Strategies for Different Testing Formats

Before you choose a test-taking strategy, you must determine which type of test it is: case studies, fixed length, short form, or adaptive.

• Case-study tests consist of a tabbed window that allows you to navigate easily through the sections of the case.

• Fixed-length tests consist of 50 to 70 questions with a check box. You can return to these questions if you want.

• Short-form tests have 25 to 30 questions with a check box. You can return to these questions if you want.

• Adaptive tests are identified in the introductory material of the test. They have no check box and can be visited (and answered ) only once.

Some tests contain a variety of testing formats. For example, a test may start with a set of adaptive questions, followed by fixed-length questions.

You'll be able to tell for sure whether you are taking an adaptive, fixed-length, or short-form test by the first question. Fixed-length or short-form tests include a check box that allows you to mark the question for later review. Adaptive test questions include no such check box and can be visited (and answered) only once.

Case-Study Exam Strategy

Most test-takers find that the case-study type of exam is the most difficult to master. When it comes to studying for a case-study test, your best bet is to approach each case study as a standalone test. The biggest challenge you'll encounter is that you'll feel that you won't have enough time to get through all the cases that are presented.

Each case provides a lot of material that you'll need to read and study before you can effectively answer the questions that follow. The trick to taking a case study exam is to first scan the case study to get the highlights. Be sure you read the overview section of the case so that you understand the context of the problem at hand. Then, quickly move on and scan the questions.

As you are scanning the questions, make mental notes to yourself or notes on your paper so that you'll remember which sections of the case study you should focus on. Some case studies provide a fair amount of extra information that you don't really need to answer the questions. The goal with this scanning approach is to avoid having to study and analyze material that is not relevant.

When studying a case, read the tabbed information carefully . It is important to answer each question. You will be able to toggle back and forth from case to questions, and from question to question within a case testlet. However, after you leave the case and move on, you cannot return to it. I suggest that you take notes while reading useful information to help you when you tackle the test questions. It's hard to go wrong with this strategy when taking any kind of Microsoft certification test.

Fixed-Length and Short-Form Exam Strategy

A well-known principle when taking fixed-length or short-form exams is first to read through the entire exam from start to finish. Answer only those questions that you feel absolutely sure you know. On subsequent passes , you can dive into more complex questions more deeply, now knowing how many such questions you have left and the amount of time remaining.

There's at least one potential benefit to reading the exam completely before answering the trickier questions: Sometimes, information supplied in later questions sheds more light on earlier questions. At other times, information you read in later questions might jog your memory about facts, figures, or behavior that helps you answer earlier questions. Either way, you'll come out ahead if you answer only those questions on the first pass that you're absolutely confident about.

Fortunately, the Microsoft exam software for fixed-length and short-form tests makes the multiple-visit approach easy to implement. At the top-left corner of each question is a check box that permits you to mark that question for a later visit.

Marking questions makes later review easier, but you can return to any question by clicking the Forward or Back buttons repeatedly.

Here are some question-handling strategies that apply to fixed-length and short-form tests. Use them if you have the chance.

• When returning to a question after your initial read-through, read every word again; otherwise , your mind can miss important details. Sometimes, revisiting a question after turning your attention elsewhere lets you see something you missed, but the strong tendency is to see what you've seen before. Try to avoid that tendency at all costs.

• If you return to a question more than twice, try to articulate to yourself what you don't understand about the question, why answers don't appear to make sense, or what appears to be missing. If you chew on the subject a while, your subconscious might provide the missing details, or you might notice a "trick" that points to the right answer.

As you work your way through the exam, another counter that Microsoft provides comes in handy ”the number of questions completed and questions outstanding. For fixed-length and short-form tests, it's wise to budget your time by making sure that you've completed roughly one-quarter of the questions one-quarter of the way through the exam period, and three-quarters of the questions three- quarters of the way through.

If you're not finished when only five minutes remain , use that time to guess your way through any remaining questions. Remember, guessing is potentially more valuable than not answering. Blank answers are always wrong, but a guess might turn out to be right. If you don't have a clue about any of the remaining questions, pick answers at random or choose all As, Bs, and so on. A guess is better than nothing at all.

At the very end of your exam period, you're better off guessing than leaving questions unanswered.

Adaptive Exam Strategy

If there's one principle that applies to taking an adaptive test, it's "get it right the first time." You cannot elect to skip a question and move on to the next one when taking an adaptive test, because the testing software uses your answer to the current question to select whatever question it plans to present next . You also cannot return to a question because the software gives you only one chance to answer it. You can, however, take notes as you work through the test. Sometimes, information supplied in earlier questions can help you answer later questions.

Also, when you answer a question correctly, you are presented with a more difficult question next, to help the software gauge your level of skill and ability. When you answer a question incorrectly, you are presented with a less difficult question, and the software lowers its current estimate of your skill and ability. This continues until the program settles into a reasonably accurate estimate of what you know and can do.

The good news is that if you know the material, you'll probably finish most adaptive tests in 30 minutes or so. The bad news is that you must really know the material well to do your best on an adaptive test. That's because some questions are so convoluted, complex, or hard to follow that you're bound to miss one or two, at a minimum. Therefore, the more you know, the better you'll do on an adaptive test, even accounting for the occasionally strange or unfathomable questions that appear on these exams.

Because you can't always tell in advance whether a test is fixed length, short form, adaptive, or a combination, you should prepare for the exam as if it were adaptive. That way, you will be prepared to pass, no matter what kind of test you take. If the test turns out to be fixed length or short form, remember the tips from the preceding section, which will help you improve on what you could do on an adaptive test.

If you encounter a question on an adaptive test that you can't answer, you must guess an answer quickly. (However, you might suffer for your guess on the next question if you guess correctly, because the software will give you a more difficult question!)