PRINCE2 Exam - everything you need to know

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PRINCE2 Exam

The PRINCE2 qualifications are highly sought after addition to the CV of any project manager worldwide.

Two qualifications are available the PRINCE2 Foundation and the PRINCE2 Practitioner. Both are achieved by reaching a set part in a format classroom examination.

PRINCE2 Foundation exam

The PRINCE2 Foundation qualification is the entry level and must be taken and passed successfully before the candidate can progress ton the Practitioner examination.

The PRINCE2 Foundation exam is aiming to measure whether a candidate would be able to act as an informed member of a project management team using the PRINCE2 method within a project environment supporting PRINCE2. To this end they need to show they understand the principles and terminology of the method, specifically, candidates must be able to:

Describe the purpose and major content of all roles, the eight components, the seven processes and the sub-processes, and the techniques
State which management products are input to, and output from the seven processes

State the main purpose, and key contents, of the major management products
State the relationships between processes, deliverables, roles and the management dimensions of a project.

The Exam itself is as follows:

Multiple choice format
75 questions per paper
5 questions to be trial and not counted in scores
35 marks required (out of 70 available) to pass - 50%

On a classroom taught course this exam is usually taken on the third day. It is marked on the day and delegates can then progress to Practitioner if they wish to. Pass rates are often high.

PRINCE2 Practitioner exam

The PRINCE2 Practitioner exam is the highest level qualification available and can only be taken by delegates who have successfully passed the Foundation examination.

This level is aiming to measure whether a candidate could apply PRINCE2 to the running and managing of a non-complex project within an environment supporting PRINCE2. To this end they need to exhibit the competence required for the Foundation qualification, and show that they can apply and tailor PRINCE2 to address the needs and problems of a given project scenario. Specifically:

Know or comment on detailed explanations of all processes, themes and techniques, and worked examples of all PRINCE2 management products as they might be applied to address the particular circumstances of a given project scenario

Demonstrate that they understand the relationships between processes, themes, techniques and PRINCE2 management products and can apply this understanding

Demonstrate that they understand the reasons behind the processes, themes and techniques of PRINCE2
Demonstrate their ability to the tailor PRINCE2 to different project environments.

The PRINCE2 Practitioner exam is in the "Objective Testing" format, a style of complex multiple-choice examination, as follows:

9 questions per paper with 12 marks available per question – all question items will be worth 1 mark, making the total number of marks available per paper 108
2.5 hours allowed (no reading time has been added)
Open-book examination (only the PRINCE2 Manual is allowed).

On a classroom taught course this exam is usually taken on the final day, the pass rates here can be more variable.

Details on examinations here are reproduced from the APMG website.