PRINCE2® Foundation Exam - Technique 2

In a previous post I covered some points of exam technique for the:
PRINCE2® Foundation Exam

This covered time management, the "three pass" approach, "fifty-fifty" answers and transcription errors.

I'll now add a few more points to help you tackle it successfully.

RTFQ - Read The Flippin' Question !
Many people are not conscious of the fact that when they're reading a book or newspaper they are not actually reading all of the words. The eyes skim over some words and the brain fills in the gaps - this is how you are able to read for pleasure. In an exam your approach needs to be a bit more like a proofreader. Take your time and read every word of the question and possible answers carefully. Take particular care over "negative" questions of the form "which of these is NOT part of a PRINCE2® ........ ".

ATFQ - Answer The Flippin' Question !
Having read a question carefully answer it ! Somtimes one of the answers will be immediately obvious as the right one. Trust your first instinct - you are probably right, you know a lot about the method, so go for it. Thinking too deeply can sometimes work against you. Remember that the exam is based entirely on PRINCE2® terminology and what's in the manual.

Beware Of Changing Your Answers
When doing a second pass through the paper or a final check you may be tempted to start changing some of your answers. You can do this and you may spot an obvious mistake but ...... take care. I have marked hundreds of these papers and I can promise you that at least 7 times out of 10 a candidate changing an answer changes it from right to wrong. It is all too easy to talk yourself out of the right answer.

Move On If Stuck

If you get stuck on a question don't dwell on it - mark it on your question paper to remind you to come back to it then move on to the next question. You only have just over a minute to answer each question, so you can't afford to dwell for too long. Return to it on a second pass through the paper. You may well find that the answer then comes to you. If you're still stuck use the fifty-fifty technique mentioned in the previous post or simply guess.

Don't Look For Patterns

The question papers are assembled by the exam board from a "question bank". They balance out each paper with a set number of each type of question and topics spread across the whole PRINCE2® syllabus. But beyond that the selection of questions is entirely random. The result is that its entirely possible to have a run of questions where the answer is the same letter (a,b,c or d). I once saw a paper with a run of 14 questions in sequence where the answer was 'c' every time. This was entirely coincidental, not a deliberate ploy by the examiners. The danger is that you might start thinking "it can't possibly be c again". It can be, so treat each question individually.

When You're Finished Finish
Candidates take varying amounts of time to complete the paper. Some take the full hour, some find that they can comfortably finish in 40 minutes or even less in some cases. My advice is when you've completed all the questions and done a final check - stop. Don't start agonising, doubting and changing your answers.

If you attend an accredited PRINCE2® Foundation course you'll get further help from your course tutor and a chance to tackle some practice exam papers. Their advice may differ slightly from what I'm saying here, some things are a matter of opinion - so take on board what they tell you.

Good luck with the exam !