However you mark your answer sheet, it’s important to look carefully at the number of the question and the number on the answer sheet before you fill in the circle.
Regarding study and test-taking: there is some very helpful information on csinet.org under Certification/Support. I recommend reviewing that info. One of the tips that I always give members of the study groups is on there: Read the stem of the question with each answer as a true/false statement. The one that is true, based on the PRM, is the correct answer. Others may seem true, based on something you’ve seen or done in “real life”. As a former Chair of the Institute Certification Committee, I can tell you that the other possible answers have been written by your peers and a huge effort has been made to assure that they seem reasonable; otherwise there’s no evidence that the candidate knows the correct answer. But only one answer is true in accordance with the book.
That’s because the questions are sourced to the book - it’s impossible to test on what everybody does in their office. There are many differences in process based on local customs and requirements.
I believe that all of the documents produced by CSI over the years have been done by groups of very smart people with differing opinions. The results have been the best consensus documents possible. And they are the only consistent source that can be used to test whether a candidate understands this good way of doing things.
I personally don’t get the sense that CSI principles are contrary to the “right way” - they are the best way that has been published, taught, tested upon, and used to offer people the opportunity to obtain a certification that gives them credentials for their work and possibly a competitive advantage in the workplace.
Sheryl, I agree with you and you make excellent sense and reason.
I do remember one particluar question on the CCA exam a few years ago that has always frustrated me. The MOP (and now the PRM) went to great lengths to clarify RFI’s as “Requests for Interpretation” ONLY, not requests for information.
Imagine my surprise when one of my test questions stated, "A contractor sends you a request for information regarding [insert scenario here, because I don’t recall it]. Do you: A) reject the RFI, B) respond with X response, C) and on and on.
I agonized over that question for a while. Was it an editing oversight? Did they mean “information” or “interpretation”? Was this a trick question? Aaagghhh the PRESSURE!
I’m sorry that I don’t know the answer to your questions. Though, since the Committee is made up of humans, it’s very possible that it was an editing oversight. I think I would have focused my answer on the procedure, since that’s probably what the question was trying to determine.
You might like to know that, when the Committee gets the results from the test scoring company, they evaluate the statistics very thoroughly to determine that everything about the exam was as fair to all candidates as possible. If the data shows that many of the candidates who are in the upper percentages of correct answers have missed a question - say the correct answer is supposed to be “C” and a large percentage of the top scorers selected “B” - the committee looks hard at the question to see if there is something about the question itself that is misleading. If that is determined to be so, everyone gets credit for the question and efforts are made to improve the question for future use. It’s amazing how difficult it is to write good questions and answers, have them go through a lengthy review process, and still have some come up short when you see the data from actual candidates.
The Committee makes every effort to make the tests useful, accurate, and fair. And, in all humility, I believe CSI’s Certification Committee has done a great job over the years of developing and sustaining an excellent program.
I used to give practice quizzes and exams in my CDT course at the University of Hawaii. Invariably, there was 1 question almost every week that I had not thought through enough. In that particular environment, the discussions that were provoked by disagreeing with the way I wrote the question and graded the response were particularly interesting. Such discussions were very rarely the result of “grade negotiation.” They did, I thought, enliven the course and provide additional insight into the way we practiced and the way CSI thought we should be practicing. I found over the years that there were good reasons to follow the CSI way in almost every instance. “Home grown solutions” were often ad hoc responses to particular situations which created other problems.
I found that my errors in composing questions and grading answers allowed a fuller exploration of specification use and practice.
In past years under the MOP I prepared an outline of the CCS and CCCA protions of the MOP, and an outline for A201. I used these for CSI discussion groups in Northern Illinois up to 1995 when I relocated to South Carolina. I have all three in Word format which has been translated from WordPerfect and seems to open reasonably well for those I sent it to as an attachment to an email. This was done to assist those interested in the certification program. I will send any of these to anyone studying for the exams if they send me a valid email address. Please bear in mind that these are from the old MOP not the new PRM. As Mr Kabaza has stated in his posting above, there is new material in the PRM. I have not yet updated these discussion group notes. Good luck. There is a lot of good guidance listed in the notes above from a broad range of professionls.
Brett, I’m a recently certified CCS, though I took the test right before the MOP became the PRM. (Yes, quite deliberate on my part!) So your mileage may vary.
Memorize, memorize! I’m not normally a memorizer, but the CCS exam is a harder test than any I’d ever taken before. Reading the source material is not enough, though if you’re a person with the stomach to read the relevant portions of the PRM several times, more power to you. I’m an active learner, so just reading the text is like getting a drink by sitting under a waterfall. I need buckets to go into the text and grab what I need.
Memorize SectionFormat. Memorize MF04 to at least Level 2. Memorize that ceiling-fan-shaped chart that relates Division 1 to the other parts of the Contract Documents. (PRM figure 5.6A) If it’s a list or a chart, chances are good that memorizing it will help with your performance on the test. I can draw the line for you somewhere: I don’t think memorizing the entire A201 would help enough to be worth the pain. But a valid attempt to name and summarize the five common articles among the three standard general conditions (PRM 5.4.1.5) probably would help.
Active memorizing tip: study your source, then cover it up. Try to reproduce it on a clean sheet of paper. Then pick up a different pen and look at the source again, and correct your errors and omissions. Then try again to reproduce it without looking. Do this several times, then do it a few days later. You want to be able to reproduce the very same information in the margins of the test booklet on test day, so that you can confidently answer questions requiring you to put things in order or find the one thing that doesn’t belong.
I also heartily agree with taking a mock exam. This is a test where comprehending the question is key, so you need to know how your personal pace agrees with the pace of the test. I found, when I graded my own mock exam, that a hefty chunk of the questions I missed were from rushing through the reading of the question; but I finished the mock in less time than allotted. So I committed myself to taking the whole time allowed for the test and reading the questions more carefully, and deciding on my answer before looking at the multiple-choice answers. I practiced the questions from the mock again later. And I finished the test on test day with only about half an hour left to go back to the questions I’d circled for review. And I passed.
That was tough test! Much deeper than I expected. Most of it I had to think my way through, very few questions were able to be answered directly. For those who take it in the future, this is what I remember:
PRM: of course, make sure you study this, over and over;
Delevery methods: know all of them, and the benefits and limitations fo each;
Uniformat: know it, not just first level, all levels and how to designate;
A201: Need to know more than just the names of the articles. Who is responible for what? Also, know your insurance requirements, again, who is respsonible for what; builders risk, property, etc.;
Know Pageformat and Sectionformat. For the last 23 questions you were given a sample spec section, 101000 Widgets, then the questions were about whether notes were correct, paragraphs in the right place and in order, etc.
I’ll think of more as the day goes by, I’ll get back to you. Maybe some other people remember.
