Passing the CSP Exam

I recently took and passed the BCSP CSP Exam under the new 2021 Blueprint. I wanted to share my experience involving preparing and passing the CSP Exam.

First a little background. I did not enter the safety profession through General Industry or Construction. I came into the safety profession through the Army. As many know, the Army Safety Program is a robust program governed by AR 385-10. Civilian safety professionals are classified in Career Path (CP) 12. CP-12 is a career program that supports the technical, managerial and leadership skills for Department of the?Army?Civilians. The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) recognizes the United States Army Combat Readiness Center’s (USACRC) Professional Certificate in Safety and Occupational Health (CP-12 Certificate) as meeting the credential eligibility requirement for the Certified Safety Professional? (CSP?).?

I attended training for the Professional Certificate in Safety and Occupational Health (CP-12 Certificate) early in my safety career, over 10 years ago. Upon completion of CP-12, I sat for the Occupational Hygiene and Safety Technician? (OSHT) exam and passed. I was given my Professional Certificate in Safety and Occupational Health and Occupational Hygiene and Safety Technician at the same time. Later, In my career I took the The Certified Instructional Trainer (CET)?exam and passed. During the course of my career, I also gained recognition as a Specialist in?Safety?& Health (SSH), Certified?Safety?and Health Official? (CSHO) in both General Industry and Construction, as well as becoming an OSHA Outreach trainer for both General Industry and Construction. This does not include all of the additional safety training specific to Army Safety, including Explosive Safety Training and Army Risk Management Training. Finally, I have been an adjunct instructor for community colleges teaching courses in a variety of topics pertaining to safety and occupational health.

Even with the required education and experience, the first time I sat for the CSP Exam in 2019, I did not pass.

One might wonder with all the experience, education and technical knowledge, how could you fail to achieve a passing score, which is roughly is roughly 56%? There were several factors, some of which were personal in nature. However, the professional factors that did directly impact my failure were:

1. Not fully comprehending the CSP Blueprint and the skill related to the subject area
2. Not recognizing that my experience in safety is limited to only those industries that I serve, but the CSP Exam questions related to a broader perspective of safety
3. Relying on Test Prep Questions rather than reading referenced material to get a broad overview
4. Not using basic test taking strategies and wasting the allotted time

I want to explain each point and provides tips to help anyone that is preparing for the CSP Exam:

Not fully comprehending the CSP Blueprint and the skill related to the subject area

The CSP Exam is broken into 9 weighted domains. Each domain is represented on the exam and the blueprint provides an outline of what knowledge you are expected to have. I paid particular attention to the knowledge, but the breath of knowledge was too broad. ""Core Concepts" of..." is a very broad description of disciplines that professionals spend years trying to obtain a degree i.e. chemistry, anatomy and physiology, mathematics etc. Most of the Prep Courses available will provide you with enough background of the core concepts in each domain, but the real focus should be on the skill you are expected to have because that is what you will exercise on the test. You will be required to calculate containment volumes and calculate statistics (Doman 1), for example, BUT that is only 9.95% of the exam AND the new Exam provides the formulas with the questions.

There is absolutely no need to memorize formulas, but you should practice doing ventilation, probability and other scientific calculations. In addition, choose an approved calculator that will do data functions! My advice would be to look at the skill in all domains and ask yourself, "Can I do or at least describe how to do this skill?" If you can't answer yes, focus on strengthening that skill. Devise a plan using the percentages. If you are terrible at calculations, don't frustrate yourself. Strengthen your knowledge in another area to balance missing a few questions in an area you are not strong.

I determined my weak areas to be Domains 3 & 4. Questions from those domains represent about 28% of the total CSP EXAM. I deduced that I would probably only get 10-15% of those questions correct, so I looked at other domains where I could make up those percentage points and put emphasis on learning. My overall calculation came out to be 69% which put me well above the 56% passing baseline. You are not going to "ace" the CSP Exam, but you can master a passing percentage of the subject matter.

Not recognizing that my experience in safety is limited to only those industries that I serve, but the CSP Exam questions related to a broader perspective of safety

I know Army Safety. I do not know Process System Safety. When would I ever have had the opportunity to learn or experience PSM? I've never worked in a refinery or any other high hazard industry. However, the CSP Exam expects the Certified Safety Professional to know basic aspects of safety in all industries. If you have spent your career in General Industry, learn about Construction. If you have spent your career in Construction, learn about PSM. If you've served as a line supervisor, learn about engineering economics, risk management, etc... The two key domains, Risk Management and Advanced Application of Key Safety Concepts, contain KSAs that I would never have had any practical experience and if I did have experience, it was limited to a specific industry. I spent a lot of time reading and learning about those industries rather than studying test questions.

Relying on Test Prep Questions rather than reading referenced material to get a broad overview

Test preps are great. They give you an opportunity to focus on areas that you are week and review what you have learned. However, they are EXPENSIVE. I am not endorsing any particular prep provider, but I will share my experience on the ones I used:

PocketPrep - This tool was great. This is a Android/Apple App Pocket. Prep questions primarily come from the Safety Professional's Reference and Study Guide. The reason PocketPrep is useful is that if you read the book, the PocketPrep is a great way to quiz you on what you are retaining. There is no reason to use to do the PocketPrep without the companion book, unless you just want to do practice tests.

ASP+CSP Prep Bowen EHS- This is a Android/Apple App that provides questions similar to those you might encounter on the CSP Exam. It was my experience that the use of this Prep tool helped in practicing calculations. Like the CSP Exam, formulas are provided in the questions. The app provides 10 questions per "game," and a score at the end. However, it provides no explanations for questions missed. You have to pay for the Premium subscription with Bowen EHS to gain access to their question bank.

Bowen EHS/ASSE/College Prep - A lot of organizations offer 3 day in person or access to their live online prep. I attended Bowen's the first time I prepared to take the test. The benefit is getting their workbook, flash cards and access to their database of questions. If you want classroom study and the ability to ask the instructor questions these are great as long as you can take the exam soon after. I took the prep course, but I wasn't able to sit for the exam until a year later. By that time I had forgotten most of what I learned.

Mometrix Flash Cards / Study Guides - I did not find these as useful as developing my own flash cards. Mometrix squeezes a lot of information on to a 3x5 card which makes it difficult to memorize. However, if you don't want to make your own Flash Cards, Mometrix can be helpful. You can take out the ones you don't need and the information on the cards comes from some of the recommended reference materials almost verbatim.

SPAN International - SPAN is similar to Bowen. I did some SPAN review questions and found them to be helpful for practice.

DataChem - I paid for Datachem twice. The first time I took the test and didn't pass, Datachem refunded me the cost of the program. When I decided to prepare the second time, I went back to Datachem. The reason I used Datachem is that in their explanation of the various problems or questions they reference where the information came from. This allowed me to acquire the reference books that the question was built on and strengthen my knowledge of the topic rather than merely answering the question. Datachem's data base has about over 2800 questions organized by domain.

Examcore - My employer would have paid for Examcore and I would have used it had I not already invested in Datachem. Examcore is provided by the BCSP and it would probably be a great prep tool. I know others who have used the platform and found it useful and credited it for helping them pass the test. Examcore, in comparison to the other exam prep, is probably the most pricey.

Youtube - Youtube was a great free resource. I learned about PSM from an hour long video presentation and what I learned had direct application to the exam. I learned how to do the majority of the Gas Law calculations from Youtube. I learned about subjects I have no industry exposure to from Youtube. In fact, I would say Youtube with some reference books, Safety Professional's Reference and Study Guide and a few other books from the BCSP recommended reference list, would probably be the least expense, but effective way to prepare for the CSP Exam.

BCSP Assessment. I would say that taking the assessment prepares you for the way questions will be asked on the test. Like Datachem, assessment questions are tied back to the reference book, which I think is the best way to study -- read the book.

Not using basic test taking strategies and wasting the allotted time

The test is 5 hours and 15 minutes with 200 questions. The first time I took the test was at 1000 on an empty stomach because I was so nervous. Midway through the test I was tired, hungry, frustrated and I just wanted to be done. This made me rush to answer questions and obviously resulted in a poor performance.

I learned from my mistakes. The day before the test I got plenty of rest, had a great meal, decompressed and drank lots of fluids. The morning of the test, I ate a healthy breakfast and hydrated. I determined pre-scheduled breaks and took a break after every 25 questions. I walked away from the computer screen and took a break to refresh and reset my mind. I used an ABCD elimination method where for each question I wrote down ABCD and "x" the letter for what the answer couldn't be and worked my way to the best possible answer. For those I wasn't sure about, I flagged and went to the next question. Before I answered the question, I tried to attach the question to the domain and the skill, constantly asking, "What is the KSA this question is trying to get me to demonstrate?" Flagging questions is so important because if I didn't know something, answering another question may have bring something back to my remembrance for a flagged question.

Final Thoughts.

There is no one book that prepares for the CSP Exam. Preparation is based on your experience in safety for the industry you work and having general knowledge of other industries that you may never work during the course of your safety career. If you search the Internet for CSP practice questions the majority will be full of math calculations. This is a misrepresentation of the test content. Approximately 28% of the test contains some type of math or statistics. The rest of the test is critical thinking and attempts to assess your knowledge in safety as a decision maker supporting your organization.

I hope this helps you prepare for the CSP Exam and I pray you have the greatest success in your safety career.