NPPE can be tricky as it contains a lot of confusing but important information. You need to plan well ahead and stay focused for a few months till you have attended the exam. Studying for an exam can be done in many ways. The end goal is the same for everyone: to pass your evaluations and get your certification. Below are some of the tips from our team to pass NPPE.
Be Comfortable
Adapt your learning strategy to your personal needs! To pass the NPPE, a rigorous study plan is required. The two textbooks and the other exam-recommended supplemental materials can all be consumed quickly if time is on your side and you’re a bookworm. But for many people, it’s a difficult task, particularly if your job takes up a significant portion of your day or you don’t like reading on your own. These days, there are a lot of learning facilities and online resources available to assist with NPPE candidate preparation. The services they provide differ depending on the company: some just offer a bank of practice questions, some give prepared notes on the most important information (flashcards, cheat sheets, class summaries, and notes, and more) and some provide self-paced learning.
Size does not Matter
Candidates for the National Professional Examination frequently make the error of presuming that, based on the size of the two books, there will be more questions from the ethics textbook than the law textbook. Beware of being misled by the textbooks’ sizes! Indeed, the weighting in the syllabus reveals that more than 40% of the questions are taken from the ethics textbook and just approximately 30% from the law textbook. The marks distribution may not be important to you if you have plenty of time to devote to all the study materials, but if you need to prioritize your tasks due to a lack of time, it’s a wise idea to check the most recent syllabus on the APEGA website and pay attention to the evaluated content distribution in the syllabus.
Go Small, Rather Than Big
Study subjects rather than book chapters: Use the syllabus as a topical study guide if you’re planning to self-study. Studying all the books and articles on a particular subject will be more beneficial as you know what specific details are likely to be tested during the examination. Paraphrasing entire paragraphs, writing chapter summaries, and rewriting definitions in simpler terms are all strategies that will contribute to effective studying!
Look Outside the Box
Look for some reading resources outside the ones that are highly recommended: The themes of risk management and quality management are listed in Section C of the syllabus, although they are not addressed in the suggested readings. And yet, certain subjects do raise questions. What happens next? Do you go read entire risk management and quality management textbooks? No. These subjects are covered in a few short articles from APEGA. Anyone seeking to include the study of risk management and quality management in their preparation should turn to these two APEGA publications, in my opinion: “Guidelines for Professional Practice and Guidelines for the Management of Risk in Professional Practice”.
Early Riser
Prepare early, starting now: Whatever preparation strategy you choose (Tip #1), it’s crucial to get started as soon as possible. Create a reasonable study schedule by looking at the course outline for the required materials. A two-to-three-month preparatory period is advised if you plan to pursue self-study. If you’re using a learning facility, consult the facility for guidance on the amount of time needed for preparation. The goal should be to finish all required readings and assignments with enough time for review before the test.
Focus
Study the material thoroughly since the NPPE questions aren’t just meant to test your memorization skills; they’re also meant to gauge how well you understand the material and how you can use it in novel contexts. Candidates who haven’t done their homework well may only be able to reduce the options down to one of two, making it quite difficult for them to choose the right one. As you read, focus on the specifics, consider the ideas, and see if you can connect any of them to your prior experiences.
Practice!
Having some practice questions available will be helpful because they will serve as a reality check on your level of preparedness. APEGA and a few educational institutions charge for the use of practice questions. Candidates must understand, however, that answering practice questions is not a suitable substitute for really learning the material.
Don’t Stress
Before the exam, familiarize yourself with the location of the test center. Be on time and keep a cheerful outlook. Remind yourself that you are prepared instead of panicking. When a question initially looks too challenging, skip it, respond to all the ones you already know the answer to, and then go back to the question you skipped.