Here are my comments to share. Due to COVID-19, you must wear a mask at the test center. I recommend bringing additional masks for backup. If you do not have a mask, they do not provide one for you and they will not let you in without a mask.
If you are planning to take your test at a test center, I recommend doing your practice tests to simulate the test center conditions as much as possible. Wear a mask so you will be used to it. Practice the 10-minute break at question 90 – stretch, walk around, use the restroom, drink some water, have a snack, etc. Only during the 10-minute break can you get up, have drinks/snacks, etc. For scratch pad, use dry erase sheets and marker. For calculator, use on-screen calculator only.
I drove to the test center (in USA) and had someone follow me there just to make sure I got there OK. I arrived 1.5 hours early, made sure I had my photo ID, mask, snacks, water bottle, etc. I took a short nap in my car. In order to make sure I did not oversleep, I set an alarm on my phone and had someone call me 30 minutes before test time.
The test center had network issues during my test and my computer had to be re-booted two different times. The computers at the test center were old/slow and took about 5 minutes to boot up. Fortunately, the countdown timer does not run during this troubleshoot/reboot time. Raise your hand immediately if you have any such issues.
The test center gives you some markers and some dry erase sheets to write on – make sure the markers work OK; ask for additional sheets if needed (don’t waste time erasing).
The 10-minute break occurs at question 90. After question 89, it asks if you want to review questions 1-89. Don’t choose ‘review all’ because I heard it makes you step through all 89 questions. Instead, just review the questions that you flagged (marked). You cannot go back to any of the first 89 questions after the 10-minute break, so if you want to review 1-89 you must do it before the break.
I planned on no more than 5 minutes for the brain dump at the beginning, about 10 minutes for reviewing questions 1-89, and about 15 minutes for reviewing questions 90-200. In reality my pace was slower than planned – I took only 5 minutes for the first review and then at the end had only 4 minutes remaining for the second review.
During the exam, the top right of the screen indicates which question number you are on, and next to the question number there is a countdown timer. This timer does not show hours (wish I had known this before the exam) -- it only shows minutes and seconds, starting from 240 minutes (i.e., 4 hours). So that I could make sure I kept a good pace (and not have to keep doing time math in my head) I wrote out a simple table showing how much time I should have left based on which question number I was on. Had I known this before the test I would have prepared a more detailed plan such as the following example plan which shows the question number followed by time remaining in minutes:
1/235, 25/205, 50/180, 75/155, 89/140, 10-minute review, (10-minute break), 90/130, 125/90, 150/65, 175/40, 200/15, 15-minute review.
This is basically a burndown chart. When you get to question 25 for example, you should have around 205 minutes showing on the countdown timer. At question 50 you should have around 180 minutes remaining, etc. This plan has 5 minutes for the brain dump at the beginning, 10 minutes for reviewing the first 89 questions, and 15 minutes for reviewing questions 90-200. This is just a suggested plan. I recommend preparing your own plan that suits you; memorize it and write it out at the top of your scratch pad during the brain dump at the beginning.
As a stress reliever, I took periodic mini breaks every 30 questions or so – closed my eyes for 10-15 seconds, took several slow/deep breaths with prayerful reflection. I felt the first half of the test went well, but then I struggled more in the second half and at the end was not sure whether I had passed or not, but fortunately passed OK.
