Strategy
Do you have a way to best tackle this examination?
STUDY THE PAST YEAR QUESTIONS! This website collects 1,600 Q&A with 800 Past Year Questions and MY Suggested Answers.
I share below some of my perspectives of these strategies.
- 3-attempt rule
- Difficult first, easy later
- Related first, unrelated later
1. 3-attempt rule (restart back from ZERO if could not pass in 3 attempts)
What it means is to pass all 6 subjects within 3 examinations. In other words, you have 3 chances to pass any subject. As it is a yearly examination, it also means you need to pass all the 6 subjects in 3 years (Part 2 is given 4 years). If you fail to complete in 3 attempts, you have to repeat all 6 subjects in the 4th year. See illustration below:
- 2019 Examination - sit for 6 subjects, fail 2 subjects
- 2020 Examination - retake the 2 failed subjects, and passed 1.
- 2021 Examination - retake the 1 failed subject, but still fail.
- 2022 Examination - retake the whole 6 subjects.
Some candidates might not do all 6 subjects in the first attempt. See illustration below:
- 2019 Examination - sit for 3 subjects, pass 3.
- 2020 Examination - sit for remaining 3 subjects, pass 2.
- 2021 Examination - retake the failed subject, but still fail.
- 2022 Examination - retake the whole 6 subjects.
Below is a sample screenshot of Board notification in the bis.lppeh.gov.my of option to restart back the Part 2 as a fresh candidate.
Hence, the best method to overcome this 3-attempt rule is to do all 6 subjects in the first attempt. The likelihood of failing any subject can be re-challenged two more times in subsequent examinations. This strategy is good if you are determined to do all subjects in a discipline manner.
Most working adults are not committed, hence spending limited hours for all 6 subjects might end up failing more subjects than passing them. Although the fee for examination registration is rather affordable*, most people I know could not pass all 6 subjects in a single attempt because of their work, family and other distractions.
It is not impossible to pass all 6 subjects in 1 attempt for Part 1. I know of a few who did that and thus, please do NOT be discouraged.
*RM50 per subject with RM50 per registration for Examination - RM350 per 6 subjects in one sitting.
2. Difficult first, easy later
Among the subjects in Part 1, there are a few easy and a few tough subjects. Hence, to avoid complication of the 3-attempt rule, harder subjects should be taken first.
Harder subjects are Law (D02), Tax (D04) and Marketing (D05). Therefore, it is recommended to attempt these subjects earlier rather than later. This is to ensure that more chances are allocated to these subjects. For example, if Law is a tough subject for you.
- 2019 Examination - sit for Law, Tax and Marketing, pass Marketing but fail Law and Tax.
- 2020 Examination - retake Law and Tax, and the remaining subjects. Pass all but fail Law and Economics.
- 2021 Examination - retake Law and Economics, pass both.
In this scenario, the harder subject Law had 3 chances. If you did NOT take Law in the 2019 Examination, you would only have 2 chances left instead of 3.
3. Related first, unrelated later
This is more relevant in Part 2. Part 1 does NOT have related subjects as they are separate subjects from each other.
Part 2 has 3 subjects related to Law and Regulations. They are
- Estate Agency Law (D08),
- Law relating to Property (D10), and
- Real Estate Agency Practice (D11)
It would be better of to take all these subjects together as you can apply the knowledge across different subjects.
Happy Studying!