Delivering computer-based assessment
Computer-based assessment (CBA) is the assessment method for the five Certificate level subjects. CBA can be taken at any time of the year, allowing students to progress through to the Managerial level paper-based exams at their own pace.
Computer-based assessment uses computers to:
- deliver exam questions to the candidate
- receive answers from the candidate
- mark answers as correct or incorrect
- total the marks achieved within a whole assessment session
- give immediate results - pass or fail
- provide some indicative feedback on areas of weakness if the candidate is unsuccessful.
Get more information about computer-based assessment, including a demonstration of the assessment software.
Become a CBA centre
As a CIMA tuition provider you are invited to become a 'CIMA accredited CBA centre'. Once accredited, you will be allowed to run CIMA CBA for all Certificate level subjects within your college.
By becoming an accredited centre you will have the flexibility to design your teaching programmes to match the requirements of employers and students and include subject assessment at course completion. You will also be able to offer re-assessment to students as and when you wish.
If you have any questions about CBA, or you are interested in becoming a CIMA accredited CBA centre, please email cba@cimaglobal.com.
Frequently asked questions for CBA centres
When, and how often, should each centre offer CBA?
Each individual centre decides when and how often they offer CBA, there are no requirements from CIMA as to how often this should be. It is also at the discretion of each centre as to whether or not they offer CBA to all students or only to their own internal market.
What are the basic requirements for each centre?
We can send you a full list of operational requirements - please contact cba@cimaglobal.com to request a copy. In brief, provided that you have the technology to support the software, you will need a centre administrator (who will be the main contact point for CIMA and will be responsible for registering students and collecting assessment fees) and a supervisor must be present for all assessments.
How does CBA operate?
Once you are approved as an assessment centre and have nominated a centre administrator, we will send you instructions for installing the assessment software plus a unique centre username and password, which will give you access to the web based CBA administration system. The centre administrator will access this system to register students, allocate and download assessment tokens, upload results, and print off certificates once the assessments have taken place. Full instructions and guidelines are sent to all centres upon accreditation.
What is the fee for becoming an accredited centre?
CIMA does not charge for becoming a centre.
We are interested in becoming an accredited centre, what should I do next?
Simply send an email to cba@cimaglobal.com naming your college, your centre administrator and, if possible, giving an indicatation of when you would like to begin offering CBA.
