The CPIM exam can prove to be a considerable challenge for most folks, as there’s not a particularly quick way to become CPIM certified. But what happens when failure strikes? You don’t hear people talking about how much they failed at something. To better your next exam score, consider the helpful tips and learning experiences found within this commentary.

Bombing a test can be one of the most demeaning experiences to deal with. Examinations are just like being back in school and prepping for the SAT or GMAT, except now you have to deal with a pass/fail report that may not reflect how hard you’ve prepared for the exam. A wise man once said, “I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways of doing it wrong.” You didn’t flunk the exam; you simply didn’t pass this time around. There’s a significant difference. In order to pull yourself up from the bottom of failures pitfall, you’ll need to review your mistakes and understand your weaknesses.

This attempt wasn’t successful. How now? You can’t see the questions you got wrong, and you’ll be kept from retaking the test for 30 days. The reason behind the 30 day lockout lies in how APICS sends their questions to the testing center – they want to guarantee candidates don’t see repeat questions. When leaving the testing center, all you’ll have are Knowledge Area reports that don’t really tell how you performed question by question. It’s more than tempting to pitch this worthless printout in the garbage on your way out the door, but you must resist. By keeping this piece of paper, you’ll be able to decipher the Knowledge Areas and hone your studying to pass next time.

The exams all come set with Knowledge Areas (KA). Without going into too much detail on how the center calculates a passing grade, these areas are used to find where you stand in rank amongst your peers. These categories are well dispersed in the exam; the BSCM module has the most (4) while the other modules sport only 3. Increasing the lowest area score is a challenge since most candidates don’t know where to look to improve a particular KA. If you’ve scanned Production Planning Pro’s study guides page or read through the various information pages, you’ve seen the material that the operations management association has based their Body of Knowledge upon. Even if you’ve read everything and spent money on study guides or professional tutors, you’re still not guaranteed to cover all the KA’s that will appear on the next exam. Fear not, Production Planning Pro is here to help.

We’ve designed questions based completely off of industry Body of Knowledge that test the individual Knowledge Areas that appear on the exam. We’ve organized questions while consulting with Master Black Belts, CFPIM, and other subject matter experts to create this dynamic test taking tool. Our questions come equipped with answer explanations and a CPIM readiness level indicator that will help you gauge your performance to the real exam. This readiness level helps you determine and assess where you are in terms of readiness for the exam as it shows you Low, Medium, or High based on practice question results.

Did you know free CPIM practice questions help you prepare more effectively for the CPIM exam? Imagine how strong your score will be when combined with our free CPIM study guide!

Tags: APICS CPIM, CPIM certification, Internet, inventory management, lean manufacturing, operations management, production planning, six sigma, supply chain management