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The CIMA Thread

kilburn

Hi folks, well as we can all see the same questions keep popping up in various new threads asking similar question about accountancy as a career, entry points, job prospects, exemptions, study guides, CPD and texts just to name a few.

So this thread is hopefully going to be the one stop CIMA answer shop. A place for all CIMA students, Qualified Management Accountants and potential students to discuss their thoughts and have their questions answered.

So please participate !

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Crybabygeeks

Thinking of booking in for e2 revision course in Independent Colleges with Paul Russell. Anyone gone to this class before? It's about 6 weeks before exams so i think loads of time to prep.

minusthebear

Irish Aris wrote: »

Not sure to be honest.
I am just about to start the professional level (first exam in May), so I wasn't sure how to approach it.
On first glance it looks like the exams might be a bit easier, but you'd have 3 case studies instead of 1. The exams will probably be closer to what is currently happening in the certificate level.
I guess we won't know for sure until we see specific examples on how the exam will look and the new books of course.
According to Kaplan, the new books will be available som time between September and November.
And CIMA said (I think on their website) that around June they will have examples of the new exam format.

I think it looks a bit harder. hoping to finish strategic level this year, there's a lot to be said for having 4 years of exam papers to sift through

balkanhawk

Hi, does anyone know if the September Exam is only for resits with the transition?

Geraldo

balkanhawk wrote: »

Hi, does anyone know if the September Exam is only for resits with the transition?

Pretty sure it's just a resit exam alright.
I think the new syllabus looks great by the way. Certainly way more flexible anyway. Imagine being able to book a resit for the next day if you just missed out on one. You'd fly through so much quicker! Think they're computer marked too so you could even book before leaving.
Having said that, computer marked exams could be very tricky given that you may not pick up marks for attempting questions.

Meursault

September and March exams are for resits only - so you would have to fail the May/November exams before sitting the Sept/March exams

The new syllabus will be tricky enough for the first few sittings, I would say. For example, there will be no past papers to practice with, and also I dont like the idea of doing the performance exams in particular on computer

also, there are the extra case studies at each level

i am hoping to sit the strategic exams in november this year so it would be great to get as many out of the way as possible before the new syllabus next year

minusthebear

question for you CIMA qualified parents....became a parent recently...I was planning to sit the 3 strategic exams in Aug for the Nov 14 sitting however the reality of the new home life is hitting home....been doing 2 at a time so far....can't see how I could do 3 in one sitting on top of work, making class 3 nights a week, and a toddler...so was thinking of deferring them until next year for the new syllabus and do them 1 at a time...or does the fact the case study is 20% of each strategic exam in the existing syllabus mean the workload isnt too much extra?

kilburn

So anyone got any good study and resource links apart from the usual.

This youtube page can be good

http://www.youtube.com/user/theexpgroup/playlists

and this can be useful

http://www.kaplan-exam-tips.com/main/authorization/signIn?target=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kaplan-exam-tips.com%2Fcima%2Fcima-f1

Meursault

Hi Kilburn,

thanks for posting these links. The only online classes that I was aware of were the ones posted by Kaplan on their website, which are pretty good in fairness.

Meursault

Hi All, does anyone have any tips on E2? half the topics seem like waffle and it is difficult to determine what is likely to asked in the exam. Thanks. M.

Shaque attack

Meursault wrote: »

Hi All, does anyone have any tips on E2? half the topics seem like waffle and it is difficult to determine what is likely to asked in the exam. Thanks. M.

What way are you studying it, self-study or lectures?

I'm ploughing through it on self-study and the plan is to have the last few bits of the course finished this week and then just go through exam questions.

I think the trick to figuring out answering this type of subject (agreed btw, so much waffle!) is relating the exam question answers back to the study material and then a pattern emerges in how they want you to go about answering the questions.

I'm not too concerned about trying to figure out what topics are going to come up but I do think it's important to the get the hang of figuring out what it is they are asking and practicing relating it back to whatever scenario is given.

Here's hoping anyway! Did anyone else notice the exam centres have changed for Dublin? Now out in the Stillorgan Park hotel from what I saw.

Meursault

Yeah I am going the self study route for E2 also. up to chapter 14, so i am hoping the remaining chapters done and dusted before the end of next week and then concentrate on exam questions

while the enterprise pillar is relatively easy to understand, CIMA have a tendency to have mountains of details on all topics which couldnt possibly be covered in an exam. hopefully the exam questions will give as a clearer picture of what is really vital anyway

kilburn

Hows the studying going? I am sitting E2 also, seems to be one of the most difficult papers going by Cimasphere

Irish Aris

I am sitting E1 on Tuesday, but I am nowhere near ready, so I need a (big) miracle!
I will sit it for the experience.

Geraldo

Irish Aris wrote: »

I am sitting E1 on Tuesday, but I am nowhere near ready, so I need a (big) miracle!
I will sit it for the experience.

Are you just sitting E1? If you put in the hours over the weekend and do loads of past papers you can still do it.

Shaque attack

Geraldo wrote: »

Are you just sitting E1? If you put in the hours over the weekend and do loads of past papers you can still do it.

Agreed, hit up the past papers and you'll be in with a good shout of passing it. Best of luck to all sitting their exams next week.

I have E2 and P2 to look forward to! E2 is definitely the harder of the two. I'm finding looking at the marking structure on the post exam comments helpful but also showing me how tricky that paper can get.

Roll on Wednesday is all I say!

masalbeagdubh

Irish Aris wrote: »

I am sitting E1 on Tuesday, but I am nowhere near ready, so I need a (big) miracle!
I will sit it for the experience.

There are some short revision videos from the EXP group on youtube which might help you with E1. They are good for last minute revision.

Irish Aris

Thank you very much for the recommendation, folks!!!

That's the plan for the next three days, go through the past papers.
In fairness, I am not totally hopeless, just need a bit of luck. There are certain sections of E1 that I know from working experience and would be able to answer them even with my limited studying.

Good luck everyone!!!

Meursault

Sitting E2 on Tuesday also. Just checked the pass rates and it's the lowest of all management level which has me worried now. I find the course material and exams easy enough to understand but I am worried about the sheer size of the topic. I am seeing very few similar questions popping up in the past exams, so I am definitely not as confident as I was initially

Anyway best of luck to you all!

kilburn

Meursault wrote: »

Sitting E2 on Tuesday also. Just checked the pass rates and it's the lowest of all management level which has me worried now. I find the course material and exams easy enough to understand but I am worried about the sheer size of the topic. I am seeing very few similar questions popping up in the past exams, so I am definitely not as confident as I was initially

Anyway best of luck to you all!

Feeling the same, i think the trick seems to be how you link it back to the scenario

Meursault

kilburn wrote: »

Feeling the same, i think the trick seems to be how you link it back to the scenario

Hi all, does anyone know whether it is better it's better to be focusing in the bob and May past papers for the exam tomorrow or are the extra sitting pass papers equally as relevant?

kilburn

Meursault wrote: »

Hi all, does anyone know whether it is better it's better to be focusing in the bob and May past papers for the exam tomorrow or are the extra sitting pass papers equally as relevant?

In my case i have taken the last 8 papers resits and main exams and used them to build my frame for my answers.

Make sure you read the Post exam guides, best of luck, good to see afew of us are at the same level.

Meursault

kilburn wrote: »

In my case i have taken the last 8 papers resits and main exams and used them to build my frame for my answers.

Make sure you read the Post exam guides, best of luck, good to see afew of us are at the same level.

How did u find it Kilburn? Was fair enough I suppose but ran out of time as usual. Didn't get to finish q. 7 and my mind went blank on q 1!

Anyway hope it went well for ye all

kilburn

Meursault wrote: »

How did u find it Kilburn? Was fair enough I suppose but ran out of time as usual. Didn't get to finish q. 7 and my mind went blank on q 1!

Anyway hope it went well for ye all

Had a bit of a disaster mind went blank for Q1 & Q2 rest was fair enough i thought?

You sitting any more exams this week?

Geraldo

Meursault wrote: »

How did u find it Kilburn? Was fair enough I suppose but ran out of time as usual. Didn't get to finish q. 7 and my mind went blank on q 1!

Anyway hope it went well for ye all

I did E2 today as well. I wasn't feeling too confident but I feel a bit better now. Managed to finish all 7 questions at least so that's one thing. Think my Prince 2 stuff in q7 was a bit vague but did my best.
Also I wasn't sure about the sources of power in q6. Too late now tho.

Shaque attack

Happy enough with it tbh. Was able to get an answer down for everything but not sure how well my prince2 waffling will have gone down!

here's hoping for a pass anyway. P2 tomorrow!

Meursault

kilburn wrote: »

Had a bit of a disaster mind went blank for Q1 & Q2 rest was fair enough i thought?

You sitting any more exams this week?

Yeah in fairness it could have been worse

What was q.2 again? RBV?

I can remember the following:

1. Types of culture
2. RBV?
3. Qualitative and quantitative?
4.
5.
6. SSC/motivation/types of power?
7. PRINCE2/Stakeholders and negotiations?

Can't remember the other two!

Have the other mgt levels done so on to strategic in November hopefully

How about you? Best of luck if you have any others

statss

1 Culture
2 RBV
3 Rational
4 Competitor Research
5 Completion Stage
6 Off shoring, power, motivation
7 Prince 2 & Stakeholders

Q7 can go f*ck itself!!

Shaque attack

statss wrote: »

Q7 can go f*ck itself!!

My thoughts exactly!

Meursault

statss wrote: »

1 Culture
2 RBV
3 Rational
4 Competitor Research
5 Completion Stage
6 Off shoring, power, motivation
7 Prince 2 & Stakeholders

Q7 can go f*ck itself!!

Yeah Q7 was bad enough alright. The way it was worded was difficult to interpret.

tony1980

Well lads, I had intended on starting my CIMA exams 4 years ago but a new job which was very stressful at the beginning and starting our family gave me the perfect excuse to put it off :pac:

I have now decided that I need a kick up the h**e to just get going!

I have to sit two certificate level exams first, Financial and Management Accounting. I heard that maybe a good month on studying both should be good enough for the exams if you have a good base already.

Has anything changed recently on how these exams are done?

Is there new course material I should be aware of and where is the best place to buy these?

Cheers for the tips lads