In this video, let's consider how we can show up as our best
self on exam day.
I don't know about you, but personally, I'm a nervous test
taker. When I arrive at a Pearson Vue testing facility or even sit
down at my own computer in my home, I get a bit nervous.
So let me walk you through some strategies that have helped me
show up as my best self on exam day.
Number one, I suggest that if you're going to a facility
that you arrive early, or if you're logging in and you're
taking this exam maybe from your home or from your office,
I recommend you log in early.
I would suggest that you arrive early if you're going
to a facility,
because you don't know what traffic's going to be,
you certainly don't want to arrive late.
And if you're taking the exam at home or in your office,
you probably want to log in early because you've got work to do.
You're going to be taking pictures of your testing environment from
the front and the back and both sides.
You're going to be taking a picture of your
government-issued photo ID,
you're going to be uploading these things,
and you want to be standing by in the room a few minutes early
before your scheduled time in case the proctor comes in a
few minutes early.
So for me, it's going to reduce a bit of stress if I'm either at the
facility early or I'm logged in early.
Then once you start the exam, you're going to be told how much
time you have and how many questions there are.
And here's where I would take just a couple of seconds and determine
my required piece.
Let's say, for example, that we have 60 questions
and we have 90 minutes.
Some quick math tells me I've got 1.5 minutes, 90 seconds for each question.
Now, certainly, some questions are going to take longer than
other questions.
We might have to be looking through lots of output or doing
some configuration and assimilate.
That's typically going to take longer than a multiple-choice
question where you just select an answer.
So to average out those times, I'm going to
wait for 30 minutes to elapse.
That's one-third of the exam.
At that point, I would ask, am I one-third through
the questions?
If there are 60 questions, I should have roughly 20
questions complete.
If I've only completed 10 questions and I'm one-third
through my time,
I need to pick up the pace.
However, if I have 20 or preferably more questions
answered, then I'm on a good pace and I
can just maintain that pace, checking in again at the one-hour
mark to make sure that I'm two-thirds done with the questions
at that one-hour mark.
In the example I'm giving, I should have 40 questions
done at that point.
And again, that gives me a time to spot-check my progress and decide
if I need to speed up or keep my current pace,
because you certainly don't want to run out of time with
unanswered questions, because those are all going
to be counted wrong.
And that could very much determine whether you pass or
fail this exam.
And finally, I want you to begin this exam with confidence.
And something I like to do before I take a Cisco exam,
and I've done this for the past several exams that I've taken, is I
use what Amy Cuddy calls a power pose in her book, Presence.
And also she has a great TED talk on this.
She talks about adopting a power pose.
That's where you might stand with an empowering posture,
such as your hands on your hips,
you're looking up, you've got a big smile
on your face.
And her research has shown that if you stand in that position
for just two minutes, that is going to increase
testosterone and reduce cortisol.
And the combined effect of that is you have more confidence and
you're less nervous.
And as I've mentioned before, this type of thing is not
going to teach you OSPF.
You have to do the work ahead of time to learn the material,
to practice.
But I don't want you to get on the exam and forget things that
you would normally know, but you forgot them because
you're nervous.
But this can help you show up as your best.