Did you sit the April one? I did mine in April 2022.
So... the wait for the results is loooong. Had my promotion interview the following day and got it, so now under pressure to deliver (and now really need it for work!)
The scenario felt very familiar, close to a fire incident that actually happened.
My experience with Certificate in Fire Safety:
I've done a lot of self-study outside of textbook, probably 60/40 ratio but have do admit I was overdoing it a bit
helped at exam though (i hope!)
1. Textbook gives you overview of issues, but for exam you really need to understand the subject to apply in real life scenario. If you took exam in April I suspect it might have been task 2 you speak of? I was actually intrigued by this phenomenon during self study, so felt at ease until I started word count and trying to figure out if I have enough points there. But there was very little in textbook about it.
So for those that will be taking this exam, my advise would be- do go outside of textbooks. If there's mention of something you don't fully understand- research! Be confident in everything the book mentions. You may think if study material only mentions it, it's not that important- Wrong!
2. I know taking mock exam takes work and know of couple of people that started NEBOSH mock exams and stopped half way through as was taking too much effort. I'd say- DO IT! It was very helpful- firstly it help me planning my exam technique and timing appropriately, so I knew how much time I will roughly need to write the actual exam- it's really important as having 24hrs for submission can be a bit of a blindfold and you may feel you have more time than you actually do. Secondly course provider gave feedback and helpful tips. I also have shared my mock with much more experienced colleague who gave me even more helpful tips and honest feedback. Priceless!
Exam started at 11 and realistically I had to finish it the same day, just read it again and apply correction before submission next day. I was starting work at 8 next day, so I've submitted 1st version late evening, just in case I overslept
and then removed and resubmitted my final answer 8:03AM
3. Another tip I'd give- don't draft your ideas or answers on separate piece of paper- keep it on your answer sheet- you can amend it, remove it, correct it etc. Drafting ideas on a side, I just lost a lot of time unnecessarily really. Then you look at the clock and get shock to the system lol.
4. You can find a lot of tips on open exam preparations and answer structure online, in written or video form- use it. Even if they're not specific to fire certificate. They're helpful
5. I'd say don't focus on eloquence
English is my second language so I'm always trying to make sure to write pretty full sentences on exams
by the time I finished (and I did try for concise answers) I was at 3850 words so in the end my answers were stripped almost to bulletpoints
stripping down unnecessary words in line with "they'll know what I mean"
Pretty sentences gone.
6. Focus on the scenario- take out as much as you can from the scenario! Everything that's written there matters, nothing is there for no reason.
7. Once I've read the final paper after exam ended, I couldn't understand what took me so long!
a lot of self doubt comes in play I guess...
It was my first open book exam so I thought it's easier than normal exam but I have to disagree now. In normal exam you have set time, you write it, give up the paper and it's done. In open book there's a lot of second guessing and I wish I didn't have my submission papers after I was done.
The same with FRA, can't tell you how many times I've changed and readjusted things. Do it, submit it, be done with it. But with all honesty I might have chosen too complex building for FRA, as it certainly didn't take 3hrs to risk assess (although as my tutor said- don't overthink it!)
With all my tips above- remember I've not received results yet!
Update: passed with credit