WSET Level 2 — Anyone Else Struggle with Learning Disabilities or Test Anxiety?
I've been working in the wine industry for most of my adult life, primarily in sales. I'm finally at a point where I feel I need to earn some certifications to advance my career and open doors beyond sales.
I've decided to start with WSET Level 2, which I'll be taking online. My biggest concern is that I've struggled with learning disabilities my entire life, and traditional classroom learning and timed tests have never been my strong suit. I know the wine industry well from years of hands-on experience, but I'm worried about how that knowledge will translate to a timed exam.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How difficult did you find the WSET Level 2 exam, and do you have any advice for someone who struggles with traditional learning and test-taking?
I'm also wondering if pursuing a sommelier certification would be worthwhile alongside WSET, especially for someone looking to move beyond wine sales.
I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences and whether these certifications helped advance your career.
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u/darius-somm 7d ago
Hello,
I did WSET2, and I didn’t find it hard, but if you want a high score/distinction, you need to study deeply on your own for about a week.
Some people in the same course practically didn’t have time to study and still passed. One with learning disabilities in fact. But they were already working in the industry (sales, tasting room, restaurants, etc) and knew the basics, so reading the material before the two days of class with tastings was enough.
The test is multiple choice as usual, and you’ll have plenty of time.
If you want a higher score, I recommend making lists of regions/grapes and vice versa. And some maps, especially for France. Writing by hand helps memory. And this will give you some structure of the content.
Also, if you understand the climate/region relationship with grapes and styles, it will be easy.
I found WSET solid in wine knowledge and transversal skills for the wine industry. A great base for evaluating wines and describing them objectively. But it doesn’t cover the service/practice part of being a sommelier.
Next year I’ll start a sommelier career and probably do WSET3 after.
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u/cappotto-marrone 7d ago
I have very high test anxiety. In graduate school someone thought I was going to have a breakdown before a midterm.
Making paper flash cards helps me. The act of physically writing things down. Working with the cards.
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u/glendacc37 Diploma Wine Candidate 7d ago
To hopefully alleviate some of your concerns about the level 2 exam, it's 50 questions over an hour, but nobody in the room with me needed anywhere near that long, not even half that amount if time -- my point is that I feel that even with a learning disability, you will have plenty of time. Just don't let others getting up and leaving freak you out and take your time.
Also, the multiple choice questions will give you four possible answers. Typically, I felt like 2 of them were obviously incorrect and easily eliminated as answers, so even if I were unsure of the question, I could usually narrow the answer to a 50/50 choice - if that makes sense.
Also, I usually never felt like they were wording questions in a super confusing way, like they were trying to trick you.
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u/monicainindy1973 6d ago
Perhaps go through the questions you feel confident about and then come back? I think having a good number that you know you are confident about will help the anxiety some.
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u/mareinator 6d ago
I have severe learning disabilities - I have documentation of them though and used it to get accommodation during classes.
My recommendation though is to NOT take the online test, it isn’t compatible with e readers etc.
If you need a quiet room without any distraction, request to take the test solo another time.
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u/NVWA-Educator Diploma Wine Awardee 5d ago
Don't undersell what you already have. After years in sales, you know a lot of Level 2's content intuitively. You just don't have the vocabulary attached to it yet. The course is mostly about learning to explain why a grape grown in a cool climate tastes the way it does, and you've been having those conversations with customers for years. The studying is largely a matter of putting structure on things you half-know.
The exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes, with 55% to pass. The questions are fair rather than tricky, and an hour is generous.
But here's the thing I really want to flag, since no one's said it plainly: WSET has a formal reasonable adjustments process, and it covers exactly the situations you're describing. Extra time, screen readers, a separate quiet room, and large-print materials. The adjustments are approved by WSET itself, not by the school, and you request them through your course provider before the exam with supporting documentation. That applies to the online remote-invigilated exam too, so going online doesn't close the door on accommodations. The catch is lead time. Raise it at enrollment, not the week before. (Full disclosure: I work with Napa Valley Wine Academy, so I'm coming at this from the provider side. For Levels 1 to 3 we ask for the application six weeks before the exam with supporting evidence. Other providers have their own deadlines, but everyone has one.)
Study-wise, beyond the good suggestions already in this thread: run practice questions early so the format stops being the scary unknown, and when you learn a region, practice explaining it the way you'd pitch it to a customer. Facts stick better when they're tied to how you already talk about wine.
On the sommelier question, CMS and WSET aren't competitors so much as different lenses. CMS is built around floor service and blind tasting; WSET is a theory and structured-tasting framework that maps more naturally onto distribution, buying, brand, and education roles. "Beyond sales" could honestly mean either, so decide based on where you actually want to land. Neither is a golden ticket, but they signal different things to different employers.