How to pass the SMSTS exam: revision plan

What do I need to know first?

The paper has 25 questions: 18 multiple choice worth one mark and seven multi-response or short written questions worth two marks each. The pass mark is 81%, so you can afford to lose six marks.

The exam is closed book for the first 20 minutes. You may use the permitted publications for the last 15.

Work through the four areas of the course: legal and management, health and welfare, general safety, and high risk activities. Spend more time on the areas you find hardest, and make short notes in your own words.

The scheme document says the two-mark questions all relate to seven focus areas, listed below. Give them extra revision time.

A comfortable aim is to be scoring well above the pass mark on your own revision before the real exam.

• Working at height
• Vehicles and pedestrians
• Manual handling
• Noise and vibration
• Asbestos and dust

A simple revision plan

Start during the course. Look back over each day in the evening for 30 to 45 minutes, while it is fresh. Keep your notes short.

After the course, split the remaining days between the four areas. Finish with a full practice paper under timed conditions, then spend time on every answer you got wrong and find out why.

Write your own short summary for each area, with the key duties and the reasons for them. Teaching a topic aloud to a friend is a useful test of whether you understand it.

How do I manage 35 minutes, and what should I do on the day?

The maths is simple. You have 25 questions in 35 minutes, so about 84 seconds on average. Multi-response questions deserve more time and quick single-answer questions less.

One approach is to answer everything you know in the first 20 minutes and flag the questions you are unsure of. Then use the last 15 minutes, when the publications are allowed, to check those.

Do not leave a question blank. Write something down, then come back if time allows.

Get there early and bring what your provider has told you to bring. Read the instructions on the front of the paper before you start.

Watch the clock at set points. A check after about 10 minutes and again at 20 minutes shows whether you are on pace.

If you are stuck, move on and come back to it.

How should I handle multi-response questions?

Read the question twice and check how many answers it asks for. Each question is worth two marks, so they matter. Rule out answers you know are wrong first, then choose from what is left.

Ask your trainer how multi-response questions are marked, because the scheme document does not say.

Take regular short breaks when you revise, and sleep well before the exam. Tired candidates misread questions.

How should I use practice tests, and what mistakes should I avoid?

Use them to find weak spots, not to learn answers by heart. A question you only remember by its wording teaches you nothing about the real exam.

Pass the Ticket is independent and not affiliated with CITB. Our free practice paper uses original questions, so it cannot predict your actual paper. Attend the approved course first, because practice tests do not replace it.

Skimming the stem and missing a word such as not or first. Choosing the first answer that looks right without reading the others. Spending too long on one hard question.

Relying on the book in the last 15 minutes instead of learning the material. Treating the trainer review as optional when it decides whether you can sit the exam.