Ace your certification exams with this one simple study tip

Long before I had to take any certification exams, I faced my own battles with test-taking back in university. In my first few semesters, I struggled. Don’t get me wrong, I did well. But at the price of fairly long and repetitive study sessions. I suspected that studying for my exams was taking longer than it needed to and I wasn’t making enough time for all the fun stuff I could be doing on campus as an undergrad.

I wanted to do more with less, so I could have more time to do other things. It would appear the productivity pill was swallowed earlier on in my life than I had initially thought. The “struggle” continued until a friend of mine opened my eyes to a simple but powerful technique for acing my exams with less time spent studying and an improvement in my grades.

This post is about that simple technique and how it can help you ace any exams you might have while working less, being more productive, and possibly earning more money in the process.

But first, why talk about exams at all?

Learning is an important piece of personal and professional growth and productivity.

Whether you have a PhD or a GED, continuous education is a must in today’s ever-evolving world of skilled work. A big part of staying relevant in this world involves developing and deepening your skills through technical and professional certifications.

Reading books is terrific and for some of us on certain entrepreneurial paths, we may not need formal certifications to thrive. However, for most of us “intrapreneurs”, professional and technical certifications and designations have been shown to be a critical boon productivity, job stability and retention as well as earnings and career progression.

These designations often require you to pass certification exams administered by a recognized certifying body. These certification exams can be difficult and daunting often requiring weeks and even months of preparation to stand a chance at passing.

So to help you, in the next section I share one very specific tip that will help you prepare and ace your next certification exams. And even if you are not planning to take any certification exams, the principle will help you with preparing for any test or even just your own personal studying.

Take the test first, then study

The tip is easy enough—before you start ever pick up a book to read, look online and find a sample test, and take it. It may sound crazy. You might be thinking to yourself—who takes a test before studying? Well, the answer is smart people do, because it works.

You see, certifications are often based on a defined scope of information and or skill. This is usually referred to as the Body of Knowledge (BOK). This is a good thing. It means that even if questions asked between versions of an exam change, the competencies being evaluated will often stay the same. Therefore, taking pretests ahead of studying give you a clear line of sight into what your actual exam is likely going to be like.

As a study hack, taking the test before you study will help you in two major ways.

1. Priming for studying for your certification exams

When you take a mock test, you immediately discover what you don’t know. You also discover how much you don’t know. And if you are like me, it is likely more than you initially thought—especially for the bigger certification exams and designations. This can be humbling. But it is also empowering because you quickly realize how much (and occasionally, how little) you need to increase your knowledge and skills to pass the exam.

As a bonus, you also get a sense for how much work may be involved to close your knowledge gap. In short, you discover the what and how much of that what you are missing.

But there's more.

Taking the test ahead of any serious studying does something perhaps more important - it shows you what you need to know to ace the test. This primes you for your studying going forward. Instead of just reading broadly and diffusely, you can be more targeted in your studying based on what you have determined to be necessary to excel in the exam.

This means you spend less time and can make better use of that time to produce more accurate results. You would be operating like a highly trained sniper instead of a kid with a water gun. You can read more about priming and learning techniques in this post.

For now, let us look at another important benefit of taking the pretest.

2. Personal bench-marking – before and after snapshots

Nothing provides a clearer before and after view of your progress in your learning like your scores in a mock test before and after (and even during) your period of studying. If you suck at the start, are OK in the middle and rock at the end, your suck-to-rock trajectory is crystal clear, and this can do wonders for your confidence.

When you finally step into the testing centre or log in online for your certification exams, your confidence is soaring because you know that you know.

Speaking of confidence, let us briefly talk about why many people do not already use this technique.

What if I fail?

A lot of people shy away from taking tests prior to learning even if they know that doing so is beneficial. Why? Because they have been trained by the traditional school system to have what I call F-Aversion. And no, that is not some form of priggishness, it is the tendency to avoid an academic failing grade – an F – at all costs!

Failing a test—even one we intentionally take as a pretest can be painful because it hurts our ego. Here’s my suggestion: Get over it, and yourself.

I understand you want to keep your grades high and hold your head higher. But this is just a pretest and the results will shave hours if not days off your preparation for the real deal. Heck, it will even help make the A grade when it really counts. A false F for an accredited A? I will take that deal any day, wouldn’t you?

So the next time you have to take an exam, see if you can get your hands on previous versions or mock tests online or in books. And when you find them, take them before you start studying. Take them with the intention to identify gaps in your knowledge upfront, then study in a targeted way to fill those gaps. Not only does it save you time and energy, you will gain a lot of enjoyment seeing your skills improve along the way.

Until the next post, be your best and do your best.