off on a tangent, but OK; my fault.
knowing how to look things up = extremely useful. It's what I call "on the frontier of my knowledge" - I know that I don't know it, and know where it can be found.
Still, I don't know it, and when someone asks for the "minimum required level of understanding" it seems silly to me to include something you don't know.
I would assume that anyone taking the online exam is preparing for a written/tasting exam, where they will have ZERO reference materials. Rote memorization can be a waste, but once you pass online you're going to have 12 months to know the material whatever method you use...
If someone answers ALL the questions they (think they) know, and uses the rest of their time to find as many answers to questions they don't know as possible...sounds like a good plan. jlo and a witty man did this and perhaps the OP did too.
If someone doesn't get a chance to answer certain questions they might know because they were spending too much time looking up other answers, then I call it poor time management.
I am simply stressing that you only have 18 seconds per question including the time to read it and answer it or mark it - don't waste time and possibly miss a single question you knew.
...I should have just avoided this discussion and echoed Mark G: "It is not an easy exam, and thinking you have time to refer to the BJCP guidelines or any other materials is a mistake."
cheers--
--Michael