How to Prepare Better if You Have to Retake the ERP Exam

It can happen to the best of ERP candidates: You received your results and the passing score for the ERP was missed by a hair. This is of course annoying, but please don’t despair. Luckily, you have a second chance to pass and brush up on the study material again to remember it even better for the future. After venting your initial frustration, make sure to get up on your feet again as quickly as possible and get into gear to prepare for retaking the exam. How should you approach this endeavour in the best way? This article highlights the three most important ideas and tips that I email to ERP candidates when they ask me this question.

  1. Focus more on your weak topics, but don’t forget about the topics that you passed. Look at your test scores and find the weaknesses in your exam preparation. Did you start too late? Did you underestimate certain topics? Did you approach certain topics in the wrong way (for example, focusing on qualitative problems, when the exam asked mainly quantitative problems)? But don’t get lost in this, you should know your way around the entire syllabus. I think it’s still much better to know the most salient pooints about each topic on the surface than being completely ignorant about some of the topics. it’s a question of finding the right balance, and making sure this matches with the time you have available for exam preparation.
  2. Focus only on the original ERP syllabus and prepare your own summaries. If you have not already done so, invest in the original ERP syllabus from GARP. There is really no way around this. It used to be possible to get the individual readings individual, but that time has gone. GARP has done a wonderful job at compiling a comprehensive body of knowledge that will cover broad areas of energy risk management. When you work through the syllabus, make it a habit to take notes and thereby make your own summaries of the learning material. It’s not a good idea to rely on third-party summaries alone or on those of previous exam candidates. This can be a helpful complement, but it should not be a substitute for making your own summaries.
  3. Solve as many practice questions and test exams as possible. Even though there are relatively few practice exams for the ERP available, you should make it a goal to get as much real-life exam experience as possible. The GARP sample questions are not good examples of the questions you will encounter in the real exam, so don’t rely on those alone. There are some practice exams from third-party providers available now, one of them being my own. I compiled these questions with the real exam in mind, and while they can’t be a prediction of what will be asked in the exam, they certainly paint a realistic picture of the timing necessary to get through all the questions and the level of complexity of the questions. Feel free to check it out if you have not already done so: ERP Practice Exam.

These are the main points that will prepare you optimally for the ERP exam in case you take it the first time or the second time around. If you take this advice seriously I am absolutely certain that you will improve your exam score dramatically, and with that your chance of passing the ERP exam. Please let me know how it goes with your ERP exam preparation, I always look forward to hearing from you. I wish you all the best in your exam preparation.