The study plan in this guide is based on the methods I used to earn the highest score in Indiana on the Class III Wastewater Certification Exam in 1996. Since then, I have helped wastewater operators prepare for certification exams through training classes and practice exams.
Publication of IWWA Hoosier
Pipeline Magazine, Spring 1999
Second Edition
Copy Right© By Ann Bersbach
Ann Bersbach
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The date of your wastewater certification exam is getting very close. Are you prepared for it?
Finding the right answers to one hundred multiple-choice questions can be very
exhausting, especially when you are given four or five possible answers for every question.
This means you have to read four to five hundred possible answers and choose at least
seventy correct answers, (passing score is 70). This can be very difficult. Even if you know your
subject very well multiple-choice questions can be very tricky unless you have a plan.
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The first step in the plan is to practice solving as many multiple choice questions as possible
before the test. The purpose of this is not to help you answering the questions faster, but to help
you recognize the right answer even when more than one answer seems right. In fact, the slower you read
the question and understand it, the more obvious the right answer will be.
The second step is not to panic if you do not know the answer to the first question on the
test. Write the number of the question on your scratch paper and go on to the next question. Sometimes it
takes a while for your brain to warm up and the answers to the questions you could not answer before at the beginning
of the test will become obvious. It is very important whenever you skip a question to write the question number on the scratch paper before
you go on to the next question.
Answer only the question when you are sure of the answer and mark the answer on your answer sheet in the appropriate line.
After answering the questions you knew, go back to the questions you did not know or were not sure of the answer. It does not matter how many questions
you have listed on your scratch paper, twenty, thirty or even fifty. Go over the test again and you will be able to find the answers to many of
these questions you could not confidently answer before. On your scratch paper,
scratch out the numbers of the questions you can answer and leave the ones you are still not sure about. Repeat the process until you exhaust
all your knowledge. If you do this successfully, you can leave the exam site knowing your score. You will be able to tell how many questions you did not
know or were not sure about.
The third step in order to get the highest score possible is this: When you are done with the test, close your booklet,
sit-back, and tell yourself it is over. Usually there is still plenty of time left. When your brain rests and the test pressure is relieved,
your brain becomes sharper. Have you ever taken this type of test before and soon after you turned in your answer sheet and started walking
to your car, then you remembered the right answer to a question you answered wrong? Then you drove few miles down the road, and suddenly
remembered the right answer to another question that you answered wrong. This time you were so mad, you hit your head on the steering wheel.
Typically this takes place within twenty minutes after turning in your answer sheet. Let us assume that you can relax after you are done with
the test. You know it is over, and give yourself ten to fifteen minutes before you turn in your answer sheet. This is a good way to add a point
or two to your score, especially if it is all you need to pass the test.
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