Thursday 10 March 2016

MCS Student Experience Survey- Learn From the Past!

If you have yet to take your Case Study exam, what better preparation than to learn from those who have?

It has been a couple of weeks since we launched a survey for MCS students taking the February sitting of the exam- and there has been some interesting results!

A really useful start to revising for a future exam is to look at what past students have said- to ensure you learn from their mistakes and take tips from their successes.

So with that in mind, here are some of the key themes to come from the February MCS survey results:

Preparation

We asked the students how difficult they found the exam in relation to their expectations:


Much More Difficult: 13%  More Difficult: 25%   As Expected: 63%   Easier: 0%   Much Easier: 0%



Overall, 38% of students found the exam more difficult, or much more difficult than they anticipated. 

This highlights the importance of good preparation and the need to not get complacent about how ready you think you are for the exam.

There is always more you can be doing! 

Time Management is Key

Time management is often a topic which is deemed low priority. Naturally we all feel the need to learn as much knowledge as we can before an exam.  

Yet you don't get any marks for the knowledge that stays in your head!

Working in an environment which is constrained by time is difficult, and having the ability to manage your time effectively is an important skill. 

It seems from our survey that the respondents had issues with time management. When asked what they struggled with in their exam their answers included:

"Time was the big constraint in the exam as there is little time to understand to the requirements."
"Time goes so fast."
"Timings! The last section I could have spent more time on."

Learn how to manage your time, to ensure that you get the most out of all that hard work you put in during your revision.

Practice, Practice, Practice

One of the most effective ways of getting ready for an exam is practice- and in particular Mock Exams.

The chance to get used to working under exam conditions using the exam format, often proves invaluable to students. 

It seems like the students who took the February MCS exam are no different. When asked what their advice to future students would be their responses included:

“Practice of the mock exams in the real time experience and then learning from the solutions.”
“Do either mock exams or timed practice questions for all of the key areas.”
“Do as many mocks as you can.”

Learning the lessons 

It's important to be aware of the issues faced by previous students. Here we asked the respondents what they think they should have spent more time on when revising:




The most popular answers included time management, mock exams, answer planning and revision of the theory. 

It's important for anyone taking a Management Case Study exam in the future, to be aware of these issues which past students have raised and to look to address them. 

Help is on Hand

Rather than letting you deal with these issues on your own, we do offer a number of resources which look to address these specific topics. 

Our Mock exams for the May sitting of the Management Case Study exam will be available from the 11th April and they are designed to simulate the real exam experience. You can find out more about them here.

We also offer a Study Text which focuses on exam preparation and how to get better at time management and answer planning: Study Text Part 1

If you have any other questions or want to find more study tips and guides, go to our CIMA Management Facebook page.

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