Appendix C. Exam day guide
Time management
The Promotion exam has 30 questions in 50 minutes, averaging one minute 40 seconds per question. Judgment questions are worth three points, recall/application questions two, so missing a judgment question costs more. Spend the first 35 minutes answering every question once, marking uncertain ones. Use the next ten minutes to revisit marked questions and the final five to check for unanswered questions. With code or JSON snippets, read the question and bold conditions before interpreting the whole snippet.
Tips by question type
Every question on the paper is answered by choosing one option from ①–⑤. What that number represents differs by type.
| Type | Tip |
|---|---|
| Single choice | Find bold conditions first; eliminate options violating even one |
| Multiple choice | Judge each item in the <Statements> box true or false, then choose the combination matching those judgments |
| True or false | Both a statement's conclusion and reason must be correct. Watch for correct conclusions with wrong reasons |
| Ordering | Identify dependencies by asking which step produces the input another needs. Determine the first and last steps before ordering the rest |
| Matching | One right-hand item is unused. Eliminate certain pairs first, then match the remainder |
Signs of a trap
- Phrases such as “retry every error” or “until it succeeds” signal missing error classification and caps.
- “Add a prohibition to the prompt” does not solve application responsibilities such as duplicate execution, permissions or format guarantees.
- Options proposing streaming for cost, temperature for consistency or a larger model for latency often mismatch the means and goal.
- Features with the same name behave differently across providers. If a question names a provider, use that provider's behavior. Cache reads versus rate limits and forced-tool-choice support are common examples.
- One changed condition changes the answer. Requirements such as “do not change the model”, “without additional calls” and “reduce retry waste” eliminate options.
Key point
When unsure, ask again: “Does this option satisfy all the bold conditions at once?” If two options seem plausible, the one addressing the more fundamental cause is more likely correct.
Checklist for the day before the exam
- Reread Common mistakes and Summary at a glance in each chapter.
- Recreate Chapter 1's stop-reason table, Chapter 2's strict-rule table, and Chapter 4's error and 429-cause tables without looking.
- Work through Chapter 3's cache break-even calculation by hand again.
- Read explanations for missed practice and mock-exam questions, writing one line identifying the misconception behind each mistake.
- Prepare your environment in advance: stable network, quiet place and 50 uninterrupted minutes.