The NEBOSH General Certificate (NG and IG) is assessed through an online Open Book Examination (OBE) for NG1/IG1 and a practical assessment for NG2/IG2. You must successfully pass both units within 5 years to achieve the full qualification. If you receive a ‘refer’, you will need to resit the NEBOSH exam.
To get a successful pass mark for each of the units, you have to be able to show an understanding of the key concepts. You should also be able to show their practical applications by producing comprehensive, relevant answers.
What do I do if I’ve failed my NEBOSH Certificate exam?
If you have received a fail or referral in a NEBOSH General Certificate unit exam, you can either:
- Resit the NEBOSH exam and pay the resit fee, or
- Appeal to NEBOSH about your result
How do I resit my NEBOSH Certificate exam
You can resit a failed unit providing you do so within 5 years of your first successful unit being issued. If you haven’t yet passed a unit, the 5-year time frame won’t apply until you have successfully achieved a unit.
Appealing your result
If you feel your result doesn’t match your reasonable expectations, you can appeal to get your unit remarked by submitting an Enquiries About Results (EAR) form within 20 days of the result being issued. Be prepared that this could also result in you being issued a lower mark than the original.
Why did I fail my General Certificate exam?
The NEBOSH Examiners Reports available on the NEBOSH website offers insight into the key areas that learners commonly underperform.
Common mistakes in NG1 exam
- Failing to read the scenario and question carefully, providing answers relevant to the topic instead of the question
- Failing to plan the answers effectively providing too much detail in specific questions or providing too little detail in some questions
- Not answering all the questions or providing incomplete answers for sets of questions
- Learners provided general, vague answers rather than specific ones
- Failing to relate answers to relevant information in the scenario
- Memorising information instead of applying concepts in the scenario given
- Learners repeat the same answers but in different words
- Learners provided fewer answers, this automatically means fewer marks are awarded. If there are 10 marks available it is expected that a minimum of 10 answers should be given.
Common mistakes in NG2 practical assignments
- Failing to read the assessment guide carefully
- Not listing enough hazard categories and hazards
- Failing to recognise how the hazards can cause harm
- Failing to recognise the consequences of the hazards listed
- Not listing tangible, physical hazards
- Failing to recognise the consequences of the hazards listed
- Focusing on immediate controls and missing out on long-term controls
- Writing the report based on your own work/managers preferences instead of what NEBOSH asks for
- Inadequate description of how the actions would reduce the risk of injury to an acceptable level.
How can I improve on my NG/IG resit?
The NEBOSH General Certificate Syllabus Guides (NG and IG) detail the learning outcomes and assessment criteria for each unit. Also, take a look at the tutor References sources for both tutors and learners. These will give you a good indication of the level of knowledge you need to have for the exam and what you should be revising.
NEBOSH Examiners report Learner Feedback. This also offers an excellent resource to help prepare for future exams. Learner Feedback is free to download from the NEBOSH website under the Resource heading here.
