The exam is held at a variety of venues across the country, with every candidate sitting the examination on the same day at the same time. This ensures that no one candidate can gain information from another beforehand.

You must have your warrant card with you and arrive in plenty of time. No-one is admitted to the exam after the sit down time which will be shown on your joining instructions. DO NOT BE LATE! Much better to arrive with 30 minutes to spare then get caught at a road traffic collision where the Police have closed the road and be excluded from the exam. It is a full twelve months before you can attempt it again.

On arrival there is a registration procedure and briefing. Most people you meet during this process will appear very cold and un-emotional. That’s not to put you off, just to create uniformity across the country. Everything they say is scripted to ensure the same message is given right across the board.

You are not permitted to leave the exam room in the first or last half hour of the examination. You are not permitted to take in any mobiles, electronic devices, pens etc. Paper, pencils and erasers are provided. It is probably prudent to take a ruler to follow the answer sheet and ensure you mark the correct one. There is nothing worse than realising you have skipped an answer and have to go back and correct mistakes. Any mistakes made must be clearly erased. The answer sheet is marked by computer and therefore it will mark an answer incorrect if it cannot read one clear response.

The paper consists of 150 multiple choice questions with four possible answers for each, only one of which is correct. Most of these questions will be scenario based. These must be answered within a three hour time frame. For the non-mathematical of you, this equates to 50 questions per half hour or 72 seconds per question. Time will be your biggest hurdle and it is precious. You cannot afford to dawdle. Of the 150 questions, 10 are what are known as ‘test questions’ and do not count towards the overall mark. Unfortunately you will not know which questions these are so you MUST answer every one.

Each question can have as much as 250 words of text. This is a lot to digest in the time period. If it is a particularly long question, try reading the last line first and then you can cut to the chase. This may save you valuable time.

 If you find you are struggling on one particular question, skip it, making sure you move your ruler to keep the answers in the right place, and then go back to it at the end. If you don’t then have time to re-read the question you at least can put a mark in one of the boxes and will have answered the entire paper. The majority of people will have questions that they cannot answer.

Three hours is a long time to concentrate. Your sugar levels will drop and you will feel tired, round about question 100-125 for most people. We would advocate taking a bottle of water or isotonic drink in with you but make sure it has a sports cap so it cannot be spilt over your paper. Energy sweets are also worthwhile to take when flagging. If your time management allows, it may even be worth going to the toilet during the exam. This allows the blood to circulate and gives your brain a bit of a break whilst providing much needed oxygen to your system. DO NOT DO THIS IF TIME IS TIGHT.

The exam official will give you warning times towards the end of the exam. If you do not have time to read and answer every question as the exam concludes, write something down. You will at least have a one in four chance of getting it right. The pass mark for your exam is achievable.