Should you attend an APMP Foundation Level Accreditation Preparation Workshop and Exam?
I’ve had several e-mails from people who have decided to seek APMP accreditation asking me whether they should attend a workshop or just take the exam. While I’ve responded to those people individually, I will also address this question here, as many of you who are considering seeking APMP accreditation might be asking the same question.
The APMP Foundation level accreditation exam tests an individual’s knowledge of basic proposal best practices, which is, in my opinion, appropriate for the first level of accreditation.
However, for several reasons (which I won’t go into here at the moment but which I will perhaps address in a future post) the exam is also heavily based on federal government proposals. Those of you who have only worked on commercial or public sector proposals would probably not be familiar with concepts or terms such as ‘color reviews’, ‘capture planning’, etc. Further, the correct answers are very specific, and while you might think the correct answer is “it depends” (that is, based on the particular scenario), you need to give the answer that is looked for. All this makes for it being extremely difficult for those who have only worked on commercial proposal to pass without extensive review of the exam material. Even those who work primarily or solely within the government space tell us that the exam can be difficult to pass without the appropriate review of the exam material.
What Jon and I hear from those who have attended workshops we’ve presented, both verbally and on feedback forms is:
- “I never would have passed this exam without having attended this session.”
- “I might have passed, but the workshop gave me the confidence to know I would pass.”
- “The review of materials within the workshop was incredibly helpful and definitely contributed to my passing the exam.”
- “I work on federal proposals and I would have had a very difficult time passing this exam without having attended this session.”
- “The tips for how to approach and take the exam were invaluable.”
- “I would highly recommend this workshop, especially to those who work on commercial proposals.”
I’ve no doubt that it’s possible to pass the exam by studying on your own and I’m sure many people have. I’m also equally sure that the workshop makes it much easier to review, prepare for and ultimately pass the APMP Foundation Level accreditation exam.
This article was written by BJ and filed under APMP & accreditation. If you found it useful, you can with others. To receive automatic updates, subscribe to The Proposal Guys via 
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I just completed and PASSED the foundation level exam this afternoon. I had studied the Shipley manual for an entire month and I probably wouldn’t have passed without the workshop today. So BJ is accurate that the workshop is worth every penny and provides confidence and knowledge to pass this first level of APMP certification. Thanks, BJ! Great workshop today.