SJC Customs Training

One week after the October 2009 Customs Broker License Examination was given, examinees are still scratching their heads over its content–not necessarily because it was particularly challenging (although it wasn’t easy), but because it was more or less an amalgamation of questions that had appeared on previous exams.  CBP has already posted the exam and the blogosphere has already demonstrated that nearly all the questions are near verbatim repeats from previous exams.

So what?  The exam was still difficult, right?  Yes, the exam was still difficult, even for those who had prepared by reviewing previous exams and, more important, for those who remembered the questions from those exams.   Take a look at the following question, which appeared on the exam last week and also on the October 2005 CBE:

20.   What QUANTITY should be reported on the CBP Form 7501 for a shipment of 50% liquid caustic soda classified in 2815.12.0000 and weighing 8,836,165 pounds (4,008.022 metric tons) liquid and 4,442,823 pounds (2,015.233 metric tons) dry?

A.           2,015,233 kg/4,008,022 kg

B.            4,008,022 t/2,015,233 t

C.            4,000,000 kg/2,015,233 kg

D.            4,008,022 kg/2,015,233 kg

E.            8,836,165 lbs/4,442,823 lbs

Even if you remembered the question, how could you be certain that there wasn’t a change in any of the numbers?  A change of order in the question choices?  CBP has been notorious for trying to trick examinees with questions that are seemingly easy only to turn out to be traps for the unwary.  So, are you really SURE this isn’t a trick? (By the way, CBP did indeed change the answer order from the original, but not much else.)

Unfortunately, a previously given question, even if verbatim, is not that much easier than a new question that poses the issue with a different scenario, and CBP probably knows that.  Some predict that the pass rate for the October 2009 exam will be unusually high; I am not among them. Sure, there may be a small segment with good memories who might pass because of the “regurgitated” nature of this latest CBE, but among those who prepared sincerely and carefully, there will be those who will fail (or do worse than expected) precisely because of the familiarity.

Our only recourse for the continued unpredictability of CBP’s exam content is to be prepared for anything.