Tackling the dreaded NEBOSH Course

Hello all readers, I hope you are well.

Hopefully if you are reading this, you are considering starting the NEBOSH course. Currently we deliver the following certificates:

• NEBOSH General
• NEBOSH Construction
• NEBOSH Fire
• With NEBOSH Environmental coming in the New Year.

Each certificate presents our students with the same issues. Each course and NEBOSH feedback, including from our own NEBOSH Examiners, the same ugly issues pop up which let our students down. It is frustrating when the students fail, we never like it, and we know it’s a tough course and a tough test.

The common failures are as follows:

Not reading the questions correctly. For years NEBOSH has been criticised for their questions (even by me when I sat the course). However, their questions are actually quite good, fair and simple. You just need to actually read them, the failure, sadly falls to the person reading the question. Not reading the question right, leads to not answering it right.

Not putting enough information down. Students are faced with certain command words that lead to a certain type of structure the way the question must be answered. Students fail to notice these command words and do not put enough “meat to the bones” of their answers, thus scoring poorly.

Sheer Panic. Students often suffer with a lack of calmness to dissect a question, even if they do not fully know or understand the question, and give a reasonable response to a question

Poor Exam Management. Students often falter on the day, I have had great students that are very competent, very good during a class room discussion. But fail to actually match that on the day of the exam. When I Have invigilated for other courses these people are the ones that are shuffling their papers like a man possessed.

During our courses we deliver what we feel is the best delivery of the subject, we offer huge support both during and in between course dates and do our best to prepare you for a tough exam.

But what does it all boil down too? YOU!

The course, in order to achieve a pass requires a high level of commitment to the subject, to the learning, to the homework and beyond. Each course we have the students that are late or didn’t have the time for the homework, these are the people that fail.

If you are booked on the course or are looking to complete it take the following steps to help yourself:

1. Warn people of your course and ask them to give you time. During this current work & social climate we are in, time and demands are high from both work and social expectancies, but please put that aside for a few months. We always have students that say, upon receiving homework for the evening, “Oh I am out tonight for dinner” or “I have to do some work tonight, I can’t do this”. You need, your colleagues, friends & family around you to understand that, you’re going to be a bit busy for a few months and to assist you with your home study. This one of the biggest factors.

2. Give Yourself Some Time. Not only do your colleagues, friends & family need to know to do it, so do you! I am not saying cancel your entire social life, but give yourself a fighting chance, clear your diary a bit and get ready to put some hours in.
3. Put The Hours In. Exactly what it says on the tin. You need to do at least two hours a night during the course and over 40 hours in between dates of the course. No really you do.
4. Be Prepared. This is in all senses of the course, get to the training venue early, get some pens, get some highlighters and get motivated. Also be prepared for the exam, get used to timing yourself on answers and getting the timings right on an exam (discussed during the course).

5. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! Get those questions done! There are hundreds of example questions on the text books, practice them, use them to help you.

I really do love teaching the course, in the only course I deliver that students want to learn and improve. It just needs that additional commitment. We want you to pass and we believe that we have the skills to get anyone through the course. It would be a waste of investment of time and money to fail because the time wasn’t put in.

I hope you have understood what I have blogged about and I look forward to seeing you on a NEBOSH course in the future.

Blog Soon,

Harry