Appendix C. Exam day guide
Checklist before starting
- Prepare a quiet place, a stable internet connection, and a sufficiently charged device.
- If you need a magnifying glass or glasses, prepare them in advance. Adjust the font size in your device settings ahead of time.
- The exam consists of 20 questions and lasts 30 minutes. That is an average of 1 minute and 30 seconds per question.
- Check around the 10-minute mark to see if you have passed 7 questions, and around the 20-minute mark for 14 questions. Flag any questions where you get stuck and move on.
- You pass with a score of 70 points or higher, which means answering 14 or more out of the 20 questions correctly. It is okay to get a few questions wrong, so do not spend too much time on a single question.
Order for reading questions
- Read the question first. Check whether it asks for "the single most appropriate option", "two appropriate options", or the order of steps.
- Find the conditions in the scenario. If there are words in bold, they are the key to deciding the answer. Mark whether money is requested, whether facts (numbers or dates) are at stake, whether personal information (Privacy) is included, and who will read the text.
- Choose the option that satisfies all conditions. An option that satisfies only one condition is a plausible trap.
- Judge using the principles in this book. For each option, call to mind: "Which principle from which chapter does this align with or violate?"
Signals for filtering out incorrect answers
| Incorrect answer signal | Example | Relevant chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Treating tone as evidence of a correct answer | "The AI spoke with confidence, so it must be right" | Chapter 1 |
| Treating asking the AI again as verification | "When I asked if it was really true, it said it was" | Chapter 1, Chapter 3 |
| Vague requests, vague follow-up prompts | Repeating only "Write it better" | Chapter 2 |
| Confusing asking specifically with disclosing identity | "It is accurate only if I write out even my name and address" | Chapter 2, Chapter 4 |
| Treating a source link as completed verification | "A link is attached, so that is enough" | Chapter 3 |
| Verifying through the received number or link | "I will ask using the number the AI gave me" | Chapter 3, Chapter 5 |
| Believing that a single setting eliminates all risks | "Since I turned off Training, I can enter anything" | Chapter 4 |
| Treating voice, face, or caller ID as proof | "The voice was my daughter's", "The bank's number showed up" | Chapter 5 |
| Believing it is real if there is no label | "There is no AI label, so it is a real video" | Chapter 5 |
| Overreaction | "The AI was wrong once, so I will never use it again" | Chapter 1 |
Pay close attention to the last row. This course does not teach you to avoid AI. An option that says "do not use AI at all" usually looks safe, but it is an overreaction that abandons appropriate use suited to the situation. The correct answer usually lies in using AI while verifying, masking, and following procedures.
Tips by question format
- Single choice: There is no guarantee that the longest or most cautious option is the correct answer. Choose based on whether it satisfies all conditions of the scenario.
- Multiple choice: Check how many options you are asked to select. If you select even one more or one fewer, you will receive no points. Judge each option separately as correct or incorrect.
- Statement evaluation: Judge each sentence separately. Even if the first part of a sentence is correct, if the reason that follows with "because..." is incorrect, that sentence is incorrect.
- Ordering: Consider whether "this step must be completed before the next step can be taken." In this course, "stopping or hanging up" usually comes before "verifying", "masking" comes before "sending", and "verifying" comes before "sharing or deciding".
- Matching: Eliminate the certain pairs first. If there is a notice that one option may be left over, do not force everything into a pair.
The final 5 minutes
- Return to the flagged questions and re-read the conditions of the scenario.
- Change your initially chosen answer only when there is a newly discovered condition. Do not change it out of vague anxiety.
- Check that there are no blank questions.