Passing Your PRINCE2 7 Exams At First Try – Part 2
Tips for Your PRINCE2 Exams – continued
PRINCE2 Manual. The foundation exam is a closed book exam and you are not allowed to bring any reading matter into the exam with you. However, the practitioner exam does allow you to bring the official Manual into the exam with you.
If you have carried out self-study to prepare yourself for the exam, do invest in the official Manual otherwise you will be at a distinct disadvantage to the others, and it may make all the difference between a pass and a fail.
No other reference material is permitted in the practitioner exam and I will clarify this later in my article.
Dictionary and PRINCE2 Glossary. If you are taking the exam it in your second language, you are allowed to have a dictionary to help with the translation, and a PRINCE2 Glossary in your first language if one has been produced. Do check this out before the exam starts.
Practicing your exam technique with sample papers
If you have started using my PRINCE2 Primer MasterClass Videos, then amongst my supporting documentation you will find two full-strength sample papers for the practitioner exam along with answers and justification. These will easily prepare you for both the PRINCE2 foundation and practitioner exams.
Specific advice for your PRINCE2 Practitioner Exam
Tabbing your Manual
You are allowed to put sticky tabs such as mini post it notes on the page edges of your Manual to help you find things quickly. You’re not allowed to add extra information to the sticky tabs only a brief description of that part of the Manual – an example here would be Risk Theme.
You may also wish to tabs key parts of each chapter such as the page where risk response actions are listed and doing so will save you several seconds during the exam itself.
How you go about that adding will be down to your personal taste and your preferences for information retrieval. Local supermarkets will often have different coloured tabs and I have seen delegates arrive at the exam with all three sides of the official Manual covered in multiple coloured tabs.
It makes sense to tab each of the main processes and themes – And I would also recommend putting a Tab for appendix A as this contains an alphabetical list of all of the management products templates. You can be sure that the practitioner exam questions will include several of these documents templates.
What you can and can’t do to your Manual
You can write notes on the surface of the pages in your Manual, and this includes any text or diagrams along the borders or white space. This includes brief explanations of things that you think you may forget Particularly where the Manual wording is less than clear. Be careful not to overdo the scribblings as they can clutter the Manual and make your data retrieval more difficult.
You can also annotate your Manual, so highlighting or underlying particular key points can be helpful as well. As before be careful not to highlight too much as the whole page or simply end up being yellow!
As I have said, you can write on to the surface of the page in your Manual, but you are not permitted to write reference notes on separate sheets of paper and slipped them into your Manual or to write them on sticky notes and fix these on to the pages.
Avoid last minute cramming
It is not usually helpful to cram information in the minutes just before the exam. Is far better to walk around, breathed deeply and try to relax. Keep your mind on yourself and avoid talking to other candidates as they too will be nervous and this will not be very helpful to you.
Managing exam nerves
As you would imagine, the exam nerves are simply a mental pain rather than physical, so try the following ideas:
Consider the consequences of failure – would that be so terrible? You simply will need to take the exam again if it goes all wrong – not life changing is it?
Often, our thoughts are dominated by a mental picture of someone telling you that you failed – or having to tell those folks back in the office the same bad news. So change that mental picture.
Instead, visualise your joy for the motion when you were told that you have passed – and hold that mental picture instead. This will help build confidence and bring you a positive outlook during the exam itself.
PRINCE2® 7 Foundation and Practitioner
Learn PRINCE2® 7 Foundation and Practitioner Online
** Enhance your PRINCE2 career now **
PRINCE2® Masterclass gives you the skills necessary to manage projects effectively and achieve your objectives.
Get 7 days a week 12 months one to one coaching with ex PRINCE2 examiner Dave Litten.
PRINCE2® is a globally recognized project management framework. By completing both the Foundation and Practitioner courses through our self-paced e-learning, you will develop an understanding of the methodology and learn how to effectively adapt it to any project.
The PRINCE2® 7 Foundation and Practitioner Masterclass is PeopleCert Accredited and guarantees to take you from PRINCE2 Novice to PRINCE2 Practitioner with our famous video learning, study guides and practice exams.
What Does the Masterclass Cover?
The PRINCE2 Foundation examination assesses your knowledge and comprehension of the PRINCE2 project management methodology as detailed in the syllabus. The PRINCE2 Practitioner examination, on the other hand, gauges your ability to apply and tailor the PRINCE2 method. Candidates who pass the Practitioner exam should be able to start implementing the method on an actual project with some guidance. However, their effectiveness may differ based on their experience in project management, the complexity of the project, and the level of support they receive in their work environment.
