Vastly different practice exam scores - PA
I have taken practice exams from several different companies, and my scores have been vastly different based on the test provider. I feel like I have no idea which to "trust" more in order to gauge where I actually am relative to the actual ARE. Have any of you experienced this? Any tips?
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I have been using the Ballast books and Designer Hacks online with pretty good success. Nothing but practice exams for the week leading up to the test. I am usually scoring high 80s to mid 90s on DH and I have passed. No matter what brand you go with, two pieces of advice: 1) practice understanding what the question is asking, this is the most helpful for the actual ARE. 2) review all answers afterwards, even the ones you got right, and practice understanding why these are the correct answers.
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Honestly, I think it is more important to understand what types of questions you got wrong and why. Personally, I got fairly low (ranging from 50-70) scores on most practice tests that I took (Ballast, Designer Hacks, Walking the ARE, weARE) but passed the actual PA test. Most of the questions I got wrong were memorization questions that you wouldn't see on the exam anyways. Like Peter mentioned, read through all of the answer explanations, even ones you got correct. These practice tests should be a study tool in reading through scenarios quickly and discovering your weaknesses, not an accurate assessment of how you will do on the exam.
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