CIMA certificate level preparation tips Details
CIMA certificate level preparation tips – The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) qualification is one of the most globally-recognised and sought-after business accreditations. Here we are giving best Revision tips for CIMA Students.
CIMA certificate level preparation tips
Here are some tips to help you learn and remember what you have learned from your revision.
Start by making sure you have a good basic background in the subject area. The more you know and understand generally, the better you will be able to assimilate, remember and apply new subject matter. Try to relate new subject matter to what you already know or have experienced.Organise your revision topics into meaningful groups or blocks, so that you can identify relationships and underlying patterns.
If you cram your revision, you will remember information for a short time, but you will not learn enough to thoroughly understand it – which is the point at which it enters your long term memory. The CIMA syllabus is progressive with each level building on topics and techniques from previous ones, so it’s vital that all the subjects you have studied are well embedded in your long term memory.
CIMA certificate level preparation tips
Techniques
Mnemonics are basically tricks used to enhance and aid memory. Mnemonic techniques are based on associations between easy-to-remember sequences of data, such as letters and numbers ‘ the human mind finds it much easier to remember insignificant data if it is attached to meaningful information in a personal or spatial way. Popular mnemonic tricks include:
Imagery helps those with a ‘visual’ memory. It can be used to stimulate the brain by creating vivid images of the items to be remembered and then linking them together using a mental visualisation. Startling or amusing images can really help. For example, World Memory Champion, Ben Pridmore (an accountant by the way!), uses images from Loony Toons cartoons and The Simpsons to create memorable visual images. He also uses a range of ‘journeys’ (see Method of Loci below), enhanced by his visual images.
Rhymes are very powerful in that they facilitate what is known as acoustic encoding to help the brain remember. A good example is the English grammar rule, ‘i before e except after c’.
Acronyms are words usually formed from the first letters of a group of words. It doesn’t seem to matter how nonsensical or convoluted the acronym created – it will still help us remember.
The Method of Loci is an ancient Greek memory technique which has been adapted to form the basis of many modern mnemonic devices. At its most basic, it involves associating each item to be remembered with a specific location in a place with which you are very familiar, for example your house or your journey to work. So, for example, one item might be associated with the kitchen, one with the hallway and so on. When you want to retrieve information from your memory, you simply take a mental walk through your house, ‘picking up’ each piece of information along the way. This can enable us to remember much more complex and detailed threads of information.
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CIMA certificate level preparation tips : How the CIMA Case Study Exams Work (An Overview)
- The aim of the CIMA Case Study Exams is to teach you how to APPLY your knowledge from the three objective test papers in the workplace.
- The exam sittings will be held during the fourth week (generally five days) in every exam-month –February/March, May, August and November
- The tests are sat on PC at Pearson VUE centres and are human marked
- You must be able to demonstrate that you can apply the following skills from the learning outcomes tested in the three OT exams to the particular business context set in the case – Technical skills, Business skills, People Skills and Leadership Skills
- The pass mark is 60%
- Your exam will be 3 hours long made up of 3-4 different time – bound sections and in each section there will be one or more tasks to complete. The requirements within these tasks will not always be easy to identify (this is a skill you will have to learn)
- You’ll receive pre seen material about a fictitious company around 7 weeks before your exam week to give you background information
- The exam will then give you updated information on the case and you must base your answers on the new situation brought up by this new unseen information
The CIMA case study exams are more a question of application of knowledge (to the specific situations in the case) rather than detailed technical knowledge itself (this is tested in the objective test exams).
The key to passing is therefore being able to demonstrate your application skills as well as the business, people and leadership areas being tested.
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