Scared of taking a PRINCE2 exam?
Many people who come to Balance Global are understandably nervous of sitting an exam, not having had to take any kind of exam since college or school days. Delegates shouldn’t be scared for the following reasons:
- The examining bodies (AXELOS /APMG / other) are not trying to ‘catch delegates out’ – they want to encourage the qualifications so exams are straightforward
- During the course our experienced trainers will emphasise key aspects of the syllabus that are likely to feature in the exams
- Balance Global offers pre-course work (not all ATO’s do) and there is a high correlation between delegates who do the pre-course reading and doing well in the exam
- Delegates are given plenty of practice questions during the course to build familiarity and confidence with the style of exam questions and to reinforce key aspects of the syllabus
- Both foundation and practitioner exams are multiple choice – the written exam format was dropped a number of years ago
- Pass marks are very attainable – 50% for foundation & 55% for practitioner
- Pass rates are high, and Balance Global’s are higher than average – 100% at Foundation and 80% at Practitioner
- Many people taking a PRINCE2 exam are in their 30’s and 40’s and therefore ‘out of practice’ in sitting exams – this doesn’t affect pass rates
- Delegates do not have to have practical project management experience to pass a PRINCE2 exam – in fact practical experience can bring with it bad project management habits that do not help in a PRINCE2 exam!
- Extra time can be applied for if you have a disability or learning difficulty such as dyslexia
- Exams can be taken in different languages if English is not your first language
Why face those fears and take PRINCE2?
PRINCE2 will help you get a project management job. It is now practically an ‘entry level’ requirement for project management jobs in the UK. Sponsored by the Office and Government and Commerce it is the UK’s de-facto standard for project management and also now has worldwide traction. Some 700+ people a week take a PRINCE2 qualification and exams can be taken in over 20 languages. Many recruitment agencies now filter-out cv’s for project management jobs where the applicants are not PRINCE2 qualified and some 70%+ of project management job advertisements seek a PRINCE qualification. No other project management qualification comes close!
The Foundation Exam
The foundation exam seeks to test how much of the syllabus delegates have retained and can recall. The exam is multiple choice and takes only 1 hour. There are 75 straightforward questions – 1 mark per question. 5 of the questions are ‘trial’ questions and not included in the marks. The pass mark is 50%, so of the remaining 70 questions only 35 have to be right.
The Practitioner Exam
Delegates must have first passed the foundation exam to be able to progress onto the practitioner exam. If delegates are un-sure about whether or not they want to sit the practitioner exam they can sit the practitioner prep day when they will have the opportunity to try out sample practitioner exam questions and then decide whether or not they want to take the exam. If delegates do not sit the practitioner exam it is not charged for.
This exam tests how well delegates can use and apply the PRINCE2 method using a case study. The exam is again multiple choice, but the questions are ‘objective reasoning’ style. There are 6 different styles of question and delegates will have plenty of opportunity to practice all of them before taking the exam. The exam has one scenario and 8 questions, with 10 marks available per question – a total of 80 marks. The pass rate is 55% (44 marks).
