Is exam stress stopping your career?

With so much competition in the job market, if you want your CV to get you through to interview, you have to have up to date qualifications. However, one of the reasons you might be hesitating is your fear of exams. I have lots of people who come on my courses feeling very nervous because they have not taken an exam in several decades and are worried they don’t have skills for revising and sitting exams.

As I create this blog I am thinking of 3 people that I have trained in the last few weeks who all worried about their exam ability but who all passed their exams with flying colours. Two of the people were on my Change Management Foundation and Practitioner course and one was on the AgilePM course. While a lot of my current work is focused on Agile and Change, I know from previous experience that the comments and advice in this blog could apply to almost any exam environment. Could you be my next successful candidate?

What is the responsibility of your trainer?

As your trainer, it is my job to:

· Give you all the information you need to answer the questions – so in addition to producing original slides I have designed activities, created models and designed games to help you enjoy learning

· Give you techniques for remembering all of the information – sharing my own ideas that link the theoretical training to the real-world is a great way to learn. I also include ideas from other delegates on previous courses so you get a rounded view of the information available as we all learn in different ways

· Show you techniques for answering the questions — I make sure you have simple steps to follow so by the time you take the exam, any concerns about how to approach the questions have been removed

· Explain what the examiner is looking — as examiner in a past life, I understand why certain questions are phrased in certain ways and how to interpret what the examiner is looking for. This inside track is of real benefit to those taking the exams and gives them much more confidence

· Give you lots of opportunities to practice your exam technique — I have created sample papers and quizzes to provide even more practice than on a standard course. Aside from question familiarisation, it also helps you plan your timings which is one of the main reasons why people can fail even though they know the answers

http://youtu.be/yYamNcAu7VM

I have filmed a guide to taking exams which helps you understand how to tackle different types of questions. Watch this as it covers additional items not covered in this blog

As with nerves about anything, it’s important to feel that you are not alone, and I can guarantee that if you come on one of my courses your success will be a partnership between us. I will work just as hard as you at getting you through your exams successfully – and I must be doing something right, as I have a 100% pass rate on the Foundation and the Practitioner exams for my Agile Project Management course and my Change Management course!