Prince2 Course recommendations

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I'm thinking of becoming Prince2 qualified. Mostly for future career prospects as it seems quite desirable, but if I could implement anything to help straighten out the processes in my current job it would help too

I was just planning on doing the foundation but it seems that the reading material is the same for both, so why not do both?

The cost of the textbook is around £50, the foundation exam £205 and the Practitioner £380. Total around £635

That's self study, but I can do a 5 day course with the exams for £795 http://www.prince2training.co.uk/prince2-courses/11693/prince2-foundation-and-practitioner.aspx

Or even £695 - and that includes the textbook too!
http://www.teampm.co.uk/prince2/pri...d2-a61f-4d0c-a9fe-34c3ae8e291a&_kt=4967329852

What I'd really appreciate some help with is 1) Has anyone used either of the companies above, 2) Is this too good to be true? and 3) Does anyone have any recommendations (and how much should it cost)?

I live in Diss so a course in Ipswich or Norwich would be great, but I could do it in London if needed.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
James

 

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Hi James.

I would certainly recommend doing both at the same time - as you say, it covers the same material.
I did a 5 day course with a training company which included books, exams, lunch etc etc and found it really worth while.

We did Monday to Wednesday course presentation (along with quite a lot of evening reading). There's a lot to get in, so it's pretty intense. Wednesday afternoon we did the foundation paper which you need to pass to move on, but I think you hace to try pretty hard to fail. Only one out of our 10 did, and I think the instructor was pretty surprised.

Thursday was mainly recap and practive papers for the practitioner exam. The questions can be quite fiendish and I think we'd all have struggled if we hadn't had a go at some old papers. BTW, unlike other certification exams, the exam content and scenarios change regularly like university papers - so don't worry about being given past papers.

It's one case where I would argue for doing a course rather than self study. For a start, the official manuals are obscure to say the least. We had to read them before going on the course, and they didn't mean a thing to me until we got into them. On top of that, it can be a bugger to find somewhere just to sit the exam if you're not part of a course due to the logistics and invigilation etc - they're paper based.

In terms of where you go, I don't think it matters much. Prince2 are far stricter than some other awarding bodies about who teaches their courses and how. It costs a bomb to be a registered trainer and so unless you go somewhere really huge, you'll probably find that the trainer you use will outsource their Prince2 courses to one of the big guys who have trainers available. That means all you have to worry about is the venue, because the trainers will probably be the same guys wherever you go.

 

Thank you very much for the quick reply with so much information.

I did just check and TeamPM are listed as an accredited training provider so all looks very promising. Oddly enough if I go on their website and search for the same course it's an additional £100... I'll just have to look in a few week's time for a bargain. I have 2 Open University programming exams on 16th & 17th June.

Turns out all the prices are +VAT as well Sos £695 is actually £815. Still seems like a good price for all the training though. I reckon that including travel for the week I can do the whole thing for under £1000.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

As I've posted elsewhere before, www.spoce.co.uk have a very good name too and offer self study with a top-up course or full courses

 

Thanks Darkstar - I'll check them out.

 

Hi, came across the TeamPM website as well and was wondering whether you went with these guys in the end?

 

Hi Chris,

I've actually not gone ahead with the training yet. I've 2 Open University exams next week so decided to hold fire until they are over (M255 and M263 for any fellow OU Students).

I have researched them a bit further and they are listed as an accredited training provider at:
http://www.apmg-international.com/APMG-UK/AccreditedOrganisationSearch/UK_AO_Search.asp?txtStartsWith=T&ddlProductCategories=&ddlProductComponents=&ddlCountries=&btnSearch=Search

So I guess they are OK to use. If I ever go on a training course I'd try them.

Not much of an answer but I hope it helps a bit.

James