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This site is great and all and has piles of useful advice, but the once thing I couldnt find is some information about the test layout.
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We all know that each test is now 100 questions. 80 of them are scored, the other 20 are new questions CompTIA are trying out on candidates, for more recent OSes etc. They are not counted towards your score.
I did my test at a Thompson Prometric centre. I presume the layout will be the same for all centres.
In my case, after registering for the exam on www.prometric.com, I entered the exam hall about 15 minutes before I was due to start. I had to produce TWO forms of ID with signatures.... easiest are a passport and a driving licence. I then had to sign my name on the register.
I was then told which seat I was to sit in, many computers were present in the room. The CompTIA logo was in the screen all set up for me, the supervisor then told me a code to enter which activated the test. She provided this code, you do not need to bring a code with you. Also provided was a piece of scratch paper and a pen.
If I remember correctly, there was a quick tutorial, after which I had to read a loong licence agreement (
). This is the usual computer licence thing, with the request that you do not tell anyone in detail what the questions are. After this there was a quick tutorial. What I tell you next is basically what the tutorial says.Ok, you click 'Start the test' or something like that.
In the top right of the screen, there is a timer that ticks down from 1h30m. Top left of the screen there is a message "Item 1 of 100". Bottom of the screen there are buttons Next, Previous, Item Review. (Previous doesnt appear until you get to question 2). Questions appear in the middle of the screen, a question and four options.
Also at the top of the screen there is a 'Mark' checkbox. If you dont know the answer to the question, click this box and move onto the next question. It'll put a little flag next to the question which I'll return to later.
Now start working through the questions. Theres plenty of time, read through each question and the possible answers. You get a circular checkbox if they want one answer, if they want many answers the box is square. They also tell you "Select 2 answers" or however many are needed. Dont forget to read this and click the correct number of answers. There might also be "Select all relevant answers", but I didnt get any of those. They are, however, present in the practice tests on this website so CompTIA may use them.
Work through the 100 questions. My recommendation is to aim to get through them all in around 30-35 minutes. Thats 20 seconds per question. Questions are quick and easy if you know them, 20 seconds worth to read, scan and click the correct answer. If you dont know the answer, dont sit there wondering. Mark it and move on. You'll have much more success with an unknown answer if you return to it later, than sit there thinking.
At the end of the 100th question, click next. THIS DOES NOT END THE TEST, DO NOT WORRY. Another screen will come up (Ill call it Screen A for convenience), with a list of your answers to all 100 questions. Some questions are flagged.
A yellow "M" means the question has had the 'mark' box ticked.
A red box means you did not provide an answer to the question.
There are a number of options on the screen, the most important being "Review Marked", that takes you through the questions you have ticked the 'mark' box on. Also 'Review question xxx'. I will come back to that. They also have a button "End Session". If you click this, a confirmation box will come up saying "This will end your session, OK/Cancel". This finishes the exam. Dont click it yet.
Ok so you're on this screen, 35 minutes have gone. You have 55 minutes left. Click "Review Marked", and spend some time (up to about 25-30 minutes if necessary) looking carefully through all the questions you marked. Read each one carefully, and decide first which answers are wrong. Then pick the correct one from whatever is left. Dont bother unmarking the questions, leave them marked. It makes no difference at the end.
After the marked questions have been reviewed, you are sent back to Screen A. If you still couldnt answer some of the marked questions, click "Review marked" and look through them again.
Back to Screen A. You now have anything between 20 and 30 minutes left. Make sure 'Review Question xxx' is set to 'Review Question 1'. This brings you back to question 1. Clicking 'Next' brings you to question 2 again, etc. Go through all 100 questions again. I guarantee you'll change 1 or 2 answers, for the better. Clicking on "Item Review" at any time brings you back to Screen A.
Keep reviewing all the questions, by selecting 'Review Question 1' when you are on Screen A. Do NOT leave early. Its not worth it. Better to spend time looking through them, you might realise something is wrong and change it. May be the difference between 500 and 505 points.
With about 1 minute left, go to Screen A and click End Session. Confirm by clicking OK and the test is over. (If the time runs out I presume this happens automatically. I didnt let that happen)
You'll get your result immediatly, with a clearly indicated Pass or Fail. (Required score 505 (515 for OS), your score XXX. Result : xxxx) At this point, get the attention of the supervisor and they'll get a printout of your score sheet.
Done and done
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Hope this was useful, I did feel the one thing that was lacking from this site was an explanation of the exam screens. I hope this isnt against any CompTIA confidentiality thing, I cant see why it would be as it doesnt reveal anything, it just lets people know what they'll face. But if it isnt allowed, let me know and I'll get rid of it.
Hope it was useful, best of luck to everyone taking it
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