3 Weeks to go :s
Esme
Registered Posts: 711 Epic contributor ๐
How's everyone getting on with their CIMA revision?
Some areas I'm feeling confident on, others not very!!!
Some areas I'm feeling confident on, others not very!!!
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I still got the feeling both E1 and F1 are one big struggle and I only just got back into F1, as I spent too much time on E1! Which is of course really stupid, but...
Anyways, F1, yes, I think I'll get there in time. E1 no clue and hope I just scramble all the marks together somehow.
Still busy revising though, and just doing another practice exam on E1, I did part yesterday morning, and planned to do the rest in the evening, but a bad headache stopped me. So instead, I'll have to do the rest tonight. Hopefully that will show some positive results!
I did a practice exam for F1 and ended up giving myself a 51% mark... So not happy about that one.
How is yours, what areas do you struggle with?
How is the combination of P1 and E1 working out for you?0 -
I'm finding as soon as I start to feel slightly confident about one subject, I panic about the other! Really wish I'd just put in for one exam to begin with to grasp what they're like.
I went on a revision course for E1 which concentrated on the section C big questions and the 5 marks questions, basically showing that you need to remember how many points the question is worth and get the key points down. For some of the marks there is no right or wrong answer, as long as what you're saying makes sense and refers to what you're being asked!
I've started writing out revision cards this week which I will look at each day, basically most of the theories and key points etc.
I've got my P1 revision courses this Sat and next which will be good. I'm going to be a recluse for the next two weeks and give it my best shot!0 -
And 51% is a pass so that's good!!
I got 47% on my mock E1 exam and was pleased as I rushed it and missed out a few questions.0 -
Oh well done on the E1 exam! 47% is almost there!
I do know the feeling on the confidence thing though. I keep jumping from going wrong on one subject to the next. I managed to give myself 5 out of 25 marks on a question on F1 and completely panicked.
I found an option for a final mock exam and online review at BPP for F1, but haven't found it for E1. I was hoping for one for E1 as the price seemed decent and I'm more worried about E1 still. (At least marking myself on these seems so hard to figure out whether it is right or not, so I thought the extra help there might help).
I'm wondering if they don't offer it for E1 or that I am too late, so I will probably give them a ring tonight....
I should really put my summaries together on revision cards, but at the moment prefer to focus on questions. I still can't even remember my IAS and IFRS numbers without peaking, which is a pain for short questions on F1, as they constantly require you to refer to the right numbers. I guess thats my next step, writing them out, sticking them in the bathroom, kitchen and other walls I can get them on!
Urgh, so much to do and so little time left!0 -
Think I'm going to start doing loads of exam papers from next week.... Learn as much as I can this week.
Just remember the pass mark is 50% so as long as you get as much key info down as possible you're in with a chance.
Think I might do my papers from back to front, start on the long questions and finish with the multiple choice. Doing plans for the long questions helps too.0 -
I'd got the tip to do A, C and then B from my mentor, which I found actually quite a good idea, so I'm going to stick with that.
As A is not really time pressured and can be the easy marks, it makes sense to do those first and avoid missing out on them. C is very time pressured on the other hand, but as it has the most marks, it makes sense to use the full time allocation. That leaves B for all the time left.0 -
That makes sense, I'll try different ways next week.
How did u get on with the mentoring? Mine never replied to either of my emails and when I contacted CIMA about it they had no idea what I was talking about!!!0 -
That's a real shame! Odd that CIMA didn't know either though.That makes sense, I'll try different ways next week.
How did u get on with the mentoring? Mine never replied to either of my emails and when I contacted CIMA about it they had no idea what I was talking about!!!
My mentor is an absolute star. I think the first few weeks we sent essays around, rather than emails. It was not even that much in depth at that point, just things like how to tackle exam questions, (PEA tactic and he added So what? to this), study planner (we figured I should stick to having about what I got now) and how to divide my time between subjects and questions and such and he also suggested when I should start recording work experience, as I asked him about it.
A lot was repeating of what we already discussed and a lot was me having the feeling I should uproot my whole study ways from what I did at the AAT to fit it in the CIMA way, based on some comments, which wasn't true either. It's just nice to know I'm not completely insane (just mostly).
After that it went a bit more quiet as I ran out of questions, but I have to say that I was really happy I signed up for the service.
I'm sorry, that's not to gloat or anything.
I really think it's a shame and even kind of bad that yours didn't even answer your email!0 -
Urgh, Friday night and here I sit, doing practice exams.
I just gave myself a 54% on an E1 exam and am still in doubt if I give myself too many points for things or not, as the answers are so different and it's so hard to figure out if points I make are valid.
Back to studying tomorrow morning!0 -
Glad you had a good experience with mentoring.. I might send a moany email after exams.
On the plus side, I just did a past E1 paper and got all the mulitple choice questions correct!! Let's hope they ask the same ones on the day.. haha.
Here's to 11 days of solid revision.... eeek
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Well done on the multiple choice questions! I still got troubles remembering who wrote what theory and I'm just happy to get to 50% on most questions!
How are you getting on with P1?
Did you get some time off work to study?0 -
I had my P1 revision days over the last two Saturday's so feeling ok about it now. Have been paying much more attention though so going to do my P1 mock exam tonight then spend a few days on E1. It's so hard to juggle your time!
I'm off from this Friday so have got Sat, Sun and Mon as full study days. The exams Tues and Wed, then not back to work until the following Tues, so a few days off where I can drink, relax and not feel guilty about having a lie in!
Have you got any time off? Are you doing F1?0 -
I've got Friday off as well and then wont go back to work till Tuesday the week after. I got E1 and F1, so Tuesday and Thursday exams.
My full study days will only be on Friday, Saturday and Sunday though, because I got the habit of not studying, other than reviewing all my notes just once on the day before, in order to keep my sanity and not let my nerves get the better of me. So my Monday will be reading all my notes in the morning and relax and do something non-study related in the afternoon and evening.
Then on Thursday afternoon, no matter how the exams went, I will probably be celebrating somewhere and the evening is planned in the pub with a friend, so the celebrating is sorted. I just hope the weather is nice, in which case the hotel where the exam is looks out over the beach, so I can go straight to the beach for a long walk!
Sleeping in, relaxing and not opening a study book on the weekend just sounds soooo good at the moment!0 -
I've booked myself into two gym classes for Monday evening to take my mind off it, and it's needed as I've been eating so much rubbish whilst revising!
You have your exams in a hotel overlooking the beach, that sounds lovely!!
My mum's taking me for lunch after my last one on Wed, then I'll be having a few drinks and then have friends coming over Thursday evening hopefully for drinks in the garden weather depending!!0 -
I'm a bit worried about doing a lot of working out on the evenings before the exams. Because even though it is a great way to relieve some stress, I usually end up overdoing it and having aching muscles during the exam is not something I fancy! But the moment those exams are over, I won't be so nice to myself anymore and will go do some nice workouts! I've been sitting still for too long already...
I do know the feeling about eating crap lately, so I'm going to pay some attention to the food after the exams as well as doing more exercises.
It would be a problem if the exam hall as seaview though, because then I wouldn't be filling in any exam questions, but instead just staring out of the window...0 -
Lol, I had actually thought of not wanting to ache as one of the classes is body combat which I haven't done in a while!!! I'll see how I feel after spinning.
I've got to go and suss out where my exams are, I know the road but not the exact building so will walk up there on Sat. There's a waffle house a few doors down where I'll be having lunch on the Wed, last of the junk food before the diet begins!!0 -
Are we allowed to write notes on the question paper?0
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I've been told strongly to do so.
As in the 20 minutes of reading time you can actually do all the multiple choice questions and read up some of the rest. You're just not allowed to write anything in the answer booklet or use your calculator.
So I'm aiming to mark all the multiple choice questions and then read section 3 until we get to start.
I'm going to get myself a new second pen for E1, just so I can swap between the questions, as I do keep getting cramp in my fingers and someone (I forgot who) came up with the suggestion to swap pens between sections to avoid cramp.0 -
That's a good idea, I'll try it.
Good luck for Tuesday!!0 -
Good luck for Tuesday to you too!
I just gave myself a 42,5 points for my last E1 exam (May 2010), I think this will be a resit for some odd reason!
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Think positive, you'll be fine. I'm sure under pressure in the exam you 'll write more down and pick up extra points!!
Myself on the other hand is defo going to fail.. Haha!0 -
haha, I don't think it's making more points for me, well technically I should, but it's writing down the complete opposite of what I should!
For example the HR question I was doing earlier asked about setting up a HR strategy, and I happily write a whole lot about HR practices and what it would include, but not about HR strategy or how to set one up
I'm back to rereading all my notes now and then maybe afterwards I'll go through some more section B question, but that will be it for today I think. I got the feeling I could do another 300 questions and I still wouldn't be feeling any more ready for the exam.
Haha I'm sure you will be fine! Think positive!0 -
Hey CIMA students! Just popping in to wish everyone doing CIMA all the best this week.
I wouldn't say I'm "ready". I'm just mentally full to bursting and can't take any more in. Today is probably going to be a day of drawing mind maps and reviewing stuff. And trying to relax.
That's a good tip about changing pens - I will try that, as I'm going to be writing for 9 hours solidly this week! I'm going to take a "stress ball" on the bus to "warm up" my right hand to see if that helps avoid cramp.
The 20 minutes reading time is totally critical - when I sat E1 this time last year I did exactly what you did, I did the multiple choice quickly at the start of reading time then mind mapped/ sketched answers on the question paper. When the writing time started, I got the multiple choice written in about 5 minutes - saving 30 minutes! Every minute counts on these papers. You have to stick to that 1.8 minutes per mark at all costs.
Remember to take your photo ID and your admission advice (print off from your My Cima on the website).
Awrabest!!!0 -
Thanks!
All the best to you too! I'm trying to decide what today's study will be, I started with the shopping and finding the exact location of the exam hotel.
Good luck to you too and all the others!0 -
Thank you and good luck too!
The thought of tomorrow's exam is making me feel sick!!!
Fingers crossed0 -
My very best wishes to all the CIMA exam candidates this week.Sandy
sandy@sandyhood.com
www.sandyhood.com0 -
Well, E1 is definitely going to be my first resit!
Oh well, onwards and upwards to F1 on Thursday.
How did you find it Esme?0 -
you never know rinkse
i hope you all did really well.
Tracy0 -
When I first opened the paper I was really panicking but after reading the questions carefully I think I might have just scraped a pass.
What parts make u think u failed?
I didn't know the last q on section B and struggled on the ISO and branding q's. Just hoping I wrote enough for the others.0 -
I do keep hoping Tracey, just that with 3 questions out of section B I just drew a complete blank. I skipped them at first and went back after I did all the other questions, so I had half an hour left and scribbled down some bits.
I just hope I wrote enough on section C, but I find it difficult to judge and have the feeling I didn't write down enough on Question 4!
Well, only a wait till the 16th of July and then we'll be sure
How are you looking towards P1? Do you think you will find it easier? And are you feeling more or less confident?
And how did you find E3 Wonder?0
