AS YOU PREPARE Congratulations on taking the first steps to becoming certified! Here are a few helpful tips as you begin your exam preparation: Read the Body of Knowledge carefully, including the cognitive levels—it will tell you exactly what you need to know and to what level. Read the ASQ Handbook for the certification you’re taking—it’s an integral part of your study experience. Most ASQ courses include a copy. Exams are open book (with the exception of the constructed-response portion of the Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence exam and the performance-based portion of the Master Black Belt exam), so gather appropriate reference materials and mark or highlight helpful information like the BoK sections, models, tools, or formulas in each. This will make finding answers during the exam quick and easy. Sticky notes are only permitted as book tabs and they must be attached prior to entering the test center—put them in as you prepare, you’ll need them for your study anyway! You cannot take any materials in question/answer format into the exam. Be sure to remove or obscure them prior to test day. All your references must be bound and remain bound during the exam. Refer to your exam confirmation letter or asq.org for further details. Set a schedule for your studying and stick to it! Take available practice exams to simulate the exam experience and discover your strengths and weaknesses—most ASQ courses include practice questions and we also have Question Banks available at asq.org. Allow yourself one minute per question in your practice exams. Set aside a time period (minutes) equal to the number of questions to be answered (e.g., 60 questions = 60 minutes). More Resources Be sure to review the preparing for your exam video from our computer-based testing partner Prometric prior to your exam. (vimeo.com/74953443) Learn about computer-based testing and access additional resources. (asq.org/cbt/) Check out general information on certification. (asq.org/cert/faq) © 2017 ASQ. All Rights Reserved. ON EXAM DAY Now that you’re prepared, it’s time to sit for the exam. Here are a few helpful testtaking tips. Pre-exam Preparation Get plenty of sleep the night before your exam. Plan how you will get to the Prometric test center, and give yourself enough time so that you can arrive early and get settled. Bring one valid, government-issued photo ID with a signature (driver’s license, passport, national or military ID). The name on the ID must match the name you used to register for the exam. If you’re testing outside your country of citizenship, you’ll need to present a valid passport. Bring your reference materials! Note that a test center administrator will inspect all of your references (and calculator if applicable) and ask you to place all other personal items in a locker for test security purposes. Time Strategies Relax, tune out distractions, and budget your time accordingly. Be aware of the time remaining as you work through the exam. Note that you will have an additional 30 minutes on the exam to review the tutorial that precedes the exam. Answer the questions you know first, and mark the ones you’re unsure of, or the questions with calculations, so you can come back to them at the end. This will help you manage your remaining time with the specific questions that you might need to use your reference books or calculator to answer. Note that computer-based testing allows you to skip over questions and return to them later. Question Strategies Read each question thoroughly. Don’t assume you know what is being asked. Eliminate implausible answers, and move quickly past the obviously incorrect choices. Reread questions with two exactly opposite or very similar answers so you can decide what makes one correct and the other incorrect. Answer every question. ASQ does not subtract points for incorrect answers. There is no penalty for guessing, and you have a 25 percent chance of choosing the right answer. © 2017 ASQ. All Rights Reserved.
