Cheat sheet
BICSI Technician Cheat Sheet
Copper Cabling
- 25% of exam
- Cat 5e/6/6A specs T568A/B color order Twisted pair Distance limits Termination blocks
Optical Fiber
- 25% of exam
- Singlemode vs multimode OM1-OM5 bandwidth Wavelengths 850/1310/1550 Connector types Splice loss
Termination and Connectors
- 10% of exam
- RJ45 pinout 110/Krone/BIX blocks LC/SC/ST/MTP Polish types Cable prep
Testing and Certification
- 10% of exam
- OTDR traces TDR copper NVP Loss budgets Certification scanners
Codes and Standards
- 5% of exam
- TIA-568 TIA-607 bonding TIA-562 NEC/NFPA TSB bulletins
Grounding, Bonding, Firestopping
- 15% of exam
- TBB #6 AWG TMGB/TGB F/T/L/W ratings Penetration seals NEC compliance
Pathways and Spaces
- 5% of exam
- Conduit fill Cable trays Sleeves TR/TEF spaces Bend radius
Safety
- 5% of exam
- PPE Lockout/tagout Ladder safety Fiber shards Laser eye safety
Project and Documentation
- 5% of exam
- As-built drawings Test reports Warranty Coordination Blueprint reading
Quick Facts
- Exam BICSI TECH
- Questions 100 MCQ
- Time 2 hours
- Pass Scaled score
- Hands-On 12 tasks
- Task Time 20 min each
- Fee $200+
- Validity 3 years
- Retake 30 days
T568A Color Order CO
- WGrn Grn WOrg Blu WBlu Org WBrn Brn
- Pin1 WGrn Pin3 WOrg Pin6 Org
T568A vs T568B CO
T568A
- WGrn first
- Residential
- US gov
T568B
- Worg first
- Commercial
- Most common
- Orange/green swap
Copper Category Picker CO
- Up to 1GbE → Cat 5e ( 100 MHz )
- Up to 5GbE → Cat 6 ( 250 MHz )
- 10GbE 55m → Cat 6 ( 37-55m )
- 10GbE 100m → Cat 6A ( 500 MHz )
- 25/40GbE 30m → Cat 8 ( 2000 MHz )
- Noisy environment → S/FTP Cat 6A ( Shielded )
Copper Categories CO
- Cat 5e 100 MHz, 1GbE 100MHz
- Cat 6 250 MHz, 5GbE 250MHz
- Cat 6A 500 MHz, 10GbE 500MHz
- Cat 8 2000 MHz, 25/40GbE 2GHz
- UTP Unshielded twisted pair
- F/UTP Foil over twisted pairs
- S/FTP Braid + foil pairs
- AWG 22-24 Typical conductor gauge
Cat 6 vs Cat 6A CO
Cat 6
- 250 MHz
- 10GbE 55m
- UTP common
Cat 6A
- 500 MHz
- 10GbE 100m
- Alien crosstalk
- Freq and distance
Copper Distance Limits CO
- Channel 100 m max 100m
- Permanent Link 90 m max 90m
- Equipment Cord 5 m each end 5m
- Work Area Cord 5 m max 5m
- CP Cord 5 m max 5m
- Total Cords 10 m combined
Permanent Link vs Channel CO
Permanent Link
- 90 m
- Excludes cords
- Tester adapter
Channel
- 100 m
- Includes cords
- Full end-to-end
- Tester setup
T568A/B Color Order CO
- T568A Pin 1 White/Green
- T568A Pin 2 Green
- T568A Pin 3 White/Orange
- T568A Pin 4 Blue
- T568A Pin 5 White/Blue
- T568A Pin 6 Orange
- T568A Pin 7 White/Brown
- T568A Pin 8 Brown
- T568B Swap orange/green pairs
OM Fiber 10GbE Distance FI
- OM1 33m OM2 82m OM3 300m OM4 400m
- OM1 62.5um 33m OM3 laser 300m OM4 400m
Singlemode vs Multimode FI
Singlemode
- 9um core
- One path
- Long haul km
Multimode
- 50/62.5um core
- Multiple paths
- Short m
- Distance vs cost
Fiber Type Picker FI
- Long haul >10km → OS2 ( 9um 1310/1550 )
- 10GbE 33m → OM1 ( 62.5um )
- 10GbE 82m → OM2 ( 50um )
- 10GbE 300m → OM3 ( laser optimized )
- 10GbE 400m → OM4 ( VCSEL )
- 40/100GbE short → OM4/OM5 ( MTP parallel )
Fiber Types FI
- OS1 Singlemode indoor, 1310/1550 9um
- OS2 Singlemode low-water, 1310/1550 9um
- OM1 62.5 um, 10GbE 33m 62.5um
- OM2 50 um, 10GbE 82m 50um
- OM3 50um laser, 10GbE 300m 50um
- OM4 50um, 10GbE 400m 50um
- OM5 WBMMF, 4x WDM 50um
- Core/Clad 9/125, 50/125, 62.5/125
Fusion vs Mechanical FI
Fusion
- Arc weld
- ~0.05 dB loss
- Permanent
Mechanical
- Adhesive sleeve
- 0.1-0.3 dB
- Field quick
- Low loss vs speed
Splice Picker FI
- Min loss → Fusion ( ~0.05 dB )
- Field quick → Mechanical ( 0.1-0.3 dB )
- Permanent OSP → Fusion ( Long term )
- Emergency restore → Mechanical ( No arc )
- High count ribbon → Fusion mass ( 12 at once )
Fiber Wavelengths FI
- 850 nm Multimode short MM
- 1310 nm Singlemode/OM zero SM
- 1550 nm Singlemode long SM
- 1490 nm PON downlink
- 1625 nm OTDR test port
- Loss Budget Max allowable attenuation
- Macrobend Bend loss > spec
- Microbend Small fiber stress loss
Splicing Methods FI
- Fusion Arc weld, ~0.05 dB 0.05dB
- Mechanical Adhesive sleeve, 0.1-0.3 dB 0.3dB
- Cleaver Score/break clean end
- Splice Tray Holds splice in closure
- OSP Closure Aerial/buried splice case
- Splice Box Rack mounted splice
Termination Blocks TE
- 110 Block Insulation displacement, Cat 5e/6
- Krone IDC, European telecom
- BIX Nortel IDC block
- 66 Block Legacy voice, M-block
- RJ45 8P8C modular plug
- RJ11 6P2C/6P4C voice
- Modular Plug Terminates patch cord
- Jack Female workstation outlet
Fiber Connectors TE
- LC Small form factor, snap
- SC Push-pull, 2.5mm
- ST Bayonet, 2.5mm
- MTP 12/24 fiber multifiber
- MPO Multifiber, ribbon
- UPC Ultra physical contact, blue
- APC Angled 8 deg, green
- Polish PC/UPC/APC return loss
OTDR vs Certification Scanner TE
OTDR
- Fiber length
- Fault location
- Backscatter trace
Scanner
- Cat 6 cert
- NEXT/RL
- Pass/fail report
- Fiber vs copper
Tester Picker TE
- Fiber length/fault → OTDR ( Backscatter )
- Copper length/fault → TDR ( Impedance )
- Cat 6A cert → Certification Scanner ( TIA pass/fail )
- End-to-end loss → OLTS ( Source + meter )
- Broken fiber → VFL ( Red light )
- Pair tracing → Tone Generator ( Probe amp )
Test Equipment TE
- OTDR Optical time domain reflectometer
- TDR Copper fault distance
- Certification Scanner Validates Cat 6/6A
- OLTS Optical loss test set
- OPM Optical power meter
- VFL Visual fault locator
- Tone Generator Copper pair trace
- NVP Nominal velocity propagation
Copper Test Parameters TE
- NEXT Near-end crosstalk
- PSNEXT Power sum NEXT
- ACRF Attenuation crosstalk ratio
- Return Loss Impedance mismatch
- Insertion Loss Attenuation, dB
- Delay Skew Pair timing diff
- Length TDR distance check
Codes and Standards CO
- TIA-568 Commercial cabling standard
- TIA-569 Pathways and spaces
- TIA-607 Bonding/grounding standard
- TIA-570 Residential cabling
- NEC Article 770 Optical fiber cables
- NEC Article 800 Premises comms wiring
- NFPA 70 National Electrical Code
- TSB-95 Cat 5e performance
Firestop Ratings GR
- F fire T temp L leak W water
- F hours endurance L cfm leakage W water resistance
Bonding and Grounding GR
- TBB Telecom bonding backbone, #6 AWG
- TMGB Telecom main grounding busbar
- TGB Telecom grounding busbar
- BCBB Bonding conductor backbone
- Riser Vertical bonding per floor
- #6 AWG Min TBB conductor
- #3 AWG Bonding for multi-floor
Bonding Chain GR
- TMGB -> TGB -> TBB -> Equipment
- TMGB main busbar TBB #6 AWG TGB per room
Firestop Systems GR
- F Rating Fire endurance, hours
- T Rating Temperature rise, hours
- L Rating Air leakage, cfm
- W Rating Water resistance
- Through Penetration Cable through wall
- Membrane Penetration One side breach
- Firestop Putty Retrofittable seal
- Intumescent Expands with heat
Pathways and Spaces PA
- Conduit Rigid raceway, fill 40%
- Cable Tray Open support, ladder
- Sleeve Wall/floor penetration
- TR Telecom room, equipment
- TEF Telecom equipment field
- ER Equipment room, main
- Bend Radius Min 10x diameter UTP
Safety SA
- PPE Gloves, glasses, hard hat
- Lockout/Tagout Energy isolation
- Fiber Shard Sharps container dispose
- Laser Class 1/1M/2/3R fiber safety
- Ladder 3-point contact
- Fall Arrest Above 6 ft harness
- MSDS Solvent/adhesive sheets
Project and Documentation PR
- As-Built Final installed drawings
- Test Reports Certification records
- Warranty Manufacturer 25 yr system
- Blueprint Read plan/elevation
- RFP Request for proposal
- CEC Continuing ed credits
Common Traps
Channel vs permanent
- Channel includes cords ≠ PL is 90m
T568A vs B
- A residential WGrn ≠ B commercial WOrg
OM core size
- OM1 62.5um ≠ OM2-OM5 50um
Splice loss
- Fusion 0.05 dB ≠ Mechanical up to 0.3
Wavelength use
- 850 MM short ≠ 1310/1550 SM
Bonding size
- TBB #6 AWG min ≠ Multi-floor #3 AWG
Hands-on first
- Hands-on required first ≠ Then written exam
Last Minute
- 1. 100m channel / 90m permanent link
- 2. T568A WGrn,Grn,WOrg,Blu,WBlu,Org,WBrn,Brn
- 3. Cat5e 100MHz,Cat6 250MHz,Cat6A 500MHz
- 4. OM1 33m,OM3 300m,OM4 400m at 10GbE
- 5. Singlemode 9um,1310/1550nm
- 6. Fusion ~0.05 dB,mechanical 0.1-0.3 dB
- 7. TBB #6AWG TMGB TGB/room
- 8. Firestop F T L W ratings
- 9. OTDR fiber TDR copper scanner cert
- 10. Hands-on 12 tasks,20 min each,first
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