- Reporting to prometric test center late. You may be denied entry. Even if you are admitted, you are unnecessarily putting yourself under stress right before a day long exam. Look at Exam Tutorial before the exam and our videos on exam day. It reduces your stress significantly helping you to concentrate on the exam only.
- Cramming Lessons until late at night just the day before the exam. You already have a marathon exam of 7.5 Hours. Give yourself a rest and good nigh sleep before the exam. Don’t study more than 2-3 hours the day before the exam and that only the important points (for example, highlights slides and cue cards within our online training courses: https://inspector-training.com/courses/api-653-storage-tank-inspector-online-training-course/
- Poor Time Management. You need to answer minimum 40 closed book questions or 16 open book questions per hour just to finish the exam on time. Keep a tab of time versus your progress and leave 15 -20 minutes to review flagged off questions. Always keep a tab of the clock on the right hand top corner of the computer screen during the exam. It show the remaining time versus number of questions attempted. Before the clock stops, make absolutely sure that you have answered all the questions as there is no negative marking.
- Concentrating on low scoring areas such as API 571, API 650. For example, some training providers spent 40% of their classroom training on ASME 650 while this constitutes around 15 out of 170 Questions.
- Wasting Time studying Non- Inspection Sections of Reference Documents: You would hardly find any questions related to non-inspection issues. Instead, concentrate on inspection parts of codes and recommended practices.
- Giving equal weightage to all the reference materials. As a general rule, 40 – 45% of questions come from API 5653 and associated API 575. 653 is about do’s and dont’s of Piping inspection and 575 is about how to inspect a pipe.
- Ignoring Body of Knowledge Tips: Study those sections noted within body of knowledge at least twice. It is an excellent source to tell you what sort of questions to expect during the exam.
- Memorizing huge volume of information: API exam is not about remembering, it is about verifying whether or not you understood the concept within the codes and recommended practices. Many questions come within a scenario and therefore you should be able to interpret. This is not possible unless you understand the underlying logic and concept behind codes and best practices. You only need to memorize practical type of questions. Those that inspector encounter on a daily basis and expected to know without conferring documents. This exam tests application, not memory. If you don’t understand concepts, tricky questions will catch you out.
- Not actually practicing how to solve an open book question: To answer open-book questions, you only need to know where to find the answer in the code because search button is disabled during open book part of the exam. There is no easy way to achieve this except actually solving the open book mock questions by frequenting the books. Practice navigating through the PDF version of codes and RPs without using search button as this is the medium you have to work through during the examination. If you cannot find the answer within 1 -2 minutes, answer it using your hunch, flag it off and come back to it at the end. Chances are you may find the answer when looking at open book documents when trying to answer other questions. Weak Code Navigation Skills means not knowing where to find answers quickly which is more important than memorizing everything. Many fail because they flip pages too slowly. Another tip would be look at list tables or list of figures. They are smaller and faster to scrutinize. The exam is long and time-pressured. Candidates often: Spending too long on calculation questions and don’t leave time to review answers to flagged off questions.
- Try complex questions while skipping easy basic questions: You are being examined at the basic level; therefore, a lot of questions are about vocabulary, terms and definitions, roles and responsibilities. Skip difficult questions; first answer using your gut feeling; then flag it off and return later at the end during the remaining time; Use elimination techniques
- Don’t overthink: Being a qualified welding or coating inspector or a NDT examiner may backfire on you: You are not expected to also be a welding inspector or NDT examiner although invariably you shall approve welding repair, select thickness monitoring location, approve NDT report and hence only need to know the basics about welding and NDT methods. The questions are as simple as they look. Welding inspectors and NDT specialists are surprized how simple the questions are and think there is a catch. There is none. In your exam journey, prioritize selecting the “BEST” answer as per API standards. Even when faced with multiple seemingly correct choices; opt for the one that most effectively addresses the question at hand.
- Don’t jump to the conclusion: Read each question carefully and understand what is given and what is asked. Sometimes, a perfectly valid statement as one of the answers is totally wrong simply because it is irrelevant to the question or what is asked. This is to discourage those who heavily rely on memorizing facts and figures rather than understanding the logic and concepts within the codes and best (recommended) practices.
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