Hello my fellow ARE exam takers,
I am finally Done! Since the final pass, it took me almost a week to realize that its done and all that 'study time' is now 'my time' for anything other than study . It is an awesome feeling! I took all ARE 4.0. I have failed a few, retaken but in the process, figured out a technique that actually worked for me. I wish I had used the technique earlier and avoided a few fails . Oh well...I have always taken exams, since I was a kid, but never thought that there is smart way to prepare and take any test. It is different for every individual, I am sharing the strategy that worked for me. Hopefully it will help someone taking the tests.
I always started the test with confidence, calm, but as the time went by and still so many questions to answer...I would panic and that's where your brain just shuts off and its a start to all the idiotic mistakes! Explained below is what I did (I practiced this technique on the practice tests)-
1. Once the MC questions started, I would give each question 20-30 seconds. If I know the answer that I am 100% certain about then I mark it and move to next. If its taking more than 25 seconds, then I skip and move on to the next. In the first pass, I skipped all the questions that involved any kind of calculations. For eg. for BS (this is version 4.0) with 95 questions, my first quick pass is done in 30 mins to 40 mins. I would normally skip more than 1/2 or about 3/4th of the questions. The advantage to this is that I knew what was at the end of the tunnel. I could be calm and prepare myself to tackle the questions smartly. Round 2 would be going over the skipped questions. Round 3 going over the numerical questions. This way, I could calmly give more time to the questions that felt very difficult or confusing.
Round 4 final review of all the questions or the ones still 'marked'
2. While reviewing or figuring out the solution to the super confusing questions, I would read the choices bottom to top instead of the standard top to bottom. This actually helped quite a bit. Never thought reading the choices bottom to top would make a difference!
ARE 5.0 has no vignettes, I could skip any pointers on that . I did realize that it helps to ace the vignette!
All the Best to everyone taking the exams. They seem like a pain, but we learn a lot and use the knowledge with so much more confidence. Its totally worth it!
Find 'your' smart way to study and ace them all!
Good Luck!
- (no more) exams4ever