Manage Your Time On Exam Day
Currently, the CIA exam allows 165 minutes to answer all 100 multiple-choice questions; however, you should budget 1.25 minutes (one minute and 15 seconds) per multiple-choice question for a total of 125 minutes. We make this point with emphasis. Just as you would fill up your gas tank prior to reaching empty, so too should you finish your exam before time expires. This will result in having an extra 40 minutes (165 – 125) as a safety cushion to review questions you may have flagged for additional analysis during your exam.
Candidates who plan to take the exam beginning in January 2012 should note they will have 145 minutes to answer 90 multiple-choice questions; however, they should still budget 1.25 minutes per multiple-choice question. This will leave candidates with just over 30 extra minutes for review.
Whether you are taking your exam in 2011 or 2012, to ensure you are able to average 1.25 minutes per question on the actual exam, it is essential to practice using this time throughout your review. You should thrive by practicing with 20-question quizzes because they are of sufficient length to challenge you, but are not too long. Answer all 20 questions in 25 minutes, leaving an additional 5 minutes to review any flagged questions.
On exam day, execute the time budgeting techniques you practiced. Contact the Gleim Personal Counselors at 800.874.5346, ext 498 or personalcounselor@gleim.com to discuss these time budgeting techniques.