I was talking with some associates not long ago about an exam that a few of us had taken recently. We were trading thoughts on the difficulty of the exam and how we thought we had done, when one of the guys said he had failed because he couldn’t get in to take the exam. Since none of the rest of us had experienced any difficulty whatever, there was an immediate request for details. To make a long story short, he had never been to the testing facility before, it was in a part of town unfamiliar to him, he got a late start and then got lost, and so missed his allotted window for the test.

That got me to thinking. While I’ve never had that particular problem (I’m the guy that sets out two hours early to a place he’s never been and gets there with lots of time to spare), I’ve talked to others that have had near failures because of traffic, getting lost, etc. When you get somewhere early, you can always use the extra time to relax, review your note cards one more time, or practice your yoga. When you’re late, you’ve already raised your tension level with worry about missing the exam, not to mention whatever reason(s) caused your delay.

Once you have the address for testing facility, take the time to drive by it on a lunch hour or a weekend. Listen to the daily traffic reports to see if, or when, there are traffic problems in that area. Finally, on test day, make sure and leave with lots of time “just in case.” Like I said, when you get there early, you get a better parking spot, and you can use the extra time to relax or review your note cards once again. Either way, you’ll be in much better shape mentally to go in and give it your best.

- Fred Butterfield, CTP