio buttons allow you to select only one answer, while checkboxes indicate multiple answers are available. If possible, verify you've input the correct number of answers.
• Answer all questions. Confirm you answered all questions before ending the exam. Some exam vendors provide a summary at the end of the test, letting you confirm that you didn't leave answers blank or that you didn't mark certain challenging questions for review. Carefully use this opportunity to make certain the entire test is complete. You'll be tired and anxious to complete the test but do not get sloppy and miss this step.
• Trust yourself. Unless certain of a mistake, trust your knowledge and study process, and be very careful before changing any answer. If you don't know an answer, make an educated guess -- every time. And remember: Going back through an exam and changing answers is a recipe for disaster.

Wrap up

Success on a test begins well in advance of test day and continues through the exam. Get a good night's sleep and keep your habits and routines on test day. Prepare in advance to minimize stress, including the following:

• Know the test center location.
• Plan to arrive early.
• Bring only the essentials into the test center.

Manage your time carefully during the test, and ensure you answer all questions. Use practice exams to help calculate your test-taking speed. These tests are also useful for practicing the "read the answers first" approach to multiple-choice questions.

Finally, be extremely wary of changing any answer. Only change an answer if you're certain your original choice was incorrect. Trust yourself and your knowledge. You can do this.

Damon Garn owns Cogspinner Coaction and provides freelance IT writing and editing services. He has written multiple CompTIA study guides, including the Linux+, Cloud Essentials+ and Server+ guides, and contributes extensively to TechTarget Editorial, The New Stack and CompTIA Blogs.