The IFE does not provide training courses for candidates preparing for the examinations. Candidates are required to manage their own learning in preparation for the examinations.

Candidates should use the published syllabus as the starting point for their learning and reading.

Please take note: Going through and practising past papers brings many benefits. However, this should not be your primary method of studying for IFE exams. The IFE examination questions are styled in such a way as to test your knowledge and understanding of the topic. The IFE does not recycle examination questions, and thus studying model answers from past papers and examiner reports is not always going to give you the correct/precise answer to a possible variation of a similar question.

With reference to the document ‘Preparing to Pass IFE Examinations – Candidate Guide, the most common reason for failing examinations is that candidates do not provide enough information in their responses to secure marks. Candidates need to be familiar with the syllabus and to have undertaken studies relevant to each part of the syllabus in order to be able to attain the maximum number of marks available.

The benefit of going through past exam papers is to give you the opportunity to conduct a simulation exercise under near-exam conditions, following which you can get a better understanding of shortcomings or gaps in your exam prep and this allows you to make the necessary remedial actions to improve your exam-taking skills.

There is no quick fix to studying for examinations! At no time should students be under the misapprehension that studying model answers replaces knowledge and understanding of the topic.

Free Downloadable Resources

All the free downloads listed on the book lists for all qualifications are available free of charge from the IFE Office. Please send an email to adminstaff@ife.org.za with a full list of the required downloads and we will gladly email them to you.

The IFE no longer releases past papers older than the last two years.