- Welcome to module 21, our last module and here, we're going to give you some guidance on the PRINCE2 Foundation exam. We'll remind you of the key features of the exam first and then I'm going to take you through some exam tips and things to think about when you're actually in the exam. So I've actually shown you this slide right back at the start of the course in one of our earlier modules. So this is just revision to remind you that you're going to answer 60 multiple choice questions in the Foundation exam. You've got one hour to do it, unless English is not your first language, or you've got some other medical reasons which allow you to have extra time. You would have 15 minutes extra time if you needed it. So if English is not your first language, you just need to inform the invigilator in advance of the exam. If you've got other reasons we would need to see, or the invigilator would need to arrange that in advance some concessions to give you those extra 15 minutes, there's form filling for that one usually. The pass mark is 55% or 33 marks and it's closed book. So you cannot take your PRINCE2 manual in with you or any other books for that matter. It's just you and the paper, or the screen, and your memory. And the content is everything that we've been going through in this Foundation course, the key concepts there. We've got our principles, themes, we've got our processes and you have made your notes and hopefully you just look through those and you've got enough then to get through this exam. Once you get into the exam, we have some tips for you, some things to think about. And the first one is fairly obvious, I know, but read the question, and by that we mean read the whole question. Particularly, the last few words, because some people, they read the sentence on paper or screen, and then they think they know what the question is and then they go and read the answers, but they haven't read right to the end. And in my experience of looking at exam questions, sometimes the last three to seven words change everything. So make sure you read the question right to the end and if you're taking a paper-based exam, annotate the paper, just scribble all over it. You can take the pencil in with you, you're gonna mark your answers with a pencil. So cross out words and underline things, you know. You can annotate it, it's your paper. They won't look at those annotations when the papers are handed in. So annotate it if it's on paper. If you're working on screen in an on-screen exam, then I suggest you take a blank sheet of paper and put it on the desk with you, that will be allowed. The invigilator should allow that and you can write notes on that as you go. When you've read the question, then read the four possible answers. We've got A, B, C, and D. In fact, we actually suggest you read them from the bottom up D, C, B, A because that can maybe just help you look at things in a slightly different way and force you to read the ones at the bottom more carefully 'cause people sort of started from the top and then pick one, but never maybe get to the bottom option. So that's one strategy that you might like to use. When you've read the answers and some of them immediately you'll be able to eliminate, we suggest that you cross out if you've got it on paper this is obviously easier, but eliminate the obvious incorrect answers and it might just help if you're doing this on screen to have an A, B, C, D list in front of you and you just cross out the ones that you know aren't right. And ideally, you want to get it down to one remaining answer which is the correct answer, but try and get it down to at least a 50/50, otherwise. And there's normally a couple that are clearly not the right answer. and so you just, yeah. So you discount those and select the correct answer More easily said than done, clearly, and sometimes more obvious than others. Some questions, particularly if you weren't sure, if you had a 50/50 situation, it could have been one could have been the other, your instincts are usually good. You're normally reasoning things through properly, but you might want to mark that question for review later if necessary. So if you're working on screen, use your blank sheet of paper to list, maybe on one side, the questions you want to review and if it's on paper mark against the question paper, not your answer sheets, 'cause you only can fill in circles there. You can't annotate it elsewhere, otherwise it might have to be manually marked and that's not good. So you would mark questions for reviewing on the question paper rather than on the answer sheet. And then at the end of the exam, if you have time, you can review them. We suggest you take care, if you go back and change your mind, or maybe just in that first reading, you were thinking it's B and now you're looking again or it could be C, you've already filled in B and should I change it to C? Experience and research actually tells us that a lot of the time when you've changed your mind, you've changed the right answer to the wrong answer. In fact, I think the statistic is about 75% of the time it's the right answer to the wrong answer. Of course, that means that 25% of the time you're moving it to the correct way and you're now going to get it right, but your instincts are usually good and we've told you an awful lot over the course of this Foundation course, and there's been an awful lot to take in, and there's an awful lot of stuff milling around in the back of your head. Trust your instincts, you might not know why you think it's B, but it might well be B. And so sometimes you're just gonna have to take a leap of faith. Sometimes you can argue it through and eliminate some of the ones you know are not the right answer, but usually there's a reason why you picked that first one, so try not to spend, if you have spare time at the end of the exam, try not to spend too much time changing your mind. If you're going to change your mind at all, we would suggest you look more carefully at the ones at the start of the exam and the ones at the end, because you're maybe getting into it at the beginning and maybe not completely immersed in the exam paper. So it may be more likely to make mistakes in the start of the exam, and then once you start relaxing into it and you're kind of on a roll, you're probably fine in that middle section, but as you get near the end, particularly if you're a little time pressured and a bit anxious about finishing on time, you might misread things then. So check the ones at the start, check the ones at the end, but the ones in the middle are probably fairly good choices. So do take care when changing your answers. Try not to change too many. You will need to manage your time carefully. We actually have one mark per minute as the pace or one question per minute and this is why we would suggest you practise sample papers and we've included a few of those in amongst the activities within this online course. So practise that, the more you practise, the better you get regarding time management. And if you can get a feel for the pace, you quickly become confident about finishing this exam within the time that you're set. So one mark a minute, but you've got to keep the pace up. If you come across a question that you find quite challenging, and it's when you're thinking about it and weighing things up and suddenly you realise that the time has got away with you, make a decision, fill in an answer. Whatever it might be, just make the best decision, just do it and then move on and maybe you'll be able to catch the time up with other questions that go more easily. And lastly, and this is more relevant clearly, if it's a paper-based exam, you cannot take the question paper out with you. You must return the answer sheet and the question paper in at the end, so don't go off without it. If you're actually doing this on screen, there will be an opportunity for you to go back through the questions and review them before you hit the submit button and finish the exam. So there you go, there are some exam tips from us. Hopefully you'll bear these in mind in the exam and you will do well. So that brings us to the last video in the last module. So I'd just like to pause here and thank you for your time and your attention. Well done, you made it to the end. You put up with me all this time and I do hope you enjoyed the course and got something out of it and not just the qualification. Some of you will be going on to the practitioner course. So I'll see you then, but in the meantime, good luck.