My score stinks

[brandond]

I agree and appreciate your advice. When I say I didn't have anything mastered, I mean that I know there is always some way of them asking a question, even with the more simple concepts, adding a twist and making it difficult. Like you were saying. That's what I mean I guess when I say I didn't have anything mastered, I'm sure they have some way of throwing you a question you know you should be able it get, and in reality you probably could if it wasn't for time and stress of the exam etc.

I guess there are always ways of improving your study and test taking skills and I need to address those areas and work on them, and prepare for a failure at some point. I am beginning to get stressed because so far, and I haven't reached the difficult stuff yet, so I'm told, but studying for MFE has gone to smoothly. The practice problems from the ASM manual and TIA seem to be really mechanical as opposed to theory type questions.

[DanielSong39]

I thought FM was the easiest of the preliminary exams (so far), and got higher scores on the practice exams compared to P/1 or C/4.

I was fully prepared and in excellent shape to take the exam. Everything went smoothly and according to plan on exam day.

Alas, my score on FM was the lowest among the three preliminaries. So sometimes funny things happen when it comes to score. But no matter how you add it up, it's three exams passed and I'm pleased with my progress so far.

Don't worry about how exam scores may look on a resume or in an interview. Just get through them and work on other parts of your resume. Good luck.

[lloopy]

Originally Posted by brandond

If FM is the easiest of the preliminaries I may have a tough road ahead.

I didn't do all of the practice tests however...

I strongly believe that FM has gotten harder. When I sat last December, I had 8 or so questions on Duration and Immunization, a topic that I hadn't studied very hard. I passed with a 6 after a similar study regimen to yours.

In 2005, I took exam FM when it was first being offered. I didn't have access to Kellison. I didn't even know what ASM was. I went into the exam cold, with less than 10 hours of study. I got a 3 on that exam.

[Mr F]

Originally Posted by DanielSong39

Don't worry about how exam scores may look on a resume or in an interview. Just get through them and work on other parts of your resume. Good luck.

Because they shouldn't be on your resume and more than likely won't come up in an interview. Even if they do, you won't get docked for a 6.

[Force of Interest]

Originally Posted by brandond

Ok, scored a 6 on FM. Studied my butt off and was confident in the material. Passed most of the practice exams and on test day was extremely confident when I submitted the test.

Was expecting at least an 8 or 9. What the crap?

I got a 7 when I passed FM and put in a lot of time. I probably put about the same amount into MFE and MLC as I did FM and got an 8 and 10 respectively on the first attempt of each.

scores aren't a big deal but I agree with you that it is more personally satisfying to get a high score. I've never agreed that 6 is the best you can get. When you get a 10, you know it, and you don't have a single restless night while you wait 8 weeks for the results.

[Broner]

Originally Posted by brandond

I guess there are always ways of improving your study and test taking skills and I need to address those areas and work on them, and prepare for a failure at some point.

Your score on FM and P are irrelevant. What you need to take from these exams is what you mentioned above, you need to understand how you study and what you need to do to improve so you can better approach the material. Even though the material on MLC, MFE, and C is significantly harder, my scores remained constant because I learned from the first couple exams how I needed to study and how I actually retained the material. If I studied for this exam 2 years ago the same way I studied for C this sitting, I probably would have gotten a 10 after about 2 hours.

If you scored a 6 on this exam and can say "next time I know exactly what I need to do to get better", you're in just as, if not better, shape than someone who got a 10.

[dragoncub]

Originally Posted by blackbird

Just think about how the peeps reading this that didn't pass are feeling.

Yeah, I got a 5.

[SALT1]

Originally Posted by brandond

This will tell you how ridiculous I am. I missed the deadline for the previous sitting so I had to wait an extra three months or so for the May sitting. Little did I know I would need it.

I worked on the material at least 3 or so hours a day, at least 5 days a week. I figured I put in over 250 hrs of study time, so I was a little ticked off to say the least.

I felt I knew the stuff very well, definitely didn't master it, but better than a 6. I put in a lot of study time and thought I was very thorough. I have a funny feeling I will be one of those that will need multiple attempts at future exams.

If FM is the easiest of the preliminaries I may have a tough road ahead.

I didn't do all of the practice tests however, they normally freak me out and cause me so much stress I figure they do me more harm than good. Maybe I need to reassess that part of my study regimen. The biggest issue I think I may have is the time restriction. If there was no clock at the bottom of the screen, like there isn't when I study and do practice exams, I do very well.

For what it's worth, ADAPT has a timer at the bottom to make you sweat a bit during the practice exams so perhaps you won't sweat as much during the real exam.

[Scars]

http://www.soa.org/files/pdf/edu-201...m-percents.pdf