CIH Exam Tips: 15 Proven Strategies to Pass on Your First Attempt

This is the single most important thing you can do. Practice questions don't just test your knowledge—they train your brain to recognize question patterns and retrieve information quickly under pressure.

Aim for 500-1,000 questions across all 16 rubrics. More is better. The candidates who pass typically complete significantly more practice questions than those who fail.

When you miss a practice question, don't just look at the correct answer and move on. Understand why your answer was wrong and why the correct answer is right. This transforms mistakes into learning opportunities.

Keep a log of concepts you miss repeatedly. These are your weak spots—and they'll appear on the real exam.

Knowing the material isn't enough—you need to be able to demonstrate that knowledge over 5 continuous hours. Mental fatigue is real, and it affects performance.

Before your exam, complete at least 2-3 full-length (180 question) practice tests under strict time limits. No breaks except what's allowed. No looking things up. Simulate the real experience.

The BGC provides an equation sheet, but it won't help you if you don't know when to use each formula. During your preparation, practice with the actual equation sheet format until you can instantly identify which formula applies to any given problem.

The exam doesn't test whether you've memorized formulas—it tests whether you can recognize problem types and apply the correct formula quickly.

You cannot bring your own calculator. The Pearson VUE on-screen calculator is slower and clunkier than what you're used to. Practice with the Windows calculator in scientific mode—it's similar.

Get comfortable with clicking instead of typing. Learn to verify your entries before hitting equals. The calculator interface has caused many candidates to make avoidable errors.

First pass: Answer every question you know quickly. If a question requires more than 2 minutes of thought, flag it and move on. Don't get stuck.

Second pass: Return to flagged questions with fresh eyes. You'll often find that questions that seemed hard initially are clearer after a break.

This approach ensures you capture all the "easy" points before time runs out, and gives your subconscious time to work on harder problems.

There's no penalty for wrong answers. A blank answer is guaranteed zero points; a guess has a 25% chance of being correct.

Even if you're completely stumped, eliminate any obviously wrong options and make an educated guess. If you can eliminate two options, you have a 50% chance.

Pay close attention to words like "EXCEPT," "NOT," "MOST," "LEAST," "ALWAYS," and "NEVER." These qualifiers completely change what the question is asking.

A common mistake is selecting an answer that would be correct for a similar question—but not the question actually being asked. Read the question twice before looking at the answers.

Research consistently shows that first answers are more likely to be correct than changed answers—unless you have a specific reason to change (like realizing you misread the question).

Don't second-guess yourself out of correct answers. If you're going to change an answer, make sure you have a concrete reason, not just anxiety.

Even when you don't know the right answer, you can often identify wrong answers. Look for:

• Absolute statements ("always," "never") that are rarely true
• Options that are clearly out of scope
• Two options that say the same thing differently (both are probably wrong)
• Options that are opposite of each other (one is probably right)

Read the problem completely. Identify what you're solving for. Find the appropriate formula on the equation sheet. Write down your known values. THEN start calculating.

Jumping straight to the calculator often leads to using the wrong formula or plugging values into the wrong places.

Unit errors are extremely common. Before calculating, verify that all your values are in compatible units. A 12-inch duct needs to be converted to 1 foot (or 0.5 foot radius) before using area calculations.

If your answer seems unreasonable (negative values, impossibly large numbers), check your units first.

After calculating, ask yourself: "Does this answer make sense?"

• Sound levels should be 0-140 dBA range
• WBGT values should be reasonable temperatures
• Airflow that's negative is impossible
• A 100,000 cfm exhaust hood for a small bench operation is clearly wrong

If your answer is wildly different from all the options, you made an error somewhere.

If you don't know it by now, one more night won't help. Cramming increases anxiety and decreases sleep—both hurt performance.

Arrive at the test center 30 minutes early. Rushing raises stress hormones that impair memory retrieval. You've prepared for months—don't let logistics undermine your performance.