One of the most common questions I get from students getting ready to take the exam is: what does the format of the exam look like?

But first, some ground rules.  The passing mark for the CAIB exams is 60%, all 1/2 marks are rounded up and any exams that score close to the passing mark but doesn’t pass automatically re-marked.

For the CAIB 1, 2 & 3 exams, the exam is made up of the following components:

12 Key Terms – These are based on the definitions section found in each chapter.  Usually, each CAIB course has around 80 key terms that you will learn as you go through the material.  Try to remember and learn as many of these are possible.

10 Multiple Choice – To tackle these questions, it is very important that you read them carefully.  They might have little words like not buried within the question that can really change your answer.  Also, another important tip is that sometimes the topics mentioned in the multiple choice question is later revisited in other parts of the exam.  Use this to your advantage!

26 Short Answer Questions – Because these questions are 3 marks each, they will never ask you for more than 6 points about a topic.  So when you come up on a list of things during your studies, just remembering 6 of them will be enough.

The CAIB 4 exam & CPIB exam is a little different.  They are all essay style questions with different marks assigned to each.  When studying for these exams, look out for topics or lists that might make good essay questions.

If you’d like these study tips and more, we go over all of this (including which topics to pay attention to) in our online courses.  Feel free to take a look.