Loren Kajitani, CPP™
lkajitani@aol.com

Personal Saga

In December of 1997, after years of prodding, I finally completed and mailed in the application form and a check for a CPP™ study program, which was slated to start in January 1998 and was sponsored by the Greater Los Angeles Chapter. My intent was to take the course and then the test to be given in May of 1998.

I had known about this course for years and like many others, had a pocketful of reasons for avoiding the reputedly gargantuan and difficult process of both studying for and taking the exam. When the last child went off to college, my pockets empty, I made the decision to invest in myself and take the exam.

My decision to go forward was based on the fact that I now had the time, the cost of the class was reasonable ($125 for ten Saturday mornings), and it was held within an hour's drive from my house.

The form that I filled out to enroll in the class was sent to me by the Greater Los Angeles Chapter CPP™ Representative. Truthfully, he had probably sent me one every year for the previous five years as well, but those all ended up in the trash. In addition, the chapter newsletter always had information in it about the local review class and I had talked to many people who had "been through it."

The basic structure of the class is hardly different today than it was years ago when it first started. The philosophical approach is as follows:

• No one person can read through all this by him or herself.
• Students can help each other learn.
• Mentors can pave the way, support and direct the student's efforts.
• The Chapter wants to support its members.
• We need to increase the number of CPP's™.

My classroom was in a facility that had a CPP™ as its Security Director. He felt that the program was so important that he initiated arrangements with his company to provide a location for the class. There was no charge for the room rental or for parking. The janitorial staff had the room set up every Saturday morning and the facility's kitchen loaned us their huge coffee pot. Audio-visual equipment was not provided.

When I walked into the classroom that first morning, I was greeted by the library of books that would be needed to complete the course. There were duplicate and triplicate copies of all the material. The librarian explained that he would check them out to the students for a period of one week at a time.

At each student's seat, there was a huge white 3-ring binder labeled "CPP™ Review Class." It contained dividers for the various seven subject areas, a course outline, calendar of presentation dates, contact names and phone numbers, and CPP™ program and testing information. One of the class monitors (who became known as "mentors" the following year) directed me to a long table and told me to sign up for a subject area. I choose Liaison. I had no idea what that was.

On my way to finding an empty seat, I vaguely remember seeing some anemic donuts and coffee supplies. It looked as though the room contained about 30 seats for students. I tried to see if there was anyone in the class who I already knew so I could sit next to them. No luck there either. I also saw 10 others who clearly were not students but who seemed to know what was going on. I recognized some of them as current CPP's™.

The Course Director explained that each of us had just signed up for a subject area that duplicated the subject areas covered by the CPP™ exam. He had us all move our seats and sit together with our new group. There were four of us in mine and I remember looking at each one in turn and wondering whether they would pass the test or not. (One dropped out of the industry, one failed, and two passed).

I knew I would do whatever it took to pass that test and to get everything I could out of that class. I was so determined and so old compared to them! I looked around the room and thought that I would have to study more and harder and better because they all had younger brains, only a little gray hair, and probably less demanding jobs. In addition, there were only 5 women in the room and they were all students. Not one was in my group, either. It was clear to me at that moment that what we all had in common was the drive to become CPP's™. With that in mind, nothing else seemed to be really important.

Each group was given a list of materials to read and a general course outline with a calendar. One group would read all the material related to its topic, outline and summarize it, and present the material to the rest of the groups in the form of "live" presentations and handouts. The people who had signed up for Emergency Planning were due to present the following Saturday morning and appeared dumbstruck. Each group was permitted to use the first 3 hours of their assigned Saturday morning to present their material; the final hour would be devoted to a speaker on the topic, a current CPP™, who was known in the field of expertise related to the material being presented that week.

We were given tips on how to study, how to learn new information. We were reminded about the positive influence of Mozart and flashcards. We were told how much we would have to concentrate on reading and studying. We were told to make our presentations dynamic and interactive, fascinating and informative. "Keep the class interested. Don't bore people to death." Somebody suggested that the group presenting also bring refreshments. That was good. We were told to buy some #2 pencils to bring to the exam in May (which would be held at a different facility. That was bad.) Somebody mentioned ASIS. Somebody else talked about how the exam was constructed and how it was really hard and many of the questions were confusing. But they would show us the way.

I know that there was a great deal more, but I think it went by in a blur. I still can't exactly remember much of what went on that first Saturday morning. But I went to class every week. I locked everything out of my life except my job and studying. I had never ever taken a lunch hour at work. For the first time, I did so. I read and reread everything the class presenters handed out to us and then went back and reread all the original source material. Flashcards littered the house. I kept them in my purse and in my car. I studied in traffic jams, in supermarket lines, at the car wash. My husband and a series of contractors started a major remodel of the house. I was oblivious. He was delighted.

Once I passed the exam, I became even more passionate about the program and determined to help increase the number of CPP's™. Our class has grown very large. This year's class enrolled more than 50 people and the course has been extended to 12 weeks instead of 10. The pass rate from the 2000 class was 75%. The mentors, all CPPs™ and mostly graduates of the review class, now have a formal training program they attend before the new session of the class each year. Refinements are made all the time and the food gets better and better. Presenters now commonly use PowerPoint and enthusiasm is everywhere.

Any chapter or region can put together a review class by following a few basic guidelines outlined in the section on this web site about creating a preparation program.

Cal Brim, C.P.P.
Six Flags Over Texas
Manager of Security & Guest Services
817.530.6000 ext. 4400

I used a week of "vacation" from work to do some pretty intense, undisturbed, phone and pager-free, hmmm-I-wonder-what's-on-CNN study at home before taking the test the following Friday morning. By Thursday night I couldn't look at another fact, theory, or multiple choice question. I knew every gauge of wire and foot candle, why a parabolic microphone would beat a sharp "spike mike" in the eye, and everything McGregor ever thought about his Theory "X" and Theory"Y" and where specifically he could store them. I had so many highlighter markings in the study book that you could no longer see the print I had taken every test I could find and some I'd made up for self-esteem purposes and had scored in the 90's across the board. Worst of all, my wife was starting to look at me funny anytime I commented on the need for Tempest Shielding for computer equipment featured in a movie we were watching or whether the TI facility near our home had a Mutual Aid agreement with the Saltgrass Steakhouse across the street. All this amassed knowledge had made me quite confident and, yes, even cocky as The Day approached.

Finally, Friday comes. I get to the testing site, Prometrics (a very well-run operation), at 8:00am. By 8:15am, after a thorough yet cheerful cavity search foreshadowing things to come, I sit down at Testing Station #1 under a CCTV camera and am in front of THE BEAST, sorry, computer . After some initial on-screen niceties, I am soon acing this "this-is-a-computer, this-is-a-mouse" practice exam with an arrogant smirk on my face. At the end a screen comes up saying something like, "Oh, we do have a smug one here. Base to Control, put on your protective gloves, break the seal and load the CPP™ 'HUMILIATOR', ver. 4.0 Bunker Buster Questions." I think I heard a snicker.

I had told my wife that we get four hours for the test but I should be home within a couple of hours at the most, and, if not, things were not going well and she should find a place to stay for the half-life of plutonium or until I was out of my post-failure funk - whichever came first. Three questions into the exam I was trying to figure out when I could schedule my re-test or whether I shouldn't look into an easier vocation like quantum nuclear physics or pig farming. I only hoped the people in the room couldn't see the tears.

For you it may be different, but for me the test I received was unlike anything I had heard, seen or imagined. You really, really have to think before answering. I am guessing (a highly operative word while testing) that I answered maybe 20 questions out of the 225 without a second thought. The balance I had to translate from the industry standard "Oh My God" language into English and then assimilate into some remotely applicable form of answerable data.

I know they say you should always go with your first choice, but I changed answers more often than the Dallas Cowboys change quarterbacks. You know how during the reviews, we never really had anyone tell us specific questions that were on the test? I think I now know why. The ethical issues notwithstanding, I don't know that I can specifically remember any of them. I can tell you that the test is much more about applied knowledge than facts and figures. Several questions seemed to be of the "of all these extremely right answers, which is the BEST on Friday" variety. More often than not, it came down to choosing one of two really reasonably correct answers per question. Here's a sample:

"Knowing that a standard chain link fence is made of 9 gauge wire and is 7' tall with the top guard consisting of 3 strands of 12 gauge, 4 pointed barbed wire spaced 6" apart adding, even at a 45 degree angle, an additional 1' to the overall height of the fence, which of the following is NOT true?

And so it went as time stood still and the hours whizzed by. I marked dozens of questions for review, finished the test, re-answered the ones I marked, and then went through the entire test again just because there was no one there to do a bone marrow biopsy in my hip instead. I realized that once I had lost all hope, it got a lot easier and I could think a lot clearer. Three hours and 58 minutes later, with blurred vision and a knot in my stomach the size of a 350-4 records safe (dropped from 30', of course), I finished (surrendered).

For my studies I used the chapter review sessions and notes, the ASIS CPP™ Review Workbook and the supplemental materials from the ASIS review seminar. But, surprise! surprise! there was a lot of material from all those other sources I hadn't bothered to check out. All things being equal, however, I don't know that I would do it any differently since the sheer volume of material to study in the POA alone is so vast relative to what I think I could retain. My advice is to take the full four hours thinking through each question while looking for key words that make all the difference in the answers. In truth, I didn't encounter any "trick" questions but you do have to think beyond, and in spite of, your individual security experiences to logically find the answers.

Hopefully, this isn't too scary because the good news is - I PASSED (albeit, a la 'kidney stone'), and so can you. The instant I hit the "Uncle! Uncle! I'm really, really, oh so finished" button, the screen came up with "Congratulations! You are tentatively a member of the distinguished frarority Chi Chi Pi "...blah blah blah. I literally jumped in my seat since I was convinced I had bombed this like a Sudanese aspirin factory. I made a 712 out of a possible 800 with 650 needed to pass. I don't have a clue about how I got to that number but I think I got extra credit for using "Butterworth-Heinneman" as a swear word. Regardless, as spooked as I was, I obviously did well enough to pass with room to spare. And it does feel good to be done with it.

I have a renewed respect for the CPP™ designation and am glad the test IS as difficult as it is in order to maintain credibility. I guess if it were easy, every mom and pop fly-by-night type would have the title and it wouldn't mean anything to anybody.

So, my friends, the bottom line - if you study hard, know your facts and can APPLY them to the particular questions asked, you will do fine. Otherwise, I hear they are hiring at the airports. Buenos suerte!