Retaking the Assurance exam

Try to reflect back on how you felt the exam went and try to identify what needs to be improved before you resit. While it can be disappointing to fail an exam, it is a great opportunity to consider your approach to the exam and can be a valuable learning opportunity not only for this exam, but also as you move onto later ones too.

Generally, things go wrong on the day in two main ways: exam technique (including timing) and/or knowledge. If you can identify what needs to be improved, this can help you to make the most of your study time before your resit. 

It can be useful to work out how many additional questions you needed to get correct to achieve a pass. You need to correctly answer 28/50 questions to pass this exam. If you scored 48% that means you correctly answered 24. Another four questions would score you a pass.

If you felt it was knowledge that let you down, review the marks feedback within your online training file to understand which syllabus areas to focus on. Revisit your notes and ensure you practise all questions on these topics in the question bank.

If you feel that exam technique is what you need to improve, have a think about specifically which part – was it timing that let you down? If so, make sure you practise. There are sample exams on the exam resources area of the website or you can create your own from the question bank. Practise these to time. If you are stuck on a question, it is important to move on and complete the rest of the exam, rather than running out of time.

Make sure you answer every question in the exam, even if you do not feel 100% confident in the answer – remember, there is no negative marking. Read each question carefully to ensure you are not misreading it, especially those questions which ask for most or least likely. Try to ensure that the night before your exam you have a relaxing evening planned so you can go into the exam feeling fresh and positive. Good luck!