PRINCE2 7 Foundation
PRINCE2 Foundation certifies knowledge of a structured project method: its principles, themes, processes and the management products that carry a project's decisions.
Sixty minutes, sixty questions, nothing open in front of you, and nothing gating entry.
Exam facts
- Exam code
- PRINCE2 Foundation (Version 7)
- Level
- Foundational
- Field
- Project management
- Duration
- 60 minutes
- Questions
- 60 multiple-choice questions, closed book
- Passing score
- 60 % (36 of 60)
- Languages
- English, German, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Spanish
- Price
- 645 EUR (read 12 September 2026)
- Validity
- 3 years, renewable
- Exam delivery
- Online proctored through PeopleCert or via accredited training organisations; exams are sold bundled with official learning material or a course
Prerequisites: None. Foundation is the prerequisite for PRINCE2 7 Practitioner.
Renewal: Every three years: 60 CPD points through PeopleCert Plus membership, another module of the PRINCE2 suite, or a retake
Source: exam page at PeopleCert · Price: PeopleCert Exam Bundle incl. VAT (exam voucher, official eBook, learning material), read 2026-09-12; the bare exam is sold only through accredited training organisations. eLearning bundles 1,349 / 1,596 EUR.
How to prepare
Book the exam
Delivered by Online proctored through PeopleCert or via accredited training organisations; exams are sold bundled with official learning material or a course. Schedule with PeopleCert (opens in a new tab)
This is the most geographically determined credential covered here. In British public-sector work and in tenders across parts of Europe it is named routinely, sometimes as a condition. In North America a hiring manager may not recognise it. Neither reflects the method's quality, and both should determine whether you buy it. Read the adverts or the framework you are bidding into before spending anything, because the same fee buys recognition in one market and a conversation in another.
Foundation on its own is a vocabulary certificate
The tier above, Practitioner, is where the method is applied to a scenario and where employers who take PRINCE2 seriously actually look. What Foundation attests is that the terminology is familiar to you. That is a real thing to know if you are joining a team already using the method, and it is not evidence that you can tailor it to a project, which is the skill the method is judged on. We have not yet written up the Practitioner tier.
The part people skip and should not
Tailoring is the whole point of the method
PRINCE2 is explicitly designed to be scaled to the project in front of you, and applying it unmodified to a small piece of work is the commonest criticism of it. That criticism is usually aimed at organisations rather than at the method, which says plainly that it should be tailored. Foundation introduces the idea; Practitioner tests whether you can do it. Anyone deciding the method is bureaucratic should check whether they met it or an untailored implementation of it.
| Aspect | PRINCE2 7 Foundation | PMP | IPMA Level D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who examines | One examination body, via bundles | One global body | Your national association |
| Experience gate | None | Documented months, audited | None at this level |
| Pass mark | 60 %, 36 of 60 | Not published | Set per exam part |
| Validity | Three years | Three years | Five years |
| Exam languages | Fourteen | Fifteen | German, English on request |
| What it certifies | Knowledge of a method | Practice against a body of knowledge | Competence against a standard |
The table is the argument the geography paragraph only gestured at. Three project-management credentials, three different theories of what should be certified: a method you can be taught in a week, a body of knowledge you must prove you have practised, and a competence standard assessed nationally. PRINCE2's answer is the most teachable and the most bounded, which is why it suits organisations that want a shared way of running projects more than a filter for senior hires. It is also why Foundation alone reads as an induction rather than an achievement, and why Practitioner is where the method starts to certify judgement.
Sixty questions in sixty minutes
- One question a minute, closed book, and the questions are short: the pace is comfortable for anyone who knows the vocabulary and impossible for anyone hoping to reason it out.
- Thirty-six correct passes, the most forgiving threshold on this site outside the fundamentals tier, which tells you the difficulty is in the terms rather than the thinking.
- Fourteen exam languages, from Chinese and Czech to Slovak and Spanish, which is wider than almost anything else here and reflects where the method is actually used.
- Bought as a bundle: voucher plus the official eBook and study material at the base tier, training and a resit at the higher tiers. Individuals cannot buy the sitting alone.
- Kept for three years on 60 CPD points via PeopleCert Plus membership, another module of the suite, or a retake.
For the candidate who has established that their market names the method, the sequence is Foundation, then Practitioner, ideally close together while the vocabulary is fresh, and then the renewal cycle managed by taking the next module rather than by paying for points. For the candidate whose market does not name it, the same sixty questions buy a useful shared language and nothing a recruiter will search for. Version 7 is current; material for the previous version circulates under the same certificate name, and the question bank changed when the syllabus did.
What a question looks like
Written by us in the exam's style. It is not a real question from any question bank, and we do not publish those.
A project's business case is no longer viable because the expected benefit has disappeared, though the work could still be completed on time and on budget. What does the method require?
Completing on time and on budget sounds like success and the method says otherwise: continued business justification is a principle, and a project without it should stop. Candidates answer from organisational instinct, which is usually to finish what was started, and the framework's answer is the uncomfortable one. Foundation tests the principles as written rather than as practised.
What it costs to get and to keep
| Item | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Exam bundle | 645 EUR | including VAT. Individuals buy a bundle rather than a bare sitting, and packages adding training and a resit cost considerably more (read 12 September 2026) |
| Renewal every three years | not published | sixty continuing-development points, through membership, a further module, or resitting (read 12 September 2026) |
| Practitioner tier | not published | not covered on this site and priced separately. Budget for it if your market treats Foundation as the entry rather than the destination (read 12 September 2026) |
How much preparation, from where you are
- You work on projects in an organisation using the method
- Short, and the value is immediate: the management products you fill in daily will suddenly have a rationale attached to them.
- You manage projects using another approach
- The concepts map reasonably well and the terminology does not. Expect the effort to go into learning which of your existing artefacts corresponds to which management product.
- You are bidding for public-sector work
- Check what the framework actually requires. Some name Foundation, many name Practitioner, and buying the wrong tier is an expensive way to find out.
What passing this does not prove
- Whether you can tailor the method, which Practitioner covers and which is the point.
- Whether you have run anything.
- How to reconcile the method with an organisation that has already decided.
- Agile delivery, which has its own variant of the qualification.
Against the alternatives
- PMP — Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Dominant where this is not, and considerably harder to obtain because of its experience gate. Neither is better; they are recognised in different places.
- CAPM — Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
- The comparable entry tier from the other body, and a similar proposition: vocabulary rather than demonstrated delivery.
- ITIL Foundation V5 — ITIL Foundation (Version 5)
- Same vendor and same bundle model, services rather than projects. Operations staff commonly end up with both.
PRINCE2 Foundation (Version 7) — quick answers
Is it recognised where I am?
That is genuinely the first question, and the answer varies more than for any other credential here. British public-sector work and parts of European tendering name it regularly. Elsewhere a hiring manager may not have heard of it. Check the postings you intend to answer before paying.
Do I need Practitioner as well?
If your market takes the method seriously, usually yes. Foundation shows you know the terms; Practitioner shows you can apply and tailor them, which is what employers who name PRINCE2 actually want. We do not yet document that tier, and you should budget for it rather than assuming Foundation completes the picture.
Is the method too bureaucratic?
That criticism is usually aimed at implementations rather than at the method, which states explicitly that it should be tailored to the project. Applying every management product to a two-week piece of work is a choice somebody made, and the framework does not require it.
Why is the price so high next to other exams?
Because you are buying a bundle rather than a sitting. Individuals cannot purchase a bare exam, so materials are included and the larger packages add training and a resit. Compare it against other bundles rather than against an exam-only fee somewhere else.
PRINCE2 or PMP if I have to choose one?
By market, not by merit. Where tenders and public bodies name PRINCE2, this one; where recruiters filter CVs on the letters PMP, that one. PMP also demands documented project months before you may sit, which for an early-career candidate settles the question on its own.
What comes next
Concepts this exam draws on
Glossary entries with the reason each one matters for PRINCE2 Foundation (Version 7).
- Project Charter
The project mandate and brief carry what a charter carries.
- Change Control
Change control and tolerances are how the method manages scope.
- Risk Register
The risk register is a mandated management product.
- Project Scope
Product-based planning defines scope through the products a project delivers.
- Stakeholder Management
The communication management approach is a mandated product.
Last reviewed 12 September 2026 · Getting Digital