It’s time to get ready for AEP. Before you can sell Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug plans during this year’s AEP, most carriers will require you to show that you’re up to date on Medicare training by obtaining your annual AHIP certification. To do this, you need to pass the AHIP test with a score of 90% or higher.
Do tests make you nervous? Don’t worry! You have what it takes to be a straight A student. These tips will help you ace your AHIP certification.
1. Study. Maybe good grades came easy to in school. That’s great, but when the stakes are this high, you don’t want to risk messing up. The AHIP exam is an online, open book test, but it’s also timed. This means you won’t have enough time to learn all the information covered during the test. You need to master the material ahead of time.
The AHIP training material consists of five modules. Review each one and answer the practice questions. When you’re confident that you can answer every question correctly (and not just by guessing!) you’re ready to take the exam.
2. Watch out for changes. Think you can skip step one because you’ve done this before? Not so fast. You might be a seasoned professional, but it’s still possible to forget a detail or two during the slow months. And even if your memory is a steel trap, you still need to watch out for changes in the material.
3. Get organized. In a timed, open-book test like the AHIP exam, organization counts. You can look up information, but you have to be able to find it quickly.
When reviewing the modules, take well-organized notes that will be easy to navigate. Make sure to highlight anything that’s likely to trip you up. If you’re using electronic materials during the test, have them open in a separate window or – even better – on a separate device.
4. Get some rest. All-night cramming sessions really aren’t the way to go. According to Harvard Health Blog, multiple studies have found a connection between sleep and learning. You need a good night’s sleep so you can be at your sharpest and avoid making careless mistakes – or, worse yet, nodding off in the middle of the exam.
5. Remove distractions. A YouGov study found that 38% of Americans who are working from home say that distractions from family members can make work challenging. Distractions can be even worse when you’re taking a timed test.
The AHIP exam deserves your full attention. Make sure you’re ready to provide it.
- Tell your family that you cannot be disturbed during the exam. If you have children, try to take the exam during a time when someone else can provide childcare for a couple of hours.
- Turn off any alarms, email notifications, and anything else that’s likely to distract you.
- If you’re sensitive to noise and can’t guarantee perfect quiet, consider using noise-cancelling headphones. On the other hand, if you can’t stand things to be too quiet, consider playing some non-distracting ambient noise or classical music.
- Have a beverage and a light snack ready in case you get thirsty or hungry. You don’t want to waste time getting up to fix a snack during the middle of your exam.
6. Pace yourself. This is a timed test, but you don’t get bonus points for finishing early. You’ll need to answer 50 questions in two hours, so you’ll have a little more than two minutes per question. Read every question carefully, and read all the answer choices before selecting an answer. If you have extra time at the end, use it to review any questions you had trouble with.
7. Get started now. You might feel like you have all the time in the world, but AEP will be here before you know it. The AHIP training session for 2022 begins June 21, 2021. Don’t delay.