how to pass your prince2 foundation exam

7/25/2019 How to pass your PRINCE2 Foundation exam

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Copyright 2013 Knowledge Train Limited | PRINCE2 is a registered trade mark of the Cabinet Office


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PassingthePRINCE2Foundationexam

TopassyourPRINCE2Foundation

examwith

flying

colours

and

prove

yourfabulousknowledgeofthe

PRINCE2methodology,yourrevision

andexampreparationmustbe

approachedintherightway.

Thisebookcontainsplentyoftipsand

adviceforPRINCE2studentswhoare

readytotackletheFoundationexam

andachieveapass.

Withalittlepreparationand

knowledgeofwhattoexpect,you

shouldfeelconfidentandhopefully

passthisimportantexam,whichcan

improveyourcareerprospects,and

willenableyoutogoaheadandstudy

forPRINCE2Practitioner.

Whatdoestheexamtest?

ThePRINCE2Foundationexamtests

thatyourknowledgeand

understandingofthemethodis

sufficienttobeabletoworkeffectively

with,orasamemberof,aproject

managementteamworkingwithinan

environmentsupportingPRINCE2.

Itisalsoaprerequisiteofthe

Practitioner

exam.

It

addresses

each

areaoftheFoundationsyllabus:

Principles

Processes

Themes

Roles

Techniques

Managementproducts

OverviewofPRINCE2

Benefitsof

using

PRINCE2

Theexam

board

(APMG

International)

saysthatsuccessfulcandidatesshould

understand:

Thecharacteristicsandcontextofa

projectandthebenefitsof

adoptingPRINCE2

ThepurposeofthePRINCE2roles,

managementproductsandthemes

ThePRINCE2principles

Thepurpose,

objectives

and

contextofthePRINCE2processes

Whatdoestheexamconsistof?

Theexamismadeupof75multiple

choicequestions,whichyoumust

completein1hour.Allthequestions

arecontainedwithinaquestion

booklet.

However

5

of

these

questions

aretrialquestionsanddonotcarrya

mark.Theremainingquestionscarry

onemarkeach,sothismeansthat

thereare70marksavailableonthe

wholeexampaper.Beawarehowever,

thatthe5trialquestionsarenot

highlightedassuch.Infacttheylook

likeanyotherquestion,soyoumust

trytoanswerall75questions.


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Thepassmarkis50%soyouneedto

scoreatleast35correctanswersto

pass.Theexamisclosedbook,which

meansthat

you

cannot

take

the

manualoranyotherprintedor

electronicmaterialswithyouintothe

examinationroom.

Thequestionsfocusondefining

terminology,explainingthebenefitsof

thePRINCE2methodology,and

identifyingtherelationshipbetween

PRINCE2specificroles,productsand

processes.

Thequestionsarealwaysinmultiple

choiceformat,soyousimplyneedto

pickoneansweroutofthefour

optionsgiven.Therearenotrick

questionsontheexampaperandeach

questiononlyhasonecorrectanswer.

The

candidate

details

form

Justpriortotheexaminationstarting,

theexaminvigilatorwillreadoutthe

instructionsandrulesfortheexam.

Youwillbegivenacandidatedetails

formtofillinininkwherearecan

fillinyournameandaddress.Your

namewillbeprintedonyour

certificateandtheaddressyouenteris

theonewherethecertificatewillbe

sent.

Theinvigilator

will

provide

you

with

a

uniquecandidatenumberusuallyin

theformatP2R/123456.Thisnumber

uniquelyidentifiesyouandyoumust

writethisnumberontothecandidate

detailsform.Onceyouhavecompleted

thisform,theinvigilatorwillcheckyour

photoIDandcollectuptheforms.

Fromthenon,everythingyouwrite

mustbe

in

pencil

ideally

HB,

as

this

is

theonlytypewhichcanbescanned

easily.

Theanswersheet

Youwillthenbegivenananswersheet

whereyoumustfillinyourcandidate

numberatthetopseethepictureon

thenextpage.Whentheexamstarts,

youwill

fill

in

your

answers

on

this

sheet.

Thereareonly2correctwaysto

completeyouranswersheet:either

completelyfillintheovalshape,or

drawathickhorizontallinethrough

theoval.Anyotherwayandyourun

theriskthatthemachinewhichscans

yourpapermaynotreaditproperly

and

so

you

could

fail.

See

the

example

onthenextpage.


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Thequestionbooklet

Afterfillinginyourcandidatenumber

ontheanswersheet,theexamisready


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tostart.Atthispointtheinvigilatorwill

giveyouthequestionbooklet.Thiswill

containallofthe75questions.You

mustwrite

your

candidate

number

on

thefrontcover.Thisbookletmaynot

leavetheroom,soifyougotothe

toiletduringtheexam,youmustleave

thisbookletintheexaminationroom.

Itmustalsobehandedbacktothe

invigilatorattheendoftheexamalong

withyouranswersheet.

Questionstyles

Manyofthequestionscanbe

answeredquickly.Forexample,

considerthefollowing:

Q.Inwhichofthefollowingprocesses

doestheProjectBoardchoosea

suitableriskresponse?

a. ControllingaStage

b.

ManagingaStage

Boundary

c. DirectingaProject

d. StartingUpaProject

IfyourememberthattheProject

Boardonlyperformsoneoftheseven

processesthentheansweris

straightforwarditsDirectinga

Project,optionc.

However,

some

questions

require

morethought,suchasthisexample:

Q.Whichofthefollowingtasksform

partoftheproductbasedplanning

method?

i.Writingtheproductdescriptions

ii.Creatingaproductflowdiagram

iii.Designingtheplan

iv.Creatingtheproductbreakdown

structure

a.

(i),(ii)

and

(iii)

b. (ii),(iii)and(iv)

c. (i),(ii)and(iv)

d. (i),(iii)and(iv)

Fortheabovequestion,readthe

statementsiiv,andthendecidewhich

threeformpartoftheproductbased

planningmethod.Isuggestthatyou

readeachofthe4optionsandtickthe

onesyou

are

sure

form

part

of

the

technique.Ifthereareonly2options

youaresureabout,atleastyouhave

reducedyourlastdecisiontoachoice

betweenthe2remainingoptions,so

pickoneofthemandthenmarkyour

answerpaperaccordingly.

Asyoucansee,itreallydoeshelptobe

abletoquicklyrecallyourPRINCE2

knowledgequickly.

With

such

limited

timeandnomanualallowed,revision

mustbetopofyourFoundationexam

preparationplan.

Howtorevise


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Thenumberonerevisionmethodisto

practicethoseexamquestions!Asthe

questionsarecompiledfromalimited

questionbank,

the

more

practice

questionsyouattempt,themore

preparedyouwillbe.ThePRINCE2

examboardprovides2sample

FoundationexampaperstoPRINCE2

AccreditedTrainingOrganizations,soif

youhavestudiedusinganaccredited

trainingcourse,theseshouldbe

providedtoyou.

Practisingthe

sample

papers

also

helps

youtorefineyourtechnique,andyou

willbeabletopredicthowwellyouare

likelytoperformintheactualexam.

Ifyoufinditdifficulttoremember

things,trycolourcodingorhighlighting

yourrevisionnotes.

Visualrevisiontools,suchasflow

chartsandorganisationalmodels,are

alsoaninvaluableformofpreparation.

Memorizingandreproducingthesefor

yourselfwillfurtheraidyour

understandingofPRINCE2,and

ultimatelyimproveyourchancesof

examsuccess.

Postitnote:Createyourowndiagrams

asarevisiontool

Tackling

the

exam

Therearethreethingstokeepinmind

duringtheFoundationexamtiming,

questioncomplexityandmakingsure

toanswereveryquestion.

Timingisthemostimportantaspectto

keepinmind.Theexamconsistsof75

questions,andthereare60minutesto

answerthem.

This

only

allows

48

secondsperquestion.Whenfacedwith

thissmalltimeframe,itsbesttohave

agoodstrategyduringtheexamwhich

maximizesyourchancesofscoring

highly.Thestrategywerecommendis

thethreepassapproach.

Thethreepassapproach

Pass

1

go

through

the

entire

question

paperfromstarttofinishandanswer

thosequestionswhichyoufeel

confidentaboutandonlytakeafew

secondstoanswer.Markyouranswer

ontheanswersheetandmarkyour

questionpapersoshowyouhave

answeredthequestion.Leaveany

questionsyouareunsureabout.Often

attheendofthisfirstpass,youmight

onlyhavespent1520minutesand

possiblyanswered3040%ofthequestions.

Pass2gothroughtheunanswered

questions,thistimespending1015

secondsreadingeachone.Ifyoudont

understandwhatitisaskingyou,read

itonemoretime.Marktheanswer

sheetwithyouranswersandyour

questionpapertoshowyouhave


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answeredthequestion.Attheendof

thispassyouwillonlybeleftwith

thosequestionswhichtakealongtime

toanswer,

or

you

are

still

not

sure

about.

Pass3rereadtheremaining

questions.Byaprocessofelimination,

discountthoseoptionswhichyouthink

aredefinitelywrong.Crossthemout

onthequestionbooklet.Ifyoudothis,

youcanofteneliminate2options

straightawaywhichwillleaveyouwith

2options

left

to

choose

from.

Read

the

questionandthe2remainingoptions

onemoretimeandifyoureallycannot

decideguess.

Whateveryoudo,makesurethatone

optionhasbeenselectedonyour

answersheetforall75questionsinthe

questionbooklet.

Apply

the

three

pass

approach

to

maximizeyourchancesofgaining

therequiredmarks

DoNOTspendtoolongoncomplex

questions.Itsalwaysbettertoskip

thesequestionsandanswerthem

attheend

Becarefulaboutoveranalyzing

questionsandthinkcarefully

beforechanginganswers.Your

initial

response

is

often

the

correct

one

Onlyselectoneoptionforall75

questionsandensureyouhave

filledtheseinontheanswersheet

Preparingwell,knowingwhatto

expectandthoroughlyunderstanding

thePRINCE2methodology,willall

greatlyimproveyourchancesof

success.Also,statisticsshowthathigh

scorersintheFoundationexamwill

haveabetterchanceatgettingahigh

scoreinPractitioner,whichiscertainly

somethingto

keep

in

mind.

Thingstoremember

Onthedayoftheexam,youmust

bring:

PhotoID(suchasapassportor

drivinglicence)youcannottake

theexamunlessyouhaveproofof

IDto

show

the

invigilator.

Pencilsandaneraserfor

answeringthosequestions!

Penforfillinginthecandidate

detailsform

Waterensureyouhavewaterto

drinkduringtheexam.Studies

showthatstudentswhodrink

waterduringexams,onaverage

score4.8%highermarksthan

studentswho

dont

drink

water.

[1]

Otherpointstoremember:

IfEnglishisnotyourfirstlanguage

oryouhavecertainconditionssuch

asdyslexia,youmayfeelthat

completingtheexamintheallotted


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timewillbeachallenge.Inform

yourtrainerbeforetheexam,and

theymaybeabletoorganiseextra

timefor

you

Telltheinvigilatoriftheexam

environmentisbotheringyou(such

asnoiseorsunlight)oryoufeel

unwell.Dothispreferablybefore

theexambegins

Ifyouneedtochangeananswer,

youshouldruboutthewrong

answerasthoroughlyasyoucanin

ordertoavoidambiguitywhenthe

answersheet

is

marked

Allmobilephonesandelectronic

devicesmustbeswitchedofffor

thedurationoftheexam

Ifyoufailtheexam,youcanretake

itatalaterdate,althoughyouwill

needtopaytheexamfeeagain

Attheendoftheexam,the

invigilatorwillmarkyouranswers

andgiveyouaprovisionalresult.

Youwill

therefore

know

on

the

day

ifyouhaveprovisionallypassedor

failed.Twoweekslater,theexam

board(APMG)willconfirmthe

result

Ifyouhavepassed,youshould

expecttoreceivethecertificate

aboutfourweeksafterreceiving

yourresults,andyourname,

candidatenumber,examdateand

trainingcompany

will

appear

on

APMGsonlinesuccessfulcandidate

register.Youcanalsooptoutof

thisifyouwish,butitisagoodway

forpotentialemployerstosee

proofofyourPRINCE2qualification

Conclusion

Wehopeyouhavefoundthisguideto

passingthe

PRINCE2

Foundation

exam

useful.Thoroughknowledgeofhow

PRINCE2worksandagreatexam

techniquewillleadtoexamsuccess,

andyoushouldfeelreassuredthatall

thequestionsaremultiplechoice.

Confidence,effectivestudy,and

practicingsampleexamswillallboost

yourchancesofpassingtheexam,and

achievingaqualificationrecognisedin

industriesthroughout

the

world.

References

[1]Pawson,C.(2004,April).Bringwater

intoexamstoimproveyourgrade.

http://www.uel.ac.uk/news/press

releases/2012/04/waterexams.htm


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might

also

like

these

ebooks:

LearnthePRINCE2PrinciplesPRINCE2vsthePMBOKGuide

LearnthePRINCE2Themes LearnthePRINCE2Processes

how to pass your prince2 foundation exam

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