A final-revision summary of PRINCE2 7 at Practitioner level. The exam is open book (official manual only), so use this page two ways: revise from it, and copy its structure into the tabs you put in your manual.
The exam in numbers
56 questions and sub-questions · 70 marks · 150 minutes · pass mark 60% (42 marks) · open book (official PRINCE2 manual) · web-based proctored. Roughly two minutes per mark: answer from knowledge, confirm from the book.
Five integrated elements
People · Principles · Practices · Processes · Project context. Scenarios test them together - a single question can touch a practice, a principle and a role at once.
Seven principles as decision tests
| Principle | Ask of any scenario action |
|---|---|
| Ensure continued business justification | If justification is gone, is someone escalating - or pushing on? |
| Learn from experience | Are lessons sought at start, recorded during, passed on at close? |
| Defined roles, responsibilities and relationships | Does everyone know who directs, who manages, who delivers? |
| Manage by stages | Is the board committing one stage at a time, reviewing at boundaries? |
| Manage by exception | Are tolerances set, and escalation only on a forecast breach? |
| Focus on products | Are products and quality criteria agreed before activity planning? |
| Tailor to suit the project | Is the method proportionate - without dropping any principle? |
Seven practices - what scenarios test
| Practice | Watch for |
|---|---|
| Business case | Output → outcome → benefit (+ dis-benefits); senior user owns benefit realisation |
| Organizing | Executive decides; assurance independent of the PM; change authority within limits |
| Plans | Product-based planning: products and descriptions before activities; exception plan replaces stage plan |
| Quality | Quality criteria live in product descriptions; quality register tracks activities and results |
| Risk | Uncertain = risk; responses for threats (avoid, reduce, transfer, accept, contingent plans) and opportunities (exploit, enhance, share, reject) |
| Issues | Happened = issue: request for change, off-specification, problem or concern; changes go through change control |
| Progress | Tolerances per level; checkpoint, highlight, end stage and exception reports on the right routes |
Seven processes (in flow)
- Starting up a project - executive and PM appointed; project brief; is initiation worth funding?
- Directing a project - the board’s process: authorise initiation, project, each stage, closure; ad-hoc direction
- Initiating a project - assemble the PID: approaches, controls, plans, refined business case
- Controlling a stage - PM’s home process: authorise work packages, manage issues and risks, report highlights
- Managing product delivery - team manager: accept work package, build to descriptions, checkpoint reports
- Managing a stage boundary - end stage report, updated business case and project plan, next stage plan (or exception plan)
- Closing a project - confirm acceptance, hand over, lessons, closure recommendation; the board authorises closure
The exception chain
Tolerance set → deviation forecast → issue raised → exception report (PM → board) → board decides → exception plan replaces the stage plan. Team managers escalate to the PM; only the PM escalates to the board.
Reports and their routes
| Report | From → to | When |
|---|---|---|
| Checkpoint | Team manager → project manager | Frequency set in the work package |
| Highlight | Project manager → project board | Time-driven, per stage agreement |
| End stage | Project manager → project board | At each stage boundary |
| Exception | Project manager → project board | Tolerance forecast to be exceeded |
Performance aspects (tolerances set on each)
Benefits · Cost · Time · Quality · Scope · Risk · Sustainability (new emphasis in PRINCE2 7).
Tailoring: allowed vs never
Allowed: combining roles (e.g. executive + senior user, PM + team manager), lighter reports and registers, merged stages on small projects. Never: dropping a principle, skipping a process entirely, executive doubling as PM, assurance delegated to the PM.
Manual tabbing checklist
Tab before exam day: each principle · each practice · each process · roles and responsibilities · management product descriptions. If a lookup takes over a minute, add another tab.