How to approach exams

Getting ready for an exam can be stressful. Follow our advice to ensure you are prepared.

Create a study plan

Think about how much time you are going to allocate to studying, what you want to achieve in each of your study sessions and where you will study.

Use our Global study planner / UK study planner (PDF 895KB) to help you plan your time properly.

Read these study tips from CIMA students and watch our 'planning your studies' videos for more guidance.

Use our resources

Whether your are studying alone or with a tuition provider, we have a number of resources to help you prepare:

• Our resources homepage.
• Facebook or Twitter for up to date study support advice and paper specific tips in the run up to the exams.
• CIMAsphere, our student community, to talk to other students at your level.
• Subject specific blogs.
• CIMA Publishing for our official study texts, exam practice kits and revision cards
• CIMAstudy.com, our official e-learning package, which can be used as a stand alone study resource or to complement other study methods. Read testimonials from CIMAstudy students.

Taking exams can be an anxious time. Read these articles for some advice on how to manage your stress:

• How to keep a lid on exam nerves (Velocity, October 2010)
• Managing exam stress (Velocity, July 2012)

Perfect your exam technique

Improving your exam technique could be the difference between a pass and a fail.

Find out what you should and should not be doing in the exam and watch our exam techniques video.