If you're enrolled in a Blueprint course then you may have questions about taking practice exams under test-like conditions. This article will go over the best practices for practice exams and how they relate to our Guarantee.

Accurate timing means you take the practice exam under the same time limit you'll have on the official exam. You can take exams untimed, with Regular time, with 1.25x time, 1.5x time, or with 2x time. Most learners use Regular time, which will mimic the standard amount of time given on the official exam.

If you have approved accommodations, choose the timing option that matches them, and send your documentation to accommodations@blueprintprep.com so we can note your account — this ensures your scores are correctly counted toward the Guarantee. See How do accommodations affect eligibility for Blueprint's score guarantees? for more detail.

Taking an exam untimed, or with extended time that wasn't approved as an accommodation, disqualifies that exam from counting toward the Guarantee. These exams can still be valuable for practice and review — they just won't count as a valid attempt.

Taking an exam in one sitting means starting and finishing it in a single session, using only the allowed breaks. Completing an exam over multiple days, or taking breaks longer than the standard (or approved) break time, disqualifies that exam from the Guarantee. Skipping breaks, or taking shorter breaks than the maximum allowed, is fine — just as it is on the official exam.

Only your first attempt at a given practice exam counts toward the Guarantee. Once you've seen an exam's questions, a retake — even one completed in one sitting under accurate timing — can't give an accurate score or a test-like experience. Retakes can still be useful for practice and review, but they won't count as a valid attempt. Even if a retake is completed in one sitting, it will not qualify for the Guarantee.

To determine which exam you should use as your diagnostic for guarantee requirements, refer to the Guarantee website. If the listed exams do not accurately reflect your baseline due to your individual circumstances, contact guarantee@blueprintprep.com before submitting your diagnostic.

The table below shows the minimum and maximum time allowed under Regular (1x) timing for each exam type. If you're using 1.25x, 1.5x, or 2x time under approved accommodations, contact accommodations@blueprintprep.com if you're unsure of your specific limits.