Top 10 Tips to Help you Pass the FIFA Football Agent Exam

Introduction

On the 20th of September 2023, over 10,000 registered candidates will sit the second edition of the FIFA Football Agent Exam since its reintroduction earlier in the year. As part of our courses on how to pass the exam and as further guidance for How to Become a Football Agent, we have decided to create a blog outlining the 10 best pieces of advice for candidates to follow to prepare and take the exam.

1. Read through and highlight the FIFA Study Materials

Perhaps the most demanding of the top 10 tips is to take sufficient time to sit down and read through the entirety of the 693 page FIFA Study Materials document. Although this may seem a mammoth task, by taking a bit of time each day you can work through each section of the document and will quickly become accustomed to the content of each of the smaller documents contained within it. The FIFA Agent Exam questions will be formed from questions on the FIFA Football Agent Regulations (FFAR), the Regulations on the Status and Transfers of Players (RSTP), FIFA Code of Ethics, FIFA Disciplinary Code, FIFA Statutes, Clearing House Regulations, Procedural Rules Governing the Football Tribunal, and two FIFA Child Safeguarding components. Therefore, it is essential to have read each one at least once to ensure you are aware of everything that is covered within the document. 

As you work through the Study Materials, it is also worth using a coloured pen or highlighter on a printed version to emphasise key clauses and articles of the different documents. For example, key sections such as definitions and the most difficult topics or lengthy paragraphs can be simplified by highlighting the relevant parts that can then help you remember which information is in which section of the document and can make answering questions more efficient.

Remember that in the exam it is possible to have the digital version or a printed version of the study materials with you. You should choose one of these, whichever you find easier to navigate, and stick to this. 

2. Develop a Study Material Navigation System

We have just mentioned the use of a highlighter and this is one way of exercising this next tip; to develop an efficient, accurate and fast navigation system to find an answer quickly during the time-pressured exam. Navigation is of utmost importance as it can relieve a lot of stress and pressure during the exam if a candidate has a useful system in place. One way of doing this is to ensure you have repeatedly read and understood the table of contents at the beginning of the study materials and for each separate document.

For example, if a question comes up on registration periods, as one of the most challenging examinable topics, it will enhance the chances of successfully answering the question correctly if you can immediately turn to the relevant location in the Study Materials. Due to time constraints, it is best to avoid spending time trying to find where each section is before you can even get around to reading it and locating the answer. We would advise that the best way of preparing a navigation system is to use another piece of paper and write out the pages where each new document begins and noting down which bits of content are covered in each one, as well as also identifying the page numbers and article numbers of the most difficult topics that are commonly examined such as training compensation, solidarity contributions, the FIFA Football Tribunal, and Protection of Minors. We have given some examples in the table below to give you an idea for formulating your own navigation system:

3. Take a Course

For many, this may be the first examination setting they have been in for a particularly long time, since their days in school. It can be a foreign environment and creates uncertainty for how to prepare to take the exam and how to conduct yourself when actually sitting it. In reality, preparing for this exam is very similar to how one might prepare for an exam at school. At school, teachers were on hand to explain everything to you, answer questions and help you be best prepared to take an exam successfully. For the agent exam, this should be the same.

By registering for an agent exam preparation course, you have access to experts and teachers who can do exactly this. The key things to remember is to check the pass rates, reviews, credibility and reputation of each course. There are now several available to candidates which offer different approaches to preparation such as live webinars over several weeks, a one day live course, practice question access, and written reading material. Depending upon your own learning preferences some may appeal more than others but in simple terms, it is vital that you take a course which provides accurate information and useful guidance for the exam. We would advise taking a live preparation course as you can ask questions and learn with others which is often more beneficial.

Financial constraints may make taking a course, as well as paying the examination fee, seem less attractive but we would advise that it is worth the money if it is a course that is guaranteed to increase your chances of success. Remember that the pass rate for the exam is very low, around 50%, and therefore courses that have pass rates well above this level are worth the money to avoid retaking and paying the exam fee twice. 

4. Do As Many Practice Questions as Possible

As with the majority of things in life, practising answering questions will create the most improvement and preparation. Most of the courses available as mentioned above will offer access to a large number of practice questions which can be a benefit to attendees. There are also questions available as a ‘mock exam’ via the FIFA Agent Platform and Portal which we would highly recommend attempting as it is also presented and structured in the exact manner of the real exam. It can help candidates learn how the exam appears and the logistics of answering questions, skipping and returning and time management. 

Specific topics and content within the FIFA Study Materials create more anxiety for candidates than others. However, we have found that those that engage directly with these topics by answering many practice questions around the subject quickly begin to develop a smart method of correctly answering them. This will help them feel more confident going into the exam if the topic comes up. 

5. Learn With Others

As well as taking a course with experts in the FIFA Football Agent Exam, communicating and interacting with your personal network can be one of the best ways to learn. Different people in the industry have different areas of knowledge. This means that some of the topics you are finding easier or more difficult will not be the same for others. Reach out to your network, have phone calls and coffee meet-ups and go through different areas of the Study Materials. This will help you identify which topics you are most comfortable with and also those which you need to dedicate more revision time to. It may also raise some uncertain questions and queries that you can discuss and discover the correct answer. Fundamentally, it is important to remember that almost every candidate taking the exam will be concerned about at least one area of questioning in the exam. Working together can help squash these worries and increase the chances of success for everyone! 

6. Master Time Management

We have the luxury of a very simple task. Answer 20 questions in 60 minutes. This means that the average time available per question is 3 minutes. Hence, one of our top 10 tips concerns time management. When practising answering questions and working through different examples, it is key to bear in mind these time constraints. Try to answer each question within the 3 minutes. 

Then when it comes to sitting the real exam, remember your timings. The worst possible scenario would be to finish the hour period having to leave several questions unanswered. You stand a better chance of getting 15 questions right if you answer all 20 questions. Therefore, a candidate needs to have good awareness and a time management system to ensure they are not rushed or panicked within the exam. 

7. Write Out Calculations

Yes this is an exam for football agents, but something you may be asked to do is maths! Topics such as training compensation and the solidarity mechanism will require accurate mathematical calculations to accurately determine the exam figure of the fee due to training clubs from a new buying club. Don’t try and attempt these purely mentally. It becomes a lot easier when you use a piece of paper to write out all the key details such as the category being used for the contribution as well as the age of the player in each calendar year. Take the time to write down these calculations and be careful not to make simple mathematical mistakes. Practice, as always, is key for these to familiarise yourself with ‘football maths’!

8. Read the Question Fully

There are two key points that you may quickly notice when you begin trying practice questions for the FIFA Agent Exam. By reading each question thoroughly and attentively you will avoid making unnecessary simple errors. 

Firstly, you must identify whether the question is asking ‘positively’ or ‘negatively’. For example a question may begin ‘which of the following is the best definition of…’ or it will say ‘which of the following is NOT part of the definition of…’. Looking for a keyword such as not will help make sure you answer the exact question being asked rather than assuming what it is asking.

Secondly, FIFA have commonly included questions which ask candidates to ‘select one or more’. This means that of the answer options provided, more than one of these may be right. A common mistake is for candidates to choose the first correct answer they see and presume it is the only right option and will move on to the next. Even if you select two correct options, but a third is also correct, you score 0 on this question so it can make a real difference to your result. Make sure that if it asks you to select one or more, you highlight EVERY correct option. 

9. Process of Elimination

It is likely that you will encounter at least one question in the exam that you may not immediately know the answer to. Our top tip in such a situation is to work methodically through each option, paying attention to the key words and components in the question, and begin to dismiss each incorrect option. This is known as the ‘process of elimination’ and can be an effective method of pinpointing the right answer. Once you know that it definitely cannot be two of the options, suddenly finding the right option becomes a lot simpler. Just be careful that using this process may take up a significant portion of the 3 minutes per question. 

10. Don’t Panic

After the first exam since its reintroduction in April, many candidates we spoke to that failed to pass on this attempt told us that their biggest issue was getting flustered and losing their composure when faced with a difficult question. The exam is designed to challenge your knowledge so it can be expected that several questions may seem challenging initially. Don’t panic. Depending on the time you have left, there are different options available. Firstly, you can turn to our previous tips such as navigating to the right part of the Study Materials and using the process of elimination to narrow down the answers. Alternatively, you can move on for now, if time allows, and continue to answer the other questions you are more confident on. Once these are done, you can return to the skipped question and approach it with a fresh mind, hopefully arriving at the correct answer. 

Summary

This blog has hopefully provided a toolkit for the best 10 tips to follow and apply when preparing for and tackling the FIFA Agent Exam. For more information, keep an eye out for our courses and additional resources posted on our social media platforms under the Erkut Sogut Academy.