6.1. Strategy
Time management. 150 questions in 180 minutes averages out to 72 seconds per question — but averages hide the real strategy. Definition-recall questions should take 15-20 seconds; scenario questions deserve more, often 60-90 seconds. The exam splits into two 75-question sections with one 10-minute break between them, and you cannot return to section one once the break starts — so pace each section independently rather than treating the whole exam as one 150-question block.
Flag-and-return. If a question isn't resolving within roughly 90 seconds, mark your best guess, flag it, and move on. Coming back with fresh eyes after finishing the rest of the section is more efficient than losing 3 minutes to one hard question early, which then pressures every question after it.
Elimination before selection. For a scenario you're unsure about, eliminate choices that violate a first-principles rule you know cold (an absolute-word choice like "always" or "never," a choice that misclassifies project vs. operations, a choice that ignores a documented plan the scenario already established). Two confident eliminations out of four choices turns a guess into a coin flip.
Read for approach signals first. Before evaluating answer choices, identify whether the scenario is predictive, adaptive, or hybrid — look for a sprint/backlog/iteration (adaptive) versus a baseline/Gantt/change-request (predictive) versus both blended together. This one read-through habit, introduced back in Phase 1, resolves more wrong-answer traps than any other single strategy in this guide.
