Post by Your_CIMA_Exam_Guide on Oct 12, 2016 16:44:28 GMT
Planning your answers is one of the best ways of setting yourself out from the crowd. After all, there's little use in learning all of the necessary knowledge in the lead up to your case study exam, if you don't then learn how to translate this knowledge into marks!
In all the years I have been helping people pass their Case Study exams, you would be amazed at how many students have contacted me in complete confusion having failed. "But I've been revising for weeks and I know all of the key theory!" they always tell me. Yet when I ask them how much time they've spent thinking about how they will go about planning their answer, they usually reply, "I didn't consider that to be as important, I just focussed on learning the theory."
Please don't fall into the same trap that these students did - learning how you will construct your answer is just as important as learning the theory which you might include.
So what does this actually mean?
Well let me give you an example - getting into the simple habit of planning your answers before you start writing, can have a huge impact on your chances of success. Reading the question and then spending a short amount of time forming a plan for your answer will help you to:
1. Identify the requirements - the examiners often tell me that this is an area many students struggle with.
2. Structure your answer - a clearly structured answer is going to please the examiners and get more marks.
3. Don't waffle on - you will be pushed for time in the exam so you don't want to waste any extra energy by answering in a way which isn't scoring any marks.
So now you know the importance of planning your answer, you should hopefully have a better understanding of the types of things you should be considering in your revision.
To really help you on the way, another tip which most students don't think about is this - you need to practise your writing technique. Like any skill, good writing technique will not just suddenly happen - you need to practise regularly to ensure your new style becomes habitual and is the natural way that you write by the time you enter the exam hall.
In all the years I have been helping people pass their Case Study exams, you would be amazed at how many students have contacted me in complete confusion having failed. "But I've been revising for weeks and I know all of the key theory!" they always tell me. Yet when I ask them how much time they've spent thinking about how they will go about planning their answer, they usually reply, "I didn't consider that to be as important, I just focussed on learning the theory."
Please don't fall into the same trap that these students did - learning how you will construct your answer is just as important as learning the theory which you might include.
So what does this actually mean?
Well let me give you an example - getting into the simple habit of planning your answers before you start writing, can have a huge impact on your chances of success. Reading the question and then spending a short amount of time forming a plan for your answer will help you to:
1. Identify the requirements - the examiners often tell me that this is an area many students struggle with.
2. Structure your answer - a clearly structured answer is going to please the examiners and get more marks.
3. Don't waffle on - you will be pushed for time in the exam so you don't want to waste any extra energy by answering in a way which isn't scoring any marks.
So now you know the importance of planning your answer, you should hopefully have a better understanding of the types of things you should be considering in your revision.
To really help you on the way, another tip which most students don't think about is this - you need to practise your writing technique. Like any skill, good writing technique will not just suddenly happen - you need to practise regularly to ensure your new style becomes habitual and is the natural way that you write by the time you enter the exam hall.