I’ve talked about the formulas before and given you my thoughts on how to learn them. To be fair to all, I should tell you about a practice successfully used by others that is different from mine. That practice is called variously a formula dump, or a brain dump, or something similar.

This is the way it has been described to me: The participant writes down the formulas on a single sheet of paper, as they come across them in their studies of the BOK. Then, just before they take the test, they review all the formulas over and over. When they get to the testing facility, they go in and, using the paper and pencil or whiteboard provided, proceed to write down as many of the formulas as they can recall, as quickly as possible. Then they will begin the exam and, whenever a calculation is called for, they will refer to their sheet of paper. Hopefully, the formula is listed, they do the calculation, and go on to the next question.

As I’ve said before, there are as many ways to do something as there are people to get it done. If I don’t understand the logic of a formula, I can’t make it work. But that’s me. If you can cram the formulas into your mind, dump them to a piece of paper, and use them, go for it!

- Fred Butterfield, CTP

editor's note - If you choose to do this, make sure you do it only AFTER your exam has officially began.  Several candidates have tried to do it immediately upon sitting down at the testing computer and failed to notice the Non Disclosure Agreement on the screen.  When they finished writing down their notes, they looked up and saw that the five minutes they had to agree to the NDA had passed and the test had been locked.  If this happens, a test center administrator cannot restart the exam.  It's as if the candidate has taken the exam and, should they like to attempt the exam in the future, they will need to submit a Re-examination form, pay the $300 fee and take the exam in another testing window.