Repeat Test Taker Study Tips

ICC Credentialing uses 4-part multiple choice questions (MCQ) to identify right answers from among a set of possible options. Possible answers are ‘fixed’ in advance rather than left open for the examinee to generate or supply. Multiple choice often require the candidate to compute, apply concepts to new situations, and think critically about their knowledge of the code.

ICC Credentialing recommends the following for candidates who repeatedly take an exam .

into three categories to attempt to provide specific guidance.

1. Being fully prepared:

• • Do you have all of the approved references? Some candidates do not feel they need to have all of the references, which is not true. If the reference is listed in the exam catalog, there WILL be questions from the reference on the exam.
  • Do you have the expanded content outline? Some candidates do not study following the outline. The outline will tell them everything we may test them on. We say may because the examination questions are randomly chosen based on the content outline.
    • For example, 25% of the F3 examination is based on the content area Egress Safety.
    • Of that 25%, 2% is on Access to Buildings, Windows, and Roofs.
    • That subsection of Egress Safety includes the following tasks:

Verify that the building and its windows and roof are accessible for emergency access by the fire department. Verify stairway access to the roof when required by code, with street-level signage. Verify that the site plan specifies location of premise identification and, when required, fire-department key boxes.

As you can see, there are multiple tasks listed, which would mean they likely won’t get questions on every task within that section on the exam.

• • Not using the diagnostic report and content outline to prepare for the next exam. Just because a candidate did well on one content area, doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t need to study. Questions are randomized and the next exam may contain different tasks.

2. How are you studying?

• • • When preparing for a repeat examination, we recommend candidates change up how they are studying.
      • If they didn’t use flashcards, buy or create their own and incorporate those.
      • If they simply self-studied, have someone who is familiar with the content to help quiz their knowledge by giving them real world scenarios.
      • Take courses; however, don’t get hung up on the fact that they pass the included assessments. While the assessment may cover the same content, they are not created by the same people
      • Remember that while they are open book, ICC examinations are not created to test how well a candidate can look up items, they are testing how well a candidate can apply their knowledge of the code.

3. Do you study the content that you think you already know? 

• • We recommend candidates study content they think they know with fresh eyes.
  • Read the question and then read it again before answering.
    • Don’t start reading the question, glance at that answers, and then think you know what the question is asking.
    • Look for words such as “minimum”, “maximum”, “not”, and “except”. These are keywords to help clue you into what we are asking.
    • Pay attention to tables with footnotes.
    • Pay attention to exceptions.

Pay attention to keywords in the stem that will point you to a reference. For example, some exams will have both the IBC and IRC on it. The questions will be written to help point you to the correct reference.