How to approach your exams to make sure you have the best chance of success - and avoid common mistakes.
By Julia Brown, student support manager, CIMA.
Before the exam
There are a number of very specific steps that you can take before an exam to maximise your chances of success.
Post exam guides
Firstly, read our post exam guides. We publish these twice a year, after the exams are completed.
These guides discuss in detail the rationale for each question and suggested approaches to answering questions. They also have marking guides and examiners' comments - these comments focus on candidate performance and common errors.
Common errors include poor time management, failure to finish sections, repeating information, and a failure to address the question. Not relating answers to questions and given scenarios is regularly identified by examiners as a costly error.
Important verb guidance
You will find our guidance article on understanding and applying exam verbs (PDF 23KB) correctly very useful.
Misinterpreting verbs is a very common mistake that students make in CIMA exams. For example - do you know the difference between 'explain' and 'advise' in the context of answering an exam question?
Each learning outcome in the CIMA syllabus uses a verb, or verbs, from the approved hierarchy published with the syllabus.
The verbs used in the learning outcomes are linked to the verbs in the exam questions. You need to make sure that you understand the level of verb that you may be asked in the exam, and exactly what the verb asks you to do in your answer.
In the exam
Be sure to break the question down into its separate parts.
The examiner may ask for several things to be done in one question, so to get maximum marks you have to make sure that you answer each of the separate requirements fully. Don't fall into the trap of only answering part of a question - you will miss out on valuable marks if you do this. Again, our article on verbs will give you examples of addressing all parts of a question.
Another warning - don't answer a question that you hoped would be on the paper, instead of the question that you see. You will only be awarded marks for answering the set question!
Reading time
You have 20 minutes' reading time before you can start writing the exam. See our article on using reading time efficiently (PDF 28KB) for more about allocating time appropriately to each section.
Managing your time
The rule is simple for this one. You must answer all of the requirements in all of the questions to get the most marks you can in the exam.
Allocate your time per question according to the value of the question. A good guide is one minute 48 seconds (1.8) minutes per available mark - for example, 18 minutes for a 10 mark question, or 45 minutes for a 25 mark question.
When your time is up for one question, move on to the next one. Don't spend any more time than you calculated trying to perfect one answer. Your time is better spent moving onto the next question, and picking up the first 'easier' marks for that question.
Make sure you know the format of your May 2008 exam paper (PDF 30KB) before exam day and work out how much time you will need to allocate to each question.
Plan your answer
The examiner doesn't want you to reproduce a chapter of your text book to prove how much you have learned.
Use the question requirements as a guide for breaking the question down into its separate components. Plan the structure and content of your answer from that point. This will help you make sure that your answer has a logical structure, and prioritise the points you want to cover.
Refer back to your answer plan when you are writing your answer to make sure you cover all key points.
Help from MindPlanning®
The MindPlanning® technique will help you learn and practise structured exam answer planning. It will teach you to answer the set question, allocate your marks and determine how much and what to write about.
Formatting your answer
This is important. Setting your answer out clearly will give you an even better chance of a good result. We recommend that you:
- use headings throughout your answer ' refer back to your answer plan to help you break your answer into appropriate sections
- use short, concise sentences and group them into paragraphs
- show all workings for your calculations ' marks are likely to be awarded for method
- leave gaps between paragraphs and sections to make your answer easier to read
Also make sure to refer to the scenario and real life examples when relevant to your answer.
Try and leave yourself five minutes at the end of the exam to read through your exam paper and review your answers against your answer plans.
Further resources
CIMA and Elsevier launched a range of online modules to support students recently at CIMAstudy.com. Strategic level courses are already available on this service, with others planned for later this year.
CIMA Publishing provides the official CIMA Learning systems, which are very helpful if you're studying on your own. They offer a complete package to help you prepare for your exams including exam questions and answers.
Related links
Post exam guides
Exam techniques
Email your comments or suggestions about this article to velocity@cimaglobal.com.