Preparing for the NICET exam can be frustrating, intimidating and exhausting. When you are feeling the pressure to pass this exam, keep one major thing in mind, "It's not necessarily what you know or how much you can store in memory.". The key to NICET along with any other timed test is time management. If you can learn a few time saving tricks, this can drastically help reduce anxiety during the examination as well as assist you in gaining additional confidence to push forward. Since NICET allows you to bring your own references into the testing facility, you have a huge advantage on your side! You can use preemptive measures to prepare your books weeks before you even step foot into the facility on exam day. NICET Insider tip: Keep in mind that all reference materials brought into the NICET testing facility MUST meet the criteria found on NICET's website. The NFPA 72 Handbook is NOT an acceptable alternative to the allowable references!
As stated above, its not what you can remember rather how well you can prepare for this exam by learning to properly navigate the reference material and turn to the correct pages to locate the needed information as quickly as possible. Now obviously there are going to be answers you know off the top of your head and that's great! These immediate responses will allow you to ultimately bank additional time for the questions you do not know so well. The goal of this technique is to rapidly respond to any given question with the knowledge and confidence to grab the right reference and turn to the correct page without any delays. Tabbing your code references is essential to success. Remember that NICET does not allow any non-permanent tabbing of your personal code books. This means that your code book tabs will need to be permanently attached via tape or glue. You cannot use loose sticky notes. They will be removed once you enter the NICET testing facility.
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| These are the Sticky Tabs we Recommend |
How and where to tab your NFPA 72 code book
A lot of future NICET exam students ask me where to place the tabs to give them the best advantage. To be honest the tabs are completely up to you as well as what NICET level you are testing for. What I can tell you is there are a few tabs that are in my opinion necessary and applicable to all levels and exams. These tabs would include each chapter, the different Annex sections and tables. I also provide tabs for Annex "A" chapters 17 and 18 as there is a lot of valuable information in the Annex for Notification Appliances as well as Initiating Devices.
The tabs themselves are not exactly large enough to descriptively write out what they represent so its up to you to come up with a system that works for you. I recommend just using numbers for the chapters, letters for the Annex, T for tables along with some sort of numeric or alphabetic system for what it represents and TOC for the table of contents. Below is a breakdown of the reference tabs I recommend for your NFPA 72 2022 edition during the NICET exam:
- TOC - Table of Contents page 15
- DEF or 3 - Definitions found in Chapter 3 page 20
- DOC or 7 - Documentation page 34
- FUN or 10 - Fundamentals page 68
- CKTS or 12 - Circuits and pathways page 76
- TEST or 14 - Inspection, Testing and Maintenance page 79
- T-I(vis) - Table for VISUAL Inspection Frequencies page 80
- T-I(fun) - Table for FUNCTIONAL Inspection Frequencies page 84
- INIT or 17 - Initiating Devices page 97
- HD - Heat Sensing Detectors page 99
- SD - Smoke Sensing Detectors page 100
- AIR - Air Sampling Detectors page 102
- DOOR - SD for Door Releasing Service page 104
- NAC or 18 - Notification Appliances page 109
- AUD - Audible Characteristics page 110
- VIS - Visual Characteristics page 113
- T-VIS - Table for Visual Spacing page 113-114
- CONT or 21 - Emergency Control Function Interfaces page 117
- PPFAS or 23 - Protected Premises Fire Alarm Systems page 120
- ECS or 24 - Emergency Communication Systems page 129
- SUPER or 26 - Supervising Station Alarm Systems page 142
- PUBLIC or 27 - Public Emergency Alarm Reporting Systems page 155
- HOUSE or 29 - Single and Multiple Station Alarms and Household FAS page 166
- A - Annex A page 173
- A17 - Annex for Chapter 17 page 210
- T-SD/HD - Tables for Detector Spacing page 212-215
- A18 - Annex for Chapter 18 page 227
- B - Annex B page 282
- C - Annex C page 322
- D - Annex D page 323
- INDEX - Document Index page 351
Now this is very important! The placement of tabs in your NFPA 72 code reference is everything. I recommend placing the chapter and Annex tabs along the right edge of the document in a staggered order so they are easy to read and access at any time during the exam. The tables and other tabs are highly recommended to run along the top border of the document. This will reduce clutter and increase efficiency though organization.
Lastly if you must include additional tabs for individual section support, I highly recommend placing the tab along the edge of the document that is closest to the needed text. This way when you open the code book to that section, the tab will quickly guide you directly to where you need to be.
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