After originally planning to do these exams in January 2018… I finally got round to studying and passing this month! Reflecting on it, I think it’s actually a good thing that I had that extra year of career experience in change management before taking them, as it did help me in the exams to have that to lean on. That said, anybody can take the change management exams APMG offers, whether a change manager by trade or just interested in how change is brought about in organisations. In this post I’ll give you some context about the exam purpose, content, question style, and some hints and tips that helped me on the day.
Why Change Management?
Digital transformation remains the catchphrase on the tip of everybody’s tongue. Older businesses are told to “transform or die”, whilst newcomers to the market are scaling at rapid pace, forced into a state of near constant change to support their growth. However, despite the fact that the need to manage change arises in every business, every sector, every size of company, it is often managed poorly and ends in failure. This failure, in some cases, might be fatal to the company. Whatever your role, it’s good to understand how you can influence the actions and behaviours of others and encourage them to embrace new ways of thinking and working. This is, in essence, change management.
APMG’s Change Management Offering
APMG’s two change exams reflect the normal Foundation/Practitioner pattern – the precursor exam is shorter, closed book, and covers theory, whilst the follow on exam is long, open book and features a case study that tests the theory in practice. The course itself covers many aspects of change including learning styles, communications techniques, team structure, and the psychological process of change as experienced by a human being making the transition.
Foundation Exam: 40 minutes, closed book, 50 questions, pass mark = 50% (25 correct).
Practitioner Exam: 160 minutes, open book, 80 questions, pass mark = 50% (40 correct).
Study materials: The Effective Change Manager’s Handbook.
How to Study
As you’ll learn throughout this course, different people have very different learning styles, but I personally like to have time to consume and reflect on the content at my own pace, so I chose to self study at home rather than attend a course. For somebody who has time and prefers interactive sessions and aural learning (and can afford it!), I’ve heard the week courses are very good and the cost also covers taking both exams during the week. I approached this by skim reading the textbook cover to cover – in hindsight probably unnecessary and I could have read the exam syllabus first and focussed in on certain topics – but I really wanted to understand the material beyond just being able to pass the exam. I’m glad I spent a little extra time on this stage.
As always, practice papers are the way to… practise 😉 I bought my exams through Cupe (which I’ve talked about before in other posts) as they offer you exam cost plus an online training feature and access to past papers for a small extra fee. I loved the online course as it took about 2 hours to complete and really helped hone in on the topics that were going to be examined, which helped me focus. Then, I just sat a practice paper per exam to understand the style, format and time constraints, which always makes me feel more relaxed and confident!
Question Style
Very similar to the other APMG exams, the questions come in a set number of formats:
Foundation:
Which is correct
Which is MOST correct or which BEST describes xyz
“2 statement” questions where you have to say is both, neither or only 1 is correct.
Practitioner:
Straightforward multiple choice “which is correct”
Which 2 are correct (read the question REALLY carefully as these can catch you out)
And then the horrible questions which I really hoped wouldn’t be in this one! Assertion (True/False), Reason (True/False) and you have to say if two statement are true or false and related or not.
I have explained these question types in more detail in other posts so instead of repeating it here why don’t you check out my post on the MSP exams where you can find a full write up of the question types.
Tips for the exams
The Foundation exam is not difficult if you know the theory, but it does require that you really swot up on certain theories as the exam is closed book so you do need to be able to recall them quickly.
I’d really recommend buying a course or buying your exam through a provider like Cupe that gives you access to training for a little extra so you know what theory to focus on. I would have spent way longer studying had it not been for that.
I had about 50% of my time left by the end of the Practitioner exam so I’d say you can likely take your time here. I did refer to the book a lot more than I thought I would.
It’s good to have the extra time because it means you can find the relevant section in the book then give it a quick re-read before attempting the question.
After doing the practice exam, I went back and put sticky tabs into the relevant pages because not everything is clearly marked in the appendix.
You can sit this exam in a test centre, or you can do it online via a proctor (which I far prefer as it’s more convenient). If you purchase through Cupe, just make sure you select the online option.
And if you have any more questions…
Hit me up! I am more than happy to chat about the exams and approach, you can reach me via the contact me page on my blog. Good luck with your exam 🙂