As you are probably aware, you will not be penalized for guessing on the CTP exam which means that you should not leave any question unanswered. So here are some tips about guessing.

Of course, you should first carefully read the question and review the three possible answers which will result in one of the following outcomes:

1) You know the answer.

2) You’ve narrowed the question down to two possible answers. If you have time, mark the question, note its number and the two possible answers on your white board and move ahead. If you don’t have time, guessing will give you a 50% chance of being right.

3) You don’t know the answer. If you have time, mark the question and move ahead.

If you are running out of time, guessing will give you a 25% chance of being right.

Here are a couple of strategies that you can use to optimize the guessing option:

1) Perform a final” Knowledge Gap” exercise.

This is a self-assessment of your relative comfort level with the BOK subject matter that should be done a couple of days prior to the exam. List under one of two columns titled “Comfortable” and “Not Comfortable” the appropriate chapters from Essentials of Treasury Management.

When you are taking the exam mark questions from chapters in your “Not Comfortable” list and move on to questions in your” Comfortable” list. This strategy can build your confidence and give you time to return to the marked questions where, if necessary, you can use either the 50% or 25% guessing option.

2) Practice the “Half Minute” Rule.

This is a time management strategy to help you “bank” the time you will need to come back and work on questions that you previously marked to answer later and if necessary, guess on. Given the number of exam questions and the time allotted to complete the exam, you have roughly 30 seconds to answer each question. So, if you haven’t selected an answer for a question after about 30 seconds, mark it and move on.

-George Schilling, CTP