NEBOSH National General Certificate Exam Hints & Tips

Now you've committed yourself to taking the NEBOSH Certificate, you've pro a ly wondered what you've got yourself into! Hopefully the following hints " tips will help you to get the ma#imum marks possi le$

Tips for the Written Papers First Things First!

Start y reading the e#am paper all the way through$ %ou should find at least one &uestion that you are confident a out answering$ 'he pages in your answer ook are num ered according to the &uestion you are answering, so it doesn't matter in which order you do the &uestions, as long as you put your answer on the corresponding page of the answer ook$ (t's a good idea to start with the &uestion you're happiest a out, as this gets your rain working and gives you confidence$ )ork through a couple of 'easier' &uestions " then tackle some of the harder ones$ *ust make sure you attempt them all!

Cloc Watch!

%ou must keep your eye on the time$ %ou are allowed + hours for each paper$ 'here are ,, &uestions on each paper, and you are e#pected to answer every one$ -uestion , is worth +. marks, and you should allocate a out +/ minutes for your answer$ -uestions +0,, are worth 1 marks each, and therefore you have to answer ,. &uestions in 2. minutes$ (f you allow 1 minutes for each &uestion, you will have a small cushion at the end to check over your paper, or to finish any last its$ 3lease remem er4 0 !t is "etter to pro#i$e an ans%er to e#er& '(estion than to $o ) or *+ of them %ell! Statistically, candidates score the most marks for the information they give at the eginning of their answers$ %ou will get very few e#tra marks for a long, ram ling answer$ (t's also worth remem ering that for any &uestion you fail to attempt, your score will e ,E-O! So, answer every &uestion, even if you're not over0confident$ (f you have reached the time limit 5+/ minutes for -, " 1 minutes for each of the others6 .O/E ON! %ou do not want to end up wasting time perfecting one answer if it means you run out of time to attempt all the &uestions$

0ns%er the 1(estion!

)e all know the sorts of &uestions we would like to e on the paper 0 trou le is, they're not always there! %ou need to4

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-E02 THE 13EST!ON 9et an idea of what the &uestion is asking$ 'his is especially important on -,, which is often a part &uestion$ (t is very easy to start rushing in to the answer, only to find when you get to part 5ii6 that you're writing similar things$ NEBOSH do not ask you to give the same information twice in one &uestion, so if this is happening, you're going wrong$ -E02 !T 0G0!N4 BEFO-E 5O3 ST0-T W-!T!NG! 'his will give you an idea of the depth of answer re&uired, denoted y the action #er" 5e$g$ outline, descri e, state, list etc6$ (t also focuses your mind on actually answering$ (t is a good idea to highlight the important words in the &uestion, either y underlining them or y using a highlighter pen$ :gain, this clarifies what you are eing asked and allows you to think a out what your answer should e$ %ou can;t take your e#am paper away with you, ut you can highlight things on it$ Once &o(6#e starte$ &o(r ans%er4 chec the '(estion to ma e s(re &o(6re ans%ering %hat &o(6#e "een as e$7 (f ( had <, for every student who'd gone off at a tangent in their answer to a NEBOSH &uestion, ('d e a very rich lady!! %ou will do this at some point, ut it's a good idea to make sure it happens in the classroom rather than in the e#am! Simply y checking that you are answering the &uestion, whilst you are doing it can save an awful lot of time " heartache$ (f you check halfway through, it does give you time to salvage something if you've gone wrong$ 5(;ve done it!6$

1(estion Spotting!

NEBOSH are well aware that students practice answering past &uestions, and although they do repeat &uestions, they may not e straight repeats$ %ou may see part of a &uestion that has appeared efore, with a different second part$ *ust e aware that you must read the &uestion thoroughly and keep checking that you;re answering the right &uestion$

Specific T&pes of 1(estion

Some types of &uestion come up again " again$ On the =anagement paper you are often asked to >Outline the factors to consider when??$$>$ 'his type of &uestion re&uires you to think a out the situation you have een given, and take an overview$ 'hey do not usually ask you to fi# it! i$e$ you do not have to outline a series of control measures$ 'his is a very common mistake in approaching this type of &uestion$ E$g$ (f you were asked to outline the factors to consider efore forklift trucks are to e introduced to a new warehouse, you would outline factors such as 'he need for separating @A' movements from pedestriansB 'he need for the introduction of speed limitsB )hether high visi ility clothing would e re&uiredB 'he condition of the floors and terrain 'he type of @A' to e introduced e$g$ the appropriate fuel supply

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'he loads to e carried etc$ %ou should turn this list into an outline y adding the reason for each consideration you mention e$g$ 'he condition of the floors and terrain would e an important consideration, as floors containing potholes or steep slopes can result in overturning of fork lift trucks$ (t is tempting to try to fi# the situation y giving answers such as4 0 )hen @A's are to e introduced into the workplace, it is essential that they do not come in to contact with pedestrians$ (n order to prevent this, dedicated traffic routes should e introduced, with speed limits$ :ny pedestrians who enter the area in which the @A's are moving should wear appropriate 33E, such as high0visi ility vests$ (n a warehouse, you should make sure that if the ventilation is poor, the @A's are attery0powered$ 'he floors should e free from potholes, as this can cause overturning of the @A'????? 'hese are in fact control measures to reduce the risks from @A's operating in a new warehouse 0 ut that's not actually what the &uestion asked you for!! (f you start doing this, you will get carried away " start answering a different &uestion from the one you;ve een asked C don;t do it! (f you have trou le interpreting >Outline the factors to considerD, su stitute EthingsD for EfactorsD " it might make the &uestion easier to understand$ HaFards paper &uestions are usually a it more straightforward, re&uiring either haFard identification or control measures or oth$ =ake sure that you understand the difference etween haFard " risk$ Some &uestions may ask you to identify haFards " others will ask for risks$ (f you get these mi#ed up, you may not get the marks$ 7emem er that risks are outcomes$

5o(r ans%ers

'here are some asic rules to follow40 :nswer the &uestion you;ve een set! Gon;t write a list if you;re asked for an outline 5unless you;re running out of time6 C you will loose marks$ (f you include training, instruction or information as an answer, say what sort of training, information or instruction is re&uired$ 33E is not sufficient as an answer, even in a list C give some e#amples of suita le 33E$ :nswer the &uestion you;ve een set! (f you;re asked for a list, single words are unlikely to score you marks$ (t;s not a shopping list 0 you need enough details to make the e#aminer understand what your point is$ Hse principles to keep you organised$ E$g$ if you;re asked for controls, work through the Hierarchy of control giving appropriate e#amplesB if you;re asked how you would manage a situation C apply the principles of HS9I/ etc$ :nswer the &uestion you;ve een set!

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0l%a&s remem"er4 altho(gh Examiners are intelligent4 the& $on8t no% &o( 9 &o( ha#e to get &o(r ans%er $o%n on paper in a %a& that tells them exactl& %hat &o( mean7

When &o(6#e finishe$!

%ou should have a few minutes spare to check through your answers$ %es, ( know it's oring, ut you may think of something you couldn;t answer earlier, see part of a &uestion you;ve forgotten to answer or see a glaring error$ (t's easier to pick up the odd e#tra mark y filling in gaps in &uestions which re&uire you to list or identify, so if you've missed any out, now's the time to check what you've written and see if you've missed anything o vious$

F01s

What if !6m r(nning o(t of time: (f you find yourself with only minutes to spare to the end of the e#am, " you still have a &uestion to do, complete it as a list$ 'his at least gives you the chance to get some marks, rather than leaving it lank and scoring Fero$ 'he e#tra marks you pick up here could make the difference etween referralJ passB passJcredit, or even creditJdistinction! (f you do have some time spare on an outline, descri e or e#plain &uestion, add a reason or an e#ample C it may get you full marks$ Ho% can ! impro#e m& chances of passing: -e#ise as &o( go 0 you cannot leave it until the last minute, as there is far too much information to take in$ :lso you need to ensure that you understand what you've een taughtJhave read$ (f you are having pro lems, you will e a le to clarify them with your tutor in plenty of time$

Practice past '(estions ; %ou can o tain past &uestion papers and E#aminers' 7eports from the NEBOSH we site www$ne osh$org$ %ou should aim to practise answering &uestions and then check your answer against the E#aminers' comments$ 'here are often repeated &uestions on e#ams, so having practised a good selection may help with any repeated &uestions on your e#am$ 2on6t panic! ; 3anic will Kust make it harder to answer the &uestions$ (t can e tempting when you read the e#am paper to panic if you think you can't do some of the &uestions$ *ust reathe deeply, read the &uestion paper again " start with a &uestion you are reasona ly happy with$

Tips for the Practical The !nspection

9et organised! 'hink of the areas that you need to look at$ 3ut those headings on individual sheets at the start of the e#am$ 'here;s no restriction on the num er of sheets you use$

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=ake sure you fill in each column of the o servation sheet C don;t leave the risk level or the action re&uired columns lank, as it will reduce your marks$ Gon;t mark everything as high risk which needs action immediately C your suggested corrective action needs to e achieva le as well as aimed at reducing the risks$ :im to give a spread of actions to correct pro lems where possi le$ Single actions often don;t prevent the pro lem from recurring, and may need considera le udget$ Suggest some intermediate steps to reduce risk progressively with sensi le timescales$ Ongoing monitoring also signifies that some solutions need checking to maintain their effectiveness$

The -eport to .anagement

'his needs to e concise, convincing and it needs to address H79EN' issues$ %our time is short, so the report also needs to e short$ Hse headings and give it a structure$ : summary will aid reada ility and will persuade 5or not!6 the manager to read the full report$ 3ick no more than / urgent issues and make sure that for each one, you say40 )hat you found (in general terms) )hy it's a pro lem (what the possible outcomes are) )hat legislation is eing reached (e.g. contravenes the COSHH Regulations) )hat needs to e done (include an statutor re!uirements e.g. Re!uirement o" #ire legislation that all premises have an emergenc plan) )ho needs to do it (e.g. wor$shop manager) 'imescale (e.g. should be carried out within the ne%t wee$). &on't "orget to include longer( term action where appropriate. :n indication of cost (low) medium) high)

7emem er that in general you are asking management to part with money, so you need to convince them that they should! State the likely enefits of implementing your suggested actions e$g$ reduces the risk of serious inKury to students and the likelihood of enforcement action and civil claims$ 7emem er to include oth reeches of legislation and costs C these are commonly forgotten and there are a total of ,. marks availa le for them$

GOO2 <3C=!

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