u/Away-Ad7608

Edit: Foundation version is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Prince2/s/7AeyxAAUQa

A few people asked for a Practitioner version of my Foundation post last week, so here it is. Same idea: I write practice questions, I see which wrong answers get picked, and it's mostly the same mistakes every time.

The basics: 70 scenario-based questions, 150 minutes, open book (official PRINCE2 7 manual only), and you need 42 right (60%) to pass. That's just over two minutes per question, which sounds like plenty until you start looking things up. As with Foundation, you can ask for 25% extra time if English isn't your first language.

1. Treating open book as a safety net

This is the big one. People who fail Practitioner usually know enough PRINCE2, they just run out of time flicking through the manual. If you have to look up more than one question in three, you're in trouble. Use the manual to confirm, not to learn.

2. Not preparing your manual

Related to the first one. You can use the official printed manual or the official eBook, but not a printout or a copy. In the printed book, highlighting, handwritten notes and index tabs are generally fine, while loose sheets and sticky notes are not. The proctor will ask you to flick through the book on camera before you start. So mark it up properly while you study, and do your mocks with that same copy so you know where things are. Rules and proctors can differ, so check PeopleCert's current candidate guidelines before exam day.

3. Picking an answer that's true but doesn't answer the question

Several options are often correct PRINCE2 statements. Only one of them fits this scenario and this question. Before you pick, ask yourself: does this actually solve what's being asked?

4. Ignoring the extra information in the question

Some questions add a detail that changes the situation compared to the main scenario. Easy to miss when you're tired, and it's usually the whole point of the question.

5. Choosing "maximum PRINCE2"

The answer with the most documents, meetings and formal approvals is often wrong. For a small or low-risk project the right answer is usually the tailored, lighter option. The exam checks whether you apply the method sensibly, not whether you apply all of it.

6. Escalating everything

This is the flip side of the Foundation trap. At Practitioner level, if something is within tolerance, the Project Manager deals with it. Only a forecast breach of tolerance goes to the Project Board. Escalating a within tolerance problem is a wrong answer.

7. Mixing up similar management products

Daily log vs issue register, lessons log vs lessons report, business case vs benefits management approach. At Foundation you only needed to recognise them. Here you need to know which one fits the situation in the scenario.

8. Forgetting who approves what

Only the Project Board approves stage plans, exception plans and project closure. Work packages are agreed between the Project Manager and the Team Manager. Wrong approver = wrong answer, even if the action itself is right.

9. Skipping the new parts of PRINCE2 7

People, sustainability and the digital and data management approach are new in this edition. Plenty of people study mainly the familiar practices and processes and then get caught out.

10. Re-reading the whole scenario every time

Read the scenario properly once at the start and get the key facts into your head: project size, roles, what's gone wrong. Then for each question, go back only to the part you need.

What worked best for the people I've talked to: do at least two full mocks under real conditions, 150 minutes, manual only, no pausing. The first one is usually a shock on timing, and the second shows you whether you've fixed it.

Happy to answer questions here or by DM if you're preparing for it.

I write practice questions for the PRINCE2 7 Foundation, which means I spend a weird amount of time looking at which wrong answers people pick. It's mostly the same handful of mistakes over and over, so here they are.

Some basics in case you're just starting out: 60 multiple choice questions, 60 minutes, closed book, and you need 36 right (60%) to pass. If English isn't your first language you can ask for 25% extra time, so 75 minutes. Surprisingly few people know that.

1. Studying from 2017 material

Still the most common one. If your notes or a YouTube video talk about "themes", it's the old edition. They're called practices now, strategies became management approaches, and the pass mark went up from 55% to 60%.

2. The PM handling a tolerance breach on their own

If a stage is forecast to go over tolerance, the PM doesn't sort it out quietly. They raise an exception report to the Project Board. Watch for the word "forecast" in the question, you escalate before it happens, not after.

3. Who owns the business case

The Executive. Not the Senior User, not the PM. The Senior User specifies what's needed and is accountable for the benefits actually being realised. The exam loves offering those two as distractors.

4. Project assurance vs quality assurance

Sounds like the same thing, isn't. Project assurance is the Project Board's responsibility and independent of the PM. Quality assurance sits outside the project altogether, at organisation level.

5. Risk vs issue

A risk hasn't happened yet. An issue has (or it's a request): request for change, off-specification, problem/concern. If the scenario says something has happened, cross off the risk answers.

6. Tailoring away a principle

You can tailor pretty much everything in PRINCE2 except the principles. Drop one and it's not a PRINCE2 project anymore. "A small project can skip this principle" is a classic wrong answer.

7. One stage projects

Minimum is two management stages: the initiation stage plus at least one more.

8. Starting up a project

It happens before the project, not as part of it. The project officially begins with initiation, once the Project Board authorises it. The Executive and PM are appointed during Starting up.

9. NOT / BEST / FALSE

Honestly this one probably costs more points than any actual knowledge gap. Under time pressure you answer the question you expected to see. I'd read the last line of the question first, then the scenario.

10. Answering from your day job

Maybe at your company the PM approves changes. In PRINCE2 that's not how it works, unless it's been delegated to a change authority. The exam tests the manual, not your workplace.

What I'd recommend: do one full timed mock, then go through every wrong answer and sort it into one of these ten buckets. Usually two or three of them account for most of the mistakes, and that's where your revision time should go.

Happy to answer questions here or by DM if you're preparing for it.

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