How I Studied for PRINCE2, and What I Would Change

Here is exactly what I did.

What I bought

The exam, with a resit attached in case I failed. That was the whole purchase. No classroom course, no bootcamp.

The voucher came with the official PeopleCert ebook, so that was my material. One official book covering the syllabus PeopleCert examines.

What I did first, and why it was not enough

I read it. Then I read it again. Then again.

I knew that book. Whole sections of it felt obvious by the end. I could open any page and think, yes, I know this.

That feeling is the trap, and there is research that explains exactly why.

The study that exposed the trap

In 2006 Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke at Washington University ran the experiment. Students learned short passages. One group read the material repeatedly. Another read it once, then spent the rest of the time trying to recall it from memory with the material closed.

After five minutes the re-readers were ahead, 83% against 71%. They also felt more confident, and said so.

One week later the re-readers produced 40%. The group that had spent its time testing produced 61%.

The people who reread most remembered least a week later. The people who felt best prepared were the least prepared. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249 to 255.

Familiarity is not knowledge. The fourth read of a page feels easy because you recognise it, and recognition is not what the exam asks for. Recognising a page while you are reading is not the same as selecting and applying the right answer under exam conditions.

What actually moved me forward

Being asked questions.

I used AI to question me chapter by chapter on the topics I was studying. Not read the material back to me. Question me on it, with the source closed.

It was uncomfortable, and it was the first honest feedback I had about what I actually knew. Whole areas I would have sworn I had covered fell apart the moment I had to produce an answer rather than nod at a page.

That is the 61% and the 40% happening to me in real time.

The mocks, and how I got them

PeopleCert sells its practice papers to learners at £73 each.

When I was studying I did not want to pay £73 per paper, so I wrote to PeopleCert and asked, with a reason. I gave them two: I was working towards accredited trainer status, and I am dyslexic, so sitting a timed paper was worth more to me than another read of the manual. Reading the book was the part my brain fought hardest. Answering questions was where I could actually prove what I knew.

They agreed. That was an exception.

Then I ran a loop, and this is the part that did the work.

1. Sit a full mock, timed properly.
2. Look at exactly where I went wrong, not the score.
3. Study only those topics.
4. Sit another mock.
5. Look at where I went wrong and study only those topics.

Not read the book again. Study the gap the paper had just proved I had.

The rule I set myself

I did not book the real exam until I was consistently scoring over 70% on full papers, at full pace, more than once.

Not once. Consistently.

That is the difference between deciding on evidence and deciding on hope, and it is the reason I never needed the resit I had paid for.

On pace

Foundation gives you 60 minutes for 60 questions. One a minute, with no room to sit and weigh anything up.

You can know that manual cover to cover and still run out of time, because studying and answering under a clock are separate skills. Most people meet the second one for the first time on the day, at full price.

Practitioner is a different exam. It is open book, and longer, and the pressure comes from finding and applying the right thing fast rather than recalling it cold. Having the manual open does not help you if you have never practised working at that speed.

What I would change

One thing. I would sit a mock at the very start, before studying properly, instead of near the end.

I did it the other way round and wasted weeks revising material I already knew, spread evenly across a syllabus, when a single paper would have told me in an hour which three topics needed the work.

Sit it cold. Score badly. Now every hour after that is aimed.

Why you do not have to ask

I am an accredited trainer now, and Compalley is a PeopleCert Accredited Training Organisation. So I have built four full mock exams to the current syllabus, format and style. Two Foundation, two Practitioner. Same question count, same time limit. Free, and you can sit them as many times as you want.

And I have built in the thing a bare score does not give you: a full breakdown by topic. Which sections you are strong on, and which ones are sitting under 50% and could put your overall result at risk.

That breakdown is the point. It tells you exactly where to study next, so your hours go on the three topics that need the work instead of being spread evenly across a syllabus you mostly already know.

PeopleCert charges £73 a paper for its own practice exams. Mine are free.

They are free because a mock is not what we sell. It is what tells you the truth before you spend money on the exam itself.

The awkward question

If you have been studying for six weeks and have never once sat a full paper under timed conditions, what do you actually know about whether you are ready?

Not what do you feel. What do you know.

Most people cannot answer that, and they book anyway.

Where to start

Sit a paper today, before you revise anything else. It takes about an hour and it will tell you where you actually stand.