Case Studies - Answer them first or last?

Case Studies - Answer them first or last?

Postby testingtesting » Fri Jan 20, 2017 12:38 pm

For those who have taken a 5.0 test, do you recommend doing the case studies FIRST or LAST?

Arguments for Case Studies FIRST

Pros: Enough time to digest material and answer the questions
Cons: Spending too much time on them and running out of time for other questions

Arguments for Case Studies LAST

Pros: Answering the majority of the questions (getting the low hanging fruit first), since all questions are one point each.
Cons: Risking not enough time for case study questions.

My game plan is doing Case Studies LAST. Since every question is worth one point, regardless of type (case studies, hotspots, drag and place). I'd rather spend my first 15 minutes answering 15 questions vs. spend my first 15 mins answering only 5. Worst case scenario, I guess on the case studies. Based on other posted topics, it also sounds like there's a ton of lag time to navigate the tabs and material for case studies. In addition to time wasted dealing with the program and digesting material to answer a few questions, I'd rather blow through the majority of the test and get as much answered first. However, other people who have tested already have posted in this forum to do them FIRST. I test PPD next week and will update you all on how this approach actually pans out! Still would love to hear from any one else on how to approach these new questions.

PS: First post - stoked and surprised my username was not taken yet.

*UPDATE 1/23/17*
I just got back from the test. I'll write a more complete update on overall test taking experience in a separate topic. I don't know if I passed as I just took it hours ago, so please read the update below with a grain of salt and judge for yourself!

I stuck with my plan to do the case studies LAST. They appeared at the end of the test, but I don't know if this is by design or that the test just happened to put them last. There was lag time in loading each screen, but nowhere near 30 seconds. It was more like 2-5 seconds each click - and certainly not instantaneous. Zoom function for viewing the documents was not good. If you click the + magnifying glass, it will automatically zoom 300% instead of incrementally. Overall, compared to the 4.0 vignette software it was an improvement. However, if this is going to be software that will be used for 10+ years, one would THINK NCARB would be sure it would be on par with current software standards, knowing it will get dated fairly quickly.

I went through 98 questions quickly in 1.5 hrs and had 2.5 hrs left to complete 2 case studies, 11 questions each. I ended up taking a total of 1.5 hrs for the case studies, leaving me 1 hour to go back and review questions. I reviewed 110 questions in that 1 hour.

Case Study #1: Took me 1 hour to answer 11 questions, 2 of which complete guesses after completely giving up. The first case study was more difficult than the samples in both the PPI/Ballast 5.0 book and the NCARB demo exam. More material to look at to answer the question. 1 question was a bit vague to me, and the scenario felt incomplete/missing crucial information.
Case Study #2: 30 minutes to answer 11 questions, The second case study was easier and pretty much on par in terms of difficulty compared to PPI/Ballast and NCARB samples.

I felt like case studies simulated and tested "real world" scenario of problem solving. However, I don't think that the second case study tested anything that the first one didn't already test, so it seems unnecessary to have to do 2 case studies. If i were to suggest an improvement (aside from technical/software), I would take out the second case study or differentiate the second one to test another skill or application of knowledge.
testingtesting
 
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: Case Studies - Answer them first or last?

Postby dnlcorte » Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:47 am

I did the Case Studies first, took me around 1.5 hours as well and then just went through the regular questions. Like you, I had one tough case study and one easier. Definitely felt some information was missing on the first study but just took a stab at it.

Overall my experience was much like yours. Confident in well over half of the standard multiple choice, was able to eliminate 2/4 answers on majority of questions to give myself a better chance at picking questions I didn't fully know.
dnlcorte
 
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 2:10 pm

Re: Case Studies - Answer them first or last?

Postby tmston2 » Thu Jan 26, 2017 3:47 pm

case studies last, but save at least 1 1/2 hours or so
tmston2
 
Posts: 151
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2014 5:41 pm

Re: Case Studies - Answer them first or last?

Postby seaccs » Mon Jan 30, 2017 12:49 pm

If you are good at managing your time it shouldn't matter whether you do them first or last because you'll devote the same amount of time to them either way. If you think you'll get suckered into spending too much time on them going through all the reference material, save them for last and answer more MC questions. Each question is worth 1 point ... why worry so much about a couple dozen of them at the end any more than the others?

However, I took them first for one reason only ... the reference material. I wanted to know what was contained in the reference material so I could potentially refer to it to help answer a MC question. I did the case studies first, devoting about an hour (+/- 15 minutes) to them. This got me familiar enough with which IBC chapters (or other code-related material) they had in the reference material. While I was working through the MC questions I marked any of the questions that I wasn't 100% sure of that might be answered in the reference material. Then at the end while reviewing my marked questions I could go to the reference material, open up the code chapters and see if it helped answer any of the code-related MC questions. In the end, it didn't help me for any questions on either PPD or PDD, but YMMV.
seaccs
 
Posts: 90
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:13 pm

Re: Case Studies - Answer them first or last?

Postby farmerjohn11 » Mon Jan 30, 2017 2:10 pm

I employed a similar strategy to seaccs, however I started from the beginning and marked any question with a code reference which I could then review after and compare to the case study material referenced. It did not help me either, but was worth the try. This was for PDD, which I completed with over an hour to review everything.

Of course that does not mean I passed easily, or at all.
farmerjohn11
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2016 6:44 am

Re: Case Studies - Answer them first or last?

Postby testingtesting » Tue Jan 31, 2017 12:25 pm

Great points on using the case study reference material to answer the other M/C questions seaccs and farmerjohn11 ! Really wish I thought of that!
testingtesting
 
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2017 12:16 pm


Return to PPD - Project Planning & Design

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 52 guests

cron