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The key to excelling in any examination is to analyse its structure, question-pattern, and most importantly, the syllabus of the subject that you are going to take the examination for. If you prepare for an examination blindly by ignoring any one of the three criteria listed above, then the final outcome of your exam might be something unexpected.
So, in order to pass any examination with flying colours, you must tread carefully and follow a proper procedure to plan your preparation for an examination.
In this article, we will discuss the structure of PRINCE2® Foundation Examination, being certified with which will help you understand how the themes of PRINCE2®, its principles, processes, themes, and terminology are applied towards finishing a project with success and establish you as an informed member of a project management team. It is better if you plan your preparations following a proper procedure.
So, let us begin understanding the PRINCE2® Foundation Examination structure.
At first, let us get a brief overview of what the PRINCE2® Foundation Examination expects you to know.
PRINCE2® Foundation Examination will test your ability to act as an informed member of a project management team using the PRINCE2® method within a project environment supporting PRINCE2®. From your end, you require to demonstrate that you understand the principles, themes, processes, and the terminology of the method.
Once you pass the PRINCE2® Foundation Examination, you should be able to:
The above gives you a brief but clear explanation of what this examination will demand from you in the form of the questions.
There are no eligibility criteria to appear for the PRINCE2® Foundation Certification Examination. The PRINCE2® Foundation Certification is open for anybody to get accredited with, for ones who want to manage their projects, although it is found to be more useful for IT employees. But whether an individual is a designer, or develops and delivers projects, this certification will prove very effective. Moreover, if you currently are a project manager or planning to become one, then the PRINCE2® certification is the one for you.
Now, let’s dive a bit more into the structure of the PRINCE2® Foundation examination. The examination of the PRINCE2® Foundation Level is structured as follows :
Info/ Examination type | PRINCE2® Foundation Examination |
---|---|
Question type | Objective |
Conducted by | PEOPLECERT |
Certification family | PRINCE2® |
Created by | AXELOS |
Time allocated | 1 hour |
Number of questions | 60 |
Passing criteria | 55%, i.e, at least 33 out of 60 questions need to be answered correctly |
Level | Foundation |
---|---|
Number of Examination Languages | 6 |
Re-certification | Not required |
Closed/Open book | Closed book |
You can check the PEOPLECERT website for more information.
Here is the list of the necessary topics that are covered:
You can opt for PRINCE2® examinations by either:
The standard setup for classroom courses is paper-based. Ones who self-study, or practice eLearning courses, usually appear for the online examinations. The online examinations are invigilated too, and you should be in a quiet room separately with the webcam and microphone recording you.
There is no penalty for incorrect answers, keeping in mind that the examination is not expected to include every detail and advanced topics like tailoring. The passing score is low as well and you will require to secure at least 50% of the total. Therefore a random answer sheet already has a 25% score on an average. All you need to do is get 50% to pass the examination. The examination is rather simple and about 95% of the examination results are successful. This is stated by the seasonal reports from the examination institutes such as:
It is essential for you to have complete knowledge of the PRINCE2® principles, terminology, processes and themes. You must be able to:
Many training organizations and candidates resort to the official manual by Axelos, Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2® for the main resource. However, the same should be only used when one goes for the PRINCE2® Practitioner Examination.
The reason is, the official manual by Axelos is too long and holds too much information for somebody who is going just for the Foundation examination and can become quite daunting too.
Like many candidates, you should go for simplified resources to prepare for the Foundation examination. You may also practice sample questions and examination questions of previous examinations to increase the chances of scoring more.
Many candidates have set the trend of using the PRINCE2® Foundation Training manual because it is completely focussed on the PRINCE2® Foundation syllabus.
There are three options:
It depends entirely on your experience and knowledge on how long you will take for self-study or in completing eLearning courses. This might be between 20 to 40 hours.
It is recommended for you to opt for the classroom and eLearning courses from an Accredited Training Organisation. Why? Because the examination institutes reviewed and approved their material and the Accredited Training Organisations do mention the same information in their respective websites.
There are 3 types of question styles present in the PRINCE2® Foundation Examination, ‘Classic’, ‘List’ and ‘Missing word’. The questions are always presented in multiple-choice format. Therefore, all you need to do is choose one out of the four given options. Each question in the examination paper has one correct answer.
For classroom training, the examination is usually being conducted by the trainer at the end of the course. The examination fees vary from country to country and you will need to check with the accredited training organisations to check for the correct figures.
The PRINCE2® Foundation Examination fee offer from PEOPLECERT: £236.00 for India.
Some eLearning courses also have the examination bundled with their offered courses, and you will get a voucher from the Accredited Training Organisation, the voucher which you can use when appearing for the examination in one of the examination institutes’ websites. You may buy the examination from the Accredited Training Organisations or examination institutes separately and go through the same process.
Choices are also available to take the examination in certain test centres such as Prometric, but it is not as common as other options.
Follow these steps in order to register for the examination and choose the examination centre.
Step 1: Visit the link:
Step 2: Scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the header ‘Take the Exam’.
Step 3: At the bottom right corner of the screen, under ‘Approved Test Centre’, click ‘Pearson Vue’.
Step 4: You will be taken to the page of Pearson Vue
Step 5: At the right-hand side of the page, you will see a host of options. You will need to sign in or create an account to schedule, reschedule or cancel an examination.
Step 6: To find a test centre, look just below where you are asked to sign-in and you will need to either click on ‘Find a Test Center’ or ‘Find a test centre on a military base’ to search for the test centre according to your choice.
Step 7: Proceed with the chosen test centre to schedule the examination date that you prefer.
Step 1: Repeat step 1 from above.
Step 2: Scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the header ‘Take the Exam’.
Step 3: At the bottom right corner of the screen, under ‘Approved Test Centre’ click‘ Prometric’.
Step 4: You will be taken to the page of Prometric:
https://www.prometric.com/test-takers/search/pcert
Step 5: At the top of the page you will find four options:
Conclusion
So that was the discussion of the PRINCE2® Foundation Examination structure. This blog will help you to get a deep understanding of the core details of the system, structure, criteria, and nature of the examination. After this, you surely would have a clearer idea about how the entire examination system works and what you need to apply for the same. Not only that, but you will also be better positioned to move ahead in understanding the further details regarding PRINCE2®.
All the best!
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