9.3 Current Exam Strategy and Core Calculation Review

9.3 Current Exam Strategy and Core Calculation Review

The current PSP exam has a five-hour maximum and three scored domains: Conduct Planning Duties (36 questions), Conduct Scheduling Duties (83 questions), and Communication Competency (one memo). AACE does not publish mandatory 56/29/34 question parts or a required sixty-minute memo block.

Build a flexible pacing plan

There are 119 multiple-choice questions plus the memo. Reserve enough total time to draft and review the one-page memo, then use periodic checkpoints for the multiple-choice work. The exact allocation depends on your reading speed and network-calculation fluency.

A practical approach is:

1. answer direct conceptual items efficiently;
2. flag calculation-heavy items if the interface permits;
3. return to solvable calculations with written intermediate steps;
4. preserve a meaningful memo block; and
5. use remaining time to check unanswered or flagged work.

Treat this as strategy, not official timing policy.

Exam-day facts

• The examination is closed book.
• AACE permits any style of battery-operated calculator.
• The testing center does not provide the calculator.
• Candidates should follow current Kryterion and AACE appointment instructions.
• The whole examination has a five-hour maximum.

Do not narrow “any style” to “non-programmable” unless the current appointment instructions do so.

CPM date conventions

First determine whether the problem uses continuous day-zero math or inclusive day numbering.

For a zero-day convention:

$EF = ES + D$

$LS = LF - D$

For an inclusive day-one convention:

$EF = ES + D - 1$

$LS = LF - D + 1$

Mixing conventions creates one-day errors even when the network logic is correct.

Relationship-aware logic

For a zero-lag finish-to-start relationship in zero-day math, a successor’s early start is the maximum predecessor early finish. Other relationship types constrain different endpoints. Do not apply the simple free-float expression $ES_{successor} - EF_{activity}$ to every start-to-start or finish-to-finish relationship without adapting the relationship and lag.

Total float can be calculated as:

$TF = LS - ES = LF - EF$

The critical or controlling path is not always “every zero-float activity.” Constraints can create negative float, positive float can remain on the longest path, and software settings can affect reported criticality. Trace a continuous path to the required milestone.

Duration and resources

For quantity-based work:

$\text{Duration} = \frac{\text{Quantity}}{\text{Daily production}}$

If daily production is built from crew size:

$\text{Daily production} = \text{Crew size} \times \text{Output per worker per day}$

Confirm whether adding workers is physically feasible. Fixed-work arithmetic is not proof that production scales linearly.

Three-point estimating

Classic PERT uses:

$T_e = \frac{O + 4M + P}{6}$

$\sigma \approx \frac{P - O}{6}$

For an independent path approximation, variances—not standard deviations—are added before taking the square root. Real schedule-risk models may violate the independence and fixed-path assumptions, so use the formula only when the question supplies those assumptions.

Earned value and earned schedule

Core earned-value formulas are:

$CV = EV - AC$

$SV = EV - PV$

$CPI = \frac{EV}{AC}$

$SPI = \frac{EV}{PV}$

Traditional schedule variance is value-denominated and does not replace CPM milestone analysis. Earned Schedule translates earned value onto the planned time curve:

$SV(t) = ES - AT$

$SPI(t) = \frac{ES}{AT}$

Forecast formulas are conditional models. State the performance assumption rather than treating one estimate at completion as certain.

Memo checkpoint

Use the official one-page flow: header; issue and impact; supplied alternatives; comparative analysis; recommendation; and final decision handoff. Review names, dates, arithmetic, and whether every option in the prompt was addressed.

The strongest preparation combines conceptual recall with repeated handwritten calculations and timed one-page memos. Learn the reasoning behind each formula so a changed convention or scenario does not turn memorization into a trap.

Applied review: use the published structure, not invented parts

Plan around one five-hour appointment containing 36 Planning questions, 83 Scheduling questions, and one Communication memo. AACE does not publish mandatory time segments for obsolete 56, 29, and 34-question parts. Create a personal pacing budget, check progress periodically, and retain enough flexibility for network calculations, scenario reading, and the memo. The communication domain is scored, so leaving the memo blank is a material risk.

Build a compact formula set from understanding: CPM forward and backward passes under a consistent date convention, total and free float, quantity-productivity-duration relationships, earned-value indices and forecasts, and basic probability interpretations. Practice identifying when a formula is inapplicable. Write assumptions beside intermediate work so that a sign, unit, or calendar error is visible.

During review, first eliminate answers that contradict scope, logic, ethics, or the current official rules. Recalculate quantitative choices rather than matching a familiar-looking number. For the memo, outline issue, impact, alternatives, analysis, recommendation, and decision handoff before writing. Use the final minutes to check unanswered items, units, and memo completeness—not to force every uncertain answer into the same letter pattern.