Exam Timing…and Review Course Timing

The Exam is now available on computer at a testing site on an almost daily basis throughout the calendar year. Since the Exam itself is only a single day, it can reasonably be scheduled for any free day. So, the date of the Exam itself shouldn’t be your focus. Rather, the key to scheduling your Exam is more dependent on your schedule for exam preparation: When can I prepare effectively so that when the Exam day arrives I am at peak preparation?

With PLI’s Exam Focus approach, you'll need 150 hours of preparation time, at a minimum. So you should begin by identifying a period of time where, over a 4-6 week period (preferably), you will be able to devote 150 hours of your time in at least 3-4 hours increments. This prep time may be available in conjunction with a holiday period, or for students, between exams.

Selecting a Course:

Once you've determined when the 150 hours of prep time is likely to be available, you need to think about what course suits you specifically. A live course is the most time-efficient and focused method of being exposed to all of the tested subjects and working your way through them. Especially if you tend to put work off until outside factors force you to react, a live course is the "outside" factor for you. It will take you through the materials at a set pace and at a predetermined time. If a live course is best for you, choose the live course that fits your need to have structure and commitment, and falls within your 150 hours of prep time.

Of course homestudy is always available for those who cannot make a live location work for them or don’t need the structure and the discipline that a live course imposes. Our homestudy courses are the same as our live courses, and certainly can be spread over the same (or a greater) amount of time. It works as effectively as a live course, especially for people who are relatively disciplined and self-organizing. And you get contact info for the faculty, so that you can get the feedback that you’d get in a live course. Over half of our registrants now take homestudy courses, and report great satisfaction and success.

The Application:

We recommend that you look at the application to sit for the Exam before you start your preparation. If you are a Category A taker (someone with a science or engineering degree), you can probably set aside the application for now, and work on it slowly as you’re preparing. If you are a Category B or C taker, you need to start gauging how much time it will take you to collect the required documents, and begin that process early.

In either case, once you are about 100 hours into your 150 hours of exam preparation for a Category A taker, or 50 hours into your preparation for a Category B or C taker, it is time to send in the application for the Exam. The PTO will turn around a Category A application in 2-3 weeks, and a Category B or C application in 4-6 weeks. While you wait for your certificate of admission, you should finish your preparations for the Exam, so that when your 90-day window to take the Exam begins, you'll be at (or near enough) your peak preparation, and ready to find the free day you'll need to take the Exam at your peak.

PLI Exam Preparation Calculator:

Step 1: Find a period when you have 150 hours in your schedule over the next 6-8 months.

Step 2: Determine the approximate end point of that 150 hours. (This will be the scheduled beginning of your 90-day Exam window.)

Step 3: Subtract 2 months from the date identified in Step 2. This is the approximate beginning date of your PLI live or homestudy course. Find the PLI live course within a 6 week window of this date. If there isn’t one, or it’s not convenient for you, consider a homestudy course.

Step 4: Order the PLI course that meets your needs.

Step 5: Prepare and pass!