April 2010 CBE Official Answer Key Now on CBP.gov
May 2nd, 2010
The official answer key for the April 2010 exam has been posted here on CBP.gov. Notable are the five questions that had either more than one or ALL answer choices credited by CBP. Five is on the high side; last year there were only a total of three multiple/all-answers-credited questions for both exams (April & October 2009) combined. As reported elsewhere, the national pass rate for this exam was 11.1%, making it, on average, a very difficult exam.
As noted in an earlier post, this exam had a different character from last year’s exams, and one senses that CBP may be in a transition mode when it comes to its exam construction. With the last four exams at or below approximately 10% for the national pass rate, CBP may be seeking greater control over the number of new licensed customs brokers, perhaps using the exam more robustly to apply a more rigorous filter for new members to the broker “community”.
If that is the case, exam candidates need to step up their efforts, and they must be prepared to take the exam more than once. CBP has not publicly released what the passing rate for first-time takers was for the April or earlier exams. Based on anecdotal evidence, SJC believes the first-time pass rate is at least half the overall rate if not lower. If accurate, this would mean that only 1 in 20 examinees passed the April exam as a first-timer. That’s tougher than getting into Stanford or Berkeley.