How to Prepare for the NCIDQ Exam

When I hear from someone that they “don't have enough time” to prepare for the NCIDQ Exam, I know it's really not an issue of not having enough time.

Instead it's a problem with priorities.

We all have the same amount of time, it's just what we choose to do with it that makes the difference.

You have 168 hours in a week

On average, most people work for 40 hours per week, and if sleeping 8 hours per night that's another 56 hours. Then add in time spent commuting to work, eating, showering, getting dressed, daily routine things like that.

This leaves about 37 hours per week to live, relax, and you guessed it — study.

Use it wisely

Even if you can only spare a third of that — that's over 12 hours per week that you can apply towards your goal of passing the NCIDQ Exam!

It does not have to be in large chunks of time either. Spending just 15 minutes at a time on a quiz, watching an answer vault video, asking and answering questions in the study group, using flashcards — all these add up to move you towards your goal, and often more effectively than slaving away for longer blocks of time that just wear you out.

Schedule it

It's important to be intentional and selective about how you use your time, though.

1. Schedule all of your study assignments, if it's not scheduled — it won't get done.
2. Use the Qpractice NCIDQ Study Schedule to help you plan this out.
3. Use the progress tracker for your lessons to help you keep on track.

Give it up

And most importantly, you have to choose what you're going to give up. You won't be able to do all the same things with your free time that you did before. It's time to either cut a few things out or delegate, but it's only for a few months. And it'll be well worth it in the end.

Make it count

When you're studying, keep in mind that not everything is worth the same. Each exam — IDFX, IDPX, or PRAC 2.0, all have certain content areas that are worth more than others.

Focus on the higher weighted areas first, especially if you don't have experience with them on the job. And if you've taken the exam before, consider spending time on the areas in which you scored poorly, especially when they are worth more.

Pretesting with Qpractice makes this easy, because we should you a graph of how you're doing in each content area in our quizzes and practice tests in each course.

Pin this to remind you how your time counts!