Learn the SECRETS to passing your PRINCE2 Practitiner exam with flying colours!
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The document serves as a comprehensive guide for individuals preparing for the PRINCE2 Practitioner exam, emphasizing the need for thorough knowledge and practice. It outlines exam structure, types of questions, and preparation strategies while suggesting effective study techniques such as tabbing the PRINCE2 manual. Successful candidates who pass the exam can call themselves registered PRINCE2 practitioners for five years, with options for re-registration available.
Learn the SECRETS to passing your PRINCE2 Practitiner exam with flying colours!
- 2. Introduction Having successfully passed the PRINCE2 Foundation exam, you may be eager to get started on Practitioner training, and looking forward to passing the all-important Practitioner exam. However, you’ll have to fully prepare yourself for the Practitioner exam, which is perhaps the most challenging part of any PRINCE2 course, and very different from the PRINCE2 Foundation exam. To give you the confidence to succeed, we have compiled this helpful eBook to accompany you on your journey to achieving full PRINCE2 Practitioner status! Purpose of the exam The PRINCE2 Practitioner exam encourages you to put your knowledge into practice. Once you have achieved this qualification, you are considered to possess certain skills and knowledge to implement the PRINCE2 method on a wide range of projects. As the exam is the final part of the PRINCE2 journey, it may come as no surprise that it is a thorough, detailed assessment. You must draw upon your Foundation-level knowledge, as well as use advanced knowledge, such as tailoring PRINCE2 to meet a project’s needs. According to the PRINCE2 syllabus, candidates should: Understand the relationships between the roles, management products, principles, themes, techniques and processes Be able to apply the principles, themes and processes to a project Be able to create and assess management products Syllabus areas examined Business Case theme Organization theme Quality theme Plans theme Risk theme Change theme Progress theme Starting Up a Project and Initiating a Project processes Controlling a Stage and Managing Product Delivery processes Managing a Stage Boundary, Closing a Project and Directing a Project processes
- 3. What does the exam consist of? The PRINCE2 Practitioner exam takes 2.5 hours to complete, and you may take an annotated copy of the manual into the exam with you You will be examined on 8 of the 10 syllabus area. There will be 6 ‘theme’ questions and 2 ‘process’ questions For each of the 8 syllabus area there are 10 individual question lines, each carrying one mark, making a total of 80 marks The pass mark is 55% which means you must score 44 marks or more to pass You will be given a Scenario Booklet, Question Booklet and answer sheets. The Scenario Booklet contains all of the information about a particular project. The Question Booklet contains all 80 questions and you write your answers in the answer sheets Scenario Booklet This contains a fictional project scenario which describes an organization investing in a project and is normally about 1 page of A4 text. It is this scenario upon which all the questions are based. Be aware that each syllabus area might have some additional information which is described in this booklet. You must only read the additional information when told to do so in the question which will always be indicated by the words “based upon the additional information contained within the scenario booklet”. Whenever you see these words you must read the appropriate additional information. Not all syllabus areas have additional information and the additional information will clearly state which question it is for. For example, “Question 2: Business Case theme - Additional Information”.
- 4. Question Booklet This contains all the 80 question lines, divided into the 8 syllabus areas. Each syllabus area will be divided into 2 or 3 parts, clearly marked Part A, B or C and the number of marks allocated for each. All question lines for a question will be in the same style – see the later sections which describe the question styles. Answer sheets You fill in your answers in a grid in pencil. The grid is clearly marked to show which question (and part) the grid refers to. In the example below it can be seen that there are 3 parts to question 4. Part A has 3 question lines, part B has 2 question lines and part C has 5 question lines. Make sure you fill in the correct answer! Question styles Practice papers are the best way to prepare for the types of questions used during the exam. Even when the training day is over, you should practice at home to fully ensure you get to grips with the type of questions used. Here are the five question styles you’ll have to answer during the Practitioner exam: Classic Multiple Choice – select one answer from a range of options Matching – link each item in one list to the correct item in a second list Sequencing – put events in the correct sequence Multiple Response – select the two correct answers from the list Assertion/Reason – decide if an assertion and a reason statement are each true or false. If both are true, decide whether the reason explains the assertion
- 5. Classic This question style is where you must choose one from a range of 3 or 4 options. Tip: read each option, putting a cross if you know it’s wrong or a tick if you are sure it’s right. Put a ? if you are not sure. If you didn’t write down a tick, then re-read the options with a ? and decide the best option. Then fill in your answer sheet. Matching This type is where you link items in one list to items in a second list. Options from the second list may be used one, more than once, or not at all. Tip: Notice the words “true statements”. These can appear in any question. It means the 4 statements above are all facts, so take this into consideration when answering. Sequencing This is where you position events in a sequence.
- 6. Tip: read each option in column one and decide if it is a decision which is made in the Starting Up a Project process or not. If it isn’t then write ‘A’ next to the option. Now re-read the options without an ‘A’ and jot down 1, 2, 3 etc next to each decision in column 1, to indicate the sequence. Inthe above example, for question 1 you would mark your answer paper B, for question 2 mark it A, for question 3 mark it D and for question 4 mark it C. Multiple Response This style asks you to select two correct options from a list of 5 options. This is the only style of question where you must select more than one option to get a mark. Tip: read each option, putting a cross if you know it’s wrong or a tick if you’re sure it’s right. Put a ? if you’re not sure. If you have 2 ticks and no ?’s then fill in your answer sheet, otherwise you will probably have now eliminated one or two options. So, re-read the options with a tick and a ? and take a decision. Then fill in your answer sheet.
- 7. Assertion/Reason Due to the number of steps you must beware of the difficulty of Assertion/Reason questions. Here is what to do: Each question consists of two statements, one which is referred to as an ‘Assertion’, the other as a ‘Reason’. You must determine whether or not each statement is correct, so evaluate each as either true or false. If both are true, you must decide whether the reason is an accurate explanation for the assertion. You then select one option (from A to E) as shown below Tip: In the first example above, if you had evaluated both the assertion and reason as true, then you should re-read across the whole line with the word “because” in the middle. If the reason explains the assertion, which in the example it does, then mark your paper A, otherwise mark it B. Also in the above example, if you had evaluated question 2 as false-true, then you should mark your answer paper D.
- 8. How to prepare During this exam, you’ll be evaluating, analyzing and actually applying the PRINCE2 method to a given project scenario, so it really does test your knowledge and analytical abilities. Timing yourself whilst you complete practice papers is crucial, so that you become used to working at a speed required to pass all questions. You therefore need a solid, thorough understanding of the PRINCE2 methodology, and the best way to achieve this is by attending a course, making sure you know how to apply PRINCE2 to projects, and understanding the key terms. Tabbing and highlighting Inserting tabs into the PRINCE2 manual will help you find important sections of the book during the exam. Don’t have too many though, because having too many will make it harder to find important pages. The key sections I recommend to students to tab are: the contents page, the 7 theme chapters (chapters 4-10), the 7 process chapters (chapters 12-18), appendix A, appendix C and the glossary. Highlighting key parts of the manual will help you as well. Too much highlighting though will hinder you, so make intelligent decisions when deciding which parts to bring to your attention. You must be confident in your PRINCE2 knowledge, as although you may take the manual into the exam, it is pointless flicking through it for each question, when you should be using it only for the tricky parts.
- 9. During the exam The exam lasts for 2.5 hours. When the exam starts, spend 5 minutes reading the scenario booklet. Underline or highlight things which appear significant. For example, if it tells you the reason why the project is happening, write “reason” next to the sentence. This will help you when answering questions later. You will have then have 145 minutes left. There are 2 time management strategies you can consider: Strategy 1: equal time per question Allocate 17 minutes per syllabus area and then move on to the next syllabus area. Ensure you answer all 10 questions in each syllabus area. This will mean you will answer all 80 questions and you will have a further 9 minutes left at the end to check that your answer sheet has been filled in correctly without mistakes. Strategy 2: two pass approach In this strategy, you will go through the entire exam paper twice. The first time through you will answer the easy questions and you will fill in your answer sheets with these answers. “Easy” questions might be the ones which take little time to answer, or the ones which you are confident that you know the answer for. Skip any questions which you think are too difficult or take a lot of time to read. During the second pass through, you will answer the questions which you skipped in the first pass. Don’t spend too long thinking about a question. It’s better to guess and move onto the next question than to spend a lot of time trying to work it out. The risk with this approach is that it is more difficult to keep track of time and you might end up not completing all questions.
- 10. Lastly, remember to answer every question. As marks are not deducted for wrong answers, you might just be right, and trusting your instincts will usually serve you well. What to bring with you You must remember to bring: Photo ID (such as a passport or driving licence) otherwise you can’t sit the exam Pencil and eraser Pen for completing the candidate details form You might like to bring Water, to keep your concentration levels high Highlighter to highlight important details in the scenario booklet Important points to remember In order to take the PRINCE2 Practitioner exam, you must have passed the Foundation exam first. Usually, you must provide your Foundation candidate number when you book for the Practitioner If English is not your native language, or you have a condition such as dyslexia, you may be eligible for extra time to help you complete the exam. Ask your training provider for more details If you feel ill during the exam, or something in the room such as noise or sunlight is bothering you, tell the invigilator as soon as possible You will be issued with a candidate number before the exam starts, which you must write on your exam papers instead of your name. These numbers look like this: P2R/XXXXXX When changing answers, make sure you thoroughly erase the wrong answer, to avoid mistakes when the exam is electronically marked You must switch off all electronic devices before the exam begins, and do not use them during the exam Do not take the exam papers away with you
- 11. After the exam Finally! The exam is over. Here are some helpful things to remember: If your training provider is marking your exam using a scanner, you will receive a provisional result on the day of the exam. The exam board can change your provisional result (which is very unlikely) and you will be notified if this happens If you pass the exam, you should expect to receive the certificate four weeks later If you pass the exam, your candidate number, date of exam, name and training company will appear on the Successful Candidate Register, on the exam board (APMG) website. This is useful for potential employers to verify you hold the qualification. You may opt-out of it on the candidate details form Re-registration By passing the PRINCE2 Practitioner exam, you will be able to call yourself a “Registered PRINCE2 Practitioner” and this status lasts for five years. After this time you may choose to take the Re-registration exam to maintain your status for another 5 years. The exam is a shortened version of the Practitioner exam. Conclusion We hope that you find this eBook helpful when intending to pass the PRINCE2 Practitioner exam. Remember – success in the exam requires a strong knowledge of PRINCE2, how to apply it, plus of course a robust exam technique. Good luck!
- 12. You might also like these ebooks: Learn the PRINCE2 PrinciplesPassing the PRINCE2 Foundation exam Learn the PRINCE2 Themes Learn the PRINCE2 Processes