7 PRINCE2 exam tips to help increase your chances of passing!

If you’re thinking of attending a PRINCE2 Training course including the PRINCE2 Foundation and/or PRINCE2 Practitioner exam, check out these top tips to help you perform to your best

We run regular PRINCE2 Foundation Training and PRINCE2 Practitioner Training courses in Brighton, Sussex.

1. Do your pre-course reading from the PRINCE2 manual THOROUGHLY! It sounds logical but many people skim read the PRINCE2 manual or miss bits. The five-day PRINCE2 Practitioner course is intensive, so the more pre-reading you have completed the more you will take in on during the course.
2. The PRINCE2 exams are open book, which means you can use your PRINCE2 manual but not your own notes or documents. HOWEVER, you can put notes all over your PRINCE2 manual and that’s allowed! So whether it’s a process diagram or a one word memory trigger, use all of the white spaces in the manual (inside covers too!) with your notes.
3. Swot up on the product breakdown structure; this is key to many of the questions in the PRINCE2 exams. If you find it hard to interpret the product symbols, include notes in your PRINCE2 manual. An important concept to get your head round is how the PBS relates to product flow diagrams. If you revise more on any area make it the PBS!
4. Watch out for multiple choice answers that include the words “must” or “always”. There are not many straight and simple answers in the PRINCE2 exams and these sort of questions can catch you out!
5. Some questions may require the same answer twice in a row in the same PRINCE2 exam – for example “who would be the most suitable person for this task?”. Don’t worry about using the same person for both answers if you are confident that it is correct. The questions are not related to each other and just because you’re giving the same answer doesn’t mean it will be wrong in either question!
6. This sounds silly – but don’t always answer with what common sense dictates should happen! The PRINCE2 exams look for the ideal application of the PRICNE2 methodology in specific scenarios. In real life (where you are working with other people who haven’t got a PRINCE2 certification) you may well do something different – but that isn’t necessarily the right answer! This sometimes catches out people who are already experienced project managers but who don’t use PRINCE2.
7. Remember your ID. The invigilator won’t let you sit the PRINCE2 exams without it. If you have got married and your name has changed since you registered or took the PRINCE2 Foundation exam then take the appropriate paperwork. APMG regularly spot check exams to make sure guidelines are being followed and your training provider won’t let you bend the rules!

That’s it! Good luck with your PRINCE2 exams!