It takes plenty of advanced planning and preparation to clear an examination with flying colours.
In this case, we are talking about PRINCE2® Examinations. It is recommended to follow the tips and tricks given by the experts in PRINCE2® to pass the examinations with success. Moreover, it is expected that the combination of both hard work and smart planning will get you the results that you seek.
In the previous article, we discussed the PRINCE2® Foundation Examination, how it is structured, styled and what the criteria to appear for the examination are.
However, in this article, we will discuss the tips you need before appearing for PRINCE2® Examinations and the difference between the Foundation and Practitioner Examinations. We will go step by step, covering every aspect in a detailed manner, so that you become aware of exactly what it takes to pass these examinations.
At first, let’s discuss the tips you will find useful to pass the PRINCE2® Foundation Examination, and after that, we will discuss the same for the PRINCE2® Practitioner Examination.
Tips to clear the PRINCE2® Foundation Examination
This goes in three steps:
- Course Preparation and Study Tips
- Exam Preparation Tips
- Examination Techniques and Tips.
1. Tips on studying the course
- Sit for a sample examination paper. Doing so will enable you to know where you stand and which areas you need to make improvements in, which in turn will raise your confidence level. Attempt a sample paper or two in order to get used to the question format.
You may download a sample examination paper from the Axelos website.
- Analyse the questions which you were either not able to answer or had answered incorrectly. This needs to be done to find out where you went wrong. There is always a proper logical reason why a specific answer is the correct one.
- There are times when you may not score the pass marks after answering a sample paper at your first attempt. Do not let that dishearten you, because the answers to some of the questions will be covered afterwards.
- Your knowledge and understanding of the PRINCE2® methodology is the key to meeting the expectations of the Foundation Examination. If you have additional knowledge about different project management practices in your organisation, do not write about them in the Foundation Examination.
- Always ask questions. Understand the logical reasoning behind every question you ask. Remember the 5 W's and the H.
2. Tips to prepare for the examination
- Prepare as much as possible before your course begins. You can read a lot of pre-course study material and will benefit immensely from reading the same.
- Reading the manual will familiarise you with the content that you will study once the main training begins.
- You will get an hour’s time in the Foundation Examination. It will comprise of 60 questions and you will need 55% of the total marks, or 33 out of 60 questions to pass it. It will be a closed book examination, so you will not be able to use the manual.
3. Tips to understand the examination technique
- If we do the math on how long would you have to answer each question, then it will roughly be 60 seconds before you will need to move on to the next one. So do not get stuck with one question for long. If you are taking time to answer a question, then move on to the next one. You can come back for the unanswered question if you have time.
- Do not leave out any question. Since the examination has a multiple-choice pattern with no negative marking, there is always a minute chance of getting an answer right even if you are not sure about it.
- Mark your answer on your answer sheet as you go. Don’t wait until the end, or you might run out of time
- It is often best to trust your first response to a question. Have confidence in your gut instinct. Sometimes, however, a later question will suggest the answer to an earlier question. Don’t hesitate to go back to a question if you need to.
- Have a pencil sharpener and eraser at hand.
- Everyone is in the same boat and has the same time allocation, the same number of questions and the same pass mark to attain. You’re not the only person going through it. Have faith in the work you did in preparing for the exam.
Tips to clear the PRINCE2® Practitioner Examination
The Practitioner Examination is tougher in comparison to the PRINCE2® Foundation Examination.
As you already know, the paper format for both examinations are similar. However, despite the fact that the PRINCE2® Practitioner Examination has an open book format, the biggest hurdle is dealing with the amount of information to be read and organised for the examination.
The UK national average for candidates passing the PRINCE2® Practitioner examination is 73%. Nonetheless, since 2012, students studying a recognised accredited training organisation’s PRINCE2® Foundation & Practitioner courses have managed to achieve a pass rate of 83%.
There is no need to panic though. You will just need to learn all the important details and master them with the help of the training material provided by the accredited training organisation.
It is essential to carefully prepare for the PRINCE2® Practitioner examination to maximize your chances of passing and we will give you tips to help you in answering some of your queries.
All you need to do is follow the basic steps.
Go through these tips:
That is correct. The Practitioner examination is open book, so you can take the help of the manual during the examination. On the day of the Practitioner examination, you can only take the book Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2®, which you should be given as a part of your course pack. The manual has all the information that you may possibly need. If you familiarise yourself with the same, then it will save time in the examination.
Prepare your manual
- Write down the important details from the book in the form of written and post-it notes. Mark the book with a highlighter pen.
- Do write in the manual. It is absolutely fine. Doing so with a precise note in the form of text or a figure will make it easier for you to understand the concepts.
- It is forbidden to include pieces of paper with extra information to your book for the Practitioner examination. The invigilator will check anyway.
- Highlight the salient sections of the manual with a pen.
- It is very important to create post-it notes. Although you will be unable to utilise them for additional information, it is a good practice to mark each chapter with a tab, colour-coded to denote guiding principles, themes, processes and appendices.
- Although it is not easy to find spare time during the examination, try saving 5 minutes for answering some questions which you might have left behind.
These always provide quick information and definition.
The manual is filled with essential appendices. Always be certain of where you need to look to get the appropriate information, especially:
- Appendix A: Product Description outlines
- Appendix C: Roles and responsibilities.
If you are well versed with the manual and know your way around it, then you will find it extremely useful when you sit for the Practitioner examination.
Practice makes perfect! Keep practising the sample question papers while timing yourself. This will help you in getting used to the question format and working at a speed required in the examination.
The examination is 2.5 hours long (or 3 hours 8 minutes in case if you are a non-native English speaker). You will have to answer a minimum of 38 questions correctly (out of 68 available) to pass.
If you get doubts while practising, then you can discuss with your trainers. Doing so will not only help you in eliminating the common mistakes done in the Practitioner examination but also give you confidence on the D-Day.
Since the sizes of the classes are generally kept small, each student gets an equal scope on getting their doubts clarified both with their trainers and fellow classmates. This also results in building rapport amongst the students and trainers.
Mind Maps
Get used to the study material to learn the subject. When you think about the various factors, you start connecting them logically. This can be done by drawing mind-maps.You can create one for every theme and process.
Mind-maps are provided in the pre-course material, but you should make your own too. This will help you in the long term and help you relate yours with the ones offered in the pre-course material.
Answer as many you can
There is no negative marking in this examination. Just in case, during the examination, you fall short of time but still want to answer all the questions, you still can guess the answers on the remaining questions and mark them on the answer sheet. Who knows, some of your marked answers might become correct and might make a difference between failing and passing the examination.
Things that will be provided in the examination:
You will get a booklet which will have a hypothetical project scenario for you, usually presented as an A4 text sheet. The questions of the examination are based on this very scenario.
Question booklet
This booklet comprises of 68 questions and split over 17 topics with each topic being labelled as ‘PRINCIPLES, ORGANISATION, DIRECTING A PROJECT’ and many more.
The questions will be in the same sequence as the topics in the manual.
Answer sheet
The answers need to be filled in the grids provided that clearly show which question the grid refers to. You will be provided with a pencil and an eraser.
Conclusion
How you are going to fare in the Foundation and Practitioner examination is driven only by the way you plan to study to get PRINCE2® Foundation or Practitioner Certified, or both.
But the tips and tricks that we finished discussing in details will help you in clearing both the Foundation and Practitioner examination.
We wish you all the best for your preparations!
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