The placement check

A twenty-five-question check across every area of the exam. No timer, and no grades between questions — you answer, you move on.

What it is for

Your readiness meter needs two things before it can say anything: enough graded answers, and answers spread across most of the exam's domains. Twenty-five answers in one domain unlocks nothing, because that would be a reading of one domain.

The placement check is sized to clear both in one sitting. Skip it and you will get there anyway — it just takes a few ordinary sessions instead.

It is not a test you can fail

• Nothing is locked behind your score. There is no stream you get put in.
• It is meant to be hard. You have not studied yet. Getting most of it wrong is the expected result and it is genuinely useful information.
• Hints are switched off in the placement, deliberately — it is measuring you, not you-with-help.

What you get out of it

A first read on where you stand, and — more usefully — which domains are weakest, which is what your Game Plan and the "drill your weakest area" shortcut then work from. Starting with a real weakest area beats starting at chapter one.

Doing it later

You can skip it and carry on. Practice questions feed the same meter, so the information arrives either way; the placement check just gets it all at once, in about twenty minutes, before you have built any habits around your guesses.