Publised On:Aug 20, 2022
Attempting any professional certification exam is stressful experience. However, it does not necessarily have to be one. By using the correct guidance anyone can achieve success in the Agile Project Management Certification exam(s) with very little anxiety and stress.
In fact, the 7 guidance points below will help certification candidates fetch success from each exam they attempt:
1. Attend Training(s) or Self-study
This often boils down to the budget available for funding the certification costs. Candidates would usually go for self-study if they want to cut the cost of training and certification. There is absolutely nothing wrong with self-study, in fact self-study can prove to be very useful as well as being economical.
However, self-study will always take more time compared to attending an accredited training. Those who have decided to self-study would need to be very organised and ensure they continue to spend time on reading the training materials without a long break. Each self-studying individual would need to know when they are ready for the exam as there is no common way of measuring the readiness.
Alternatively an accredited training can be attended. Agile Project Management is no exception, and there are many organisations providing the good trainings in this area. Tecknologia is indeed best of the best !. For guidance on how to chose a training provider, please refer to Selecting the Right Training Partner (What to Check).
2. Use Official Guidance
It is very important that official guidance is used for self-study and/ or accredited training. There are training organisations which do not provide the official AgilePM Handbook (published by Agile Business Consortium) for the courses. Candidates should buy they official guidance by themselves if not provided by their training provider.
The only source material for all exam questions is the official AgilePM Handbook and nothing else. There is no meed to make notes and handouts, however, those will not be allowed in the practitioner exam (open book) hence there isn't much value of such notes and handouts.
3. Practice Using Official Sample Papers
There are many fake sample papers available online, never rely on those. It is highly recommended to only use official sample papers for practicing.
Attempting the foundation or practitioner sample paper at least 1-2 days before the exam would help identify weak areas that candidate should focus on in detail. This has proven to be of great value in our experience.
4. Scheduling Exam(s) Early After Training
It is highly recommended to schedule the exam(s) as soon as possible after the training if the training provider does not allow candidates to sit the exam(s) during the scheduled days of training.
The more time that is allowed to pass after the training, the more the revision will be needed which negatively impacts the benefits of attending the training.
Self-study individuals would need to schedule their exams when they see fit of course.
5. Annotating and Tabulating Official Guidance for Practitioner Exam
Practitioner exam would need a lot of skimming, searching and reading through the official manual, which means annotating and tabulating the official manual would be very helpful. In simple terms - candidate should know the official manual very well to be efficient through the practitioner exam. Time is of essence !
Candidates may write in the official manual but no loose sheets of paper are allowed, be careful !
6. During the Exam(s)
Foundation exam is based on simple multiple choice questions. There are 40 minutes allowed to attempt 50 questions. It is recommended that no more than 15 seconds should be spent on reading the question statement and understanding it. Remember: 50% of the questions will have a clue about the answer within the question statement. Candidates may flag or leave questions unasnwered. They can return to those questions in the end of any point of time during the exam. Reviewing the questions in the end is always very helpful.
Practitioner exam would have scenario at the start and questions are based on the same. Spend no more than 10 minutes in reading the scenario and understanding it. Making notes about important bits from the scenario would be helpful. The exam is 2.5 hours long while there are 80 question parts, of varying length, to be attempted. Take no more than 1.5 minutes for each question and flag the questions to be looked into later.
7. Share Your Knowledge
Sharing the acquired knowledge will be very helpful way of retaining it, during preparation and after the certification exams are over. It doe not cost anything but in return one gets recognition and appreciation.
Joining preparation groups for self-studying delegates will be a great way of sharing the knowledge but to also prepare more and fill the gaps in their knowledge.
Tecknologia team is hopeful that above will help you prepare well for your exam(s). Wish you every luck !