cima operational case study exam

Management Accounting Mastery

Master the skills needed to pass the cima exams and become a chartered global management accountant, how to prepare for cima case study exams (and pass first time).

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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

So how do you best prepare for such exams?

Well let’s look at my recommended steps below…

Step 1: Planning

• Decide when you will take your exam and book it – You need to be disciplined as to when you book your exam and stick to it – if motivation is a problem, you’ll keep putting off the exam date
• Decide on your method of study – you can self study (not recommended) or  join an online course
• Have a study plan that you will realistically stick to right the way through to your exam date. This will be made easier if you use a proven structure from an online course provider. 6-8 weeks should be sufficent.
• Decide when and where you’ll study – aim to study when and where you’ll be most productive
• Familiarise yourself with the skills being tested and the role you’ll play, from by blog .
• Familiarise yourself with exam format and functionality using the CIMA practice exam for your paper
• Review any Examiners Guides on CIMA Connect.

Step 2: Studying

• Revise key theories from the 3 subject papers on your level and work through the material that is likely to be tested in your case study exam. Your case study study text will help you focus on the right topics and how they are relevant to the exam you are taking. There are also courses and masterclasses available which are really useful in helping you to revise these topics.
• Pre seen analysis – Work through the relevant pre seen material from CIMA Connect, paragraph by paragraph asking yourself which models/frameworks/techniques from the 3 objective test papers on your level seem the most relevant to that paragraph and make notes on your pre seen. More detailed advice on pre seen analysis here
• One Page Summary – summarise all the key information you have obtained from your pre seen analysis into a one page summary and revise regularly
• Top ten questions – List out the top ten likely questions you’ll be asked in your exam based on what your pre seen analysis suggests. Think about how you would deal with each to pass them should they come up.
• Business awareness – Keep up to date with what is going on in the business news as it may just be the case that a key issue you have identified earlier will be played out in the real world and so you’ll be able to use how they dealt with it (successfully or otherwise) to demonstrate your business skills in your exam
• Learn the exam technique required – the things to especially focus on are answer planning, time management, identifying all the requirements, reading the unseen and how to write your full answer to please the examiner.

Step 3: Exam Practice

• Learn the marking criteria – the four skill areas you need to pass
• Attempt full mock exams under timed conditions and be strict with your time management
• Make sure you spend enough time on your answer plans and sense checking your answers for each section
• Review the solutions – You should review the solutions to your mocks. As you do so take note of the following key elements:
• What are the requirements and did you find them all?
• What models/theories have been used that you did not use?
• What are the key points that you did not make that you could use for similar issue in the future?
• Notice the style and approach of the solution and remind yourself of the writing style required to pass
• Get your mocks marked so you can review the feedback – Ideally you will get expert feedback on your mock exams as this will give you a knowledgeable and experienced point of view on your level of performance to tell you how well you are getting on. You can review your own script if you fully understand the marking scheme of the exam and note any key lessons learnt ready for your next mock exam attempt – but I find this very rarely works as we are not very good judges of our own performance.
• Draw up action plan on what to focus on – don’t overlook this step! Look at the areas of weakness in your mocks and work on those. Perhaps it’s a particular model or theory you need to revise further. More importantly if you are struggling in your time management or writing approach, consider doing some sections of the exam again with a focus on rectifying the problems you have identified.

Step 4: Pre Exam Days

• Re read the pre seen & the one page summary of your analysis
• Create a list of key points you want to use in your exam
• Review all the key lessons from your mocks
• Re read the key theories just to refresh your mind
• Try to visit your chosen exam centre
• Make sure you have your admission slip and ID ready
• Take it easy the day before your exam – no last minute cramming
• Sleep well and relax the night before the exam
• Practice thinking positively ahead of your exam – visualise success

Step 5: During Your Exam

• Go into exam with confidence – even if you don’t feel like it, try and act like it (trust me this works)
• Work quickly through your exam and aim to make lots of points
• Keep going right to the end and try to maximise your marks
• Keep an eye on the time throughout and stick to your timings
• Stick to what has worked in your exam practice

Final Thoughts

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.

As former golfing great Arnold Palmer said: “The more I practice, the luckier I get” This has never been more applicable than with these types of CIMA exam as exam practice is the real key to success .

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Top tips for Operational Case Study examination

• Application is so important. Generic textbook answers do not score well. The secret here is assimilation of the technical knowledge with the context and details of the pre-seen scenario.
• Use the company name/ staff members/ key themes of the pre-seen -eg environmental or innovative plans to underpin your suggestions & make them relevant & applied.
• Make sure you know your pre-seen inside out… eg if the company does not offer credit sales at the moment, be careful not to suggest debt factoring as a way to ease cashflow!!
• CIMA examiner has asked that students assume life as normal for their case-study answers (Eg a life before COVID pandemic began)… Although, all relevant comments will be awarded if correct and in context, but you should avoid excessive references to COVID/ lockdown/ impact of health social distancing etc on the company.
• Students should be familiar with the CIMA Blueprint… particularly the I – CAN statements. 

https://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/Future%20of%20Finance/1901-9263%20Operational%20Exam%20Blueprints%20FINAL%20ONLINE%20v4.pdf

The ‘I CAN pages from this link are pasted below..

These tell student the weightings and mix of the topics they can expect in EVERY OCS exam…

For example -from the ICAN table..– Section F ( working capital) will be between 7 and 13% of every op case study exam paper – so this table shows the importance of those topic areas – eg we know from this that working capital will be examined in EVERY OCS exam paper going forward (at least 7% of the marks) – so this topic is guaranteed…

Use your objective test knowledge ( 2019 syllabus) notes & Open Tuition lectures to revise – bearing in mind P1 is the LEAD paper for OCS, but F1 and E1 both important too,

When working through your P1/ F1/ E1 notes –try to keep a high level overview – rather than drilling down to the detailed calculations – instead be able to explain/ define/ know the pros and cons of techniques and whether they would be ‘useful’ for the pre-seen company in your scenario.

Graphs are common in the OCS – so be sure you can explain and interpret graphs ( linear programming for example).

Always write enough – ensure you expand/ explain & apply. Leave lots of white space – use subheadings to present your answers & help markers award marks that you deserve.

Avoid bullet points – unless you are out of time

Use the percentage weightings of each exam SUBTASK to guide how much time to spend on each part of your answer

Visit CIMA website & find detailed examiner reports & past exam questions to see errors and weaknesses made by students in recent sittings. Also a good way to see the types of questions to expect and level of detail CIMA are requiring in their answers.

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CIMA Operational Case Study Courses

Dedicated to helping you pass

Ever since our first CIMA case study course over 14 years ago, Astranti have become renowned for what are probably the most comprehensive CIMA operational case study courses on the market,  dedicated to giving you the best advice and support to help you pass first time.

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Compared to the Official CIMA Provider’s course, we do more analysis of the pre-seen, have a more comprehensive range of exam guidance and study materials, and yet, without their overheads, we’re able to make it cheaper too!

Together with great tutor support from our team of dedicated case study tutors, a personal mentor to support you through the exam and our renowned materials, known for their clarity and simplicity, you can see why students love the course so much – we have an average Trustpilot rating of around 4.8   from over 600 reviews.

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“I have used Astranti for all three case studies which in my view is integral to passing, with the most recent pass coming on the SCS exam. Astranti help you develop the correct exam writing style required to pass and gain the additional marks that could be the difference in passing or not. I can certainly say that by using Astranti I have gone into each exam confidently assured that I have given myself the best possible chance to pass.”

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Course content

Our goal is to make our premium CIMA operational case study course the most comprehensive on the market.

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Pre-seen pack

• Full analysis of the pre-seen , picking out the most important snippets of information so that you don’t miss a thing
• Strategic analysis that links the pre-seen to the key theories and models from the syllabus
• An analysis of the top 10 most likely issues to appear in the final exam according to our case study experts
• Our industry analysis provides an overview of the real-world industry that the pre-seen company belongs to, so you can apply this in the exam to score extra marks
• 30 pre-seen knowledge questions designed to cement your knowledge learned

5x Mock exams with debrief videos

• Fully timed computer-based mock exams , with challenging questions designed to replicate the real exam
• Detailed solutions so you understand where you went wrong quickly and easily and to enable you to learn how to approach a similar question in the real exam
• Debrief videos where our tutors walk you through the best approach to each mock
• 5x mock exams as standard
• 2x bonus mocks for the February and August exam sittings

3x Marking and feedback

• Comprehensive marking and feedback for 3 mock exams from your assigned expert tutor
• Commentary on each script on a section by section basis, tellilng you what’s great and what needs to be improved
• A 7 page summary analysis of each script, guiding you on what you need to do to improve

'How to pass the case study' course

• Get to grips with the case study exam and find out exactly what it takes to pass
• Perfect your exam planning and writing technique
• Find out how to maximise the marks that you score in your final exam
• Learn how to provide the best answers written down in the right way, within the time given in the exam
• Hear exactly what the examiners say about how to pass the case study exam and the mistakes that past students made

Theory revision series

• Designed to refresh all of your syllabus knowledge relevant to the case study exams. We take the most commonly examined theory from E1, F1 and P1 and summarise that for you so you can review theory quickly and easily
• Take the study text with you wherever you are, with both the online and printable versions
• Watch the tuition videos for an even more detailed analysis of the key theory , including worked examples throughout to help with your understanding

Ethics and Questions packs

• Ethics is   the most commonly examined topic at operational case study . As such it’s the most important topic for you to revise
• Our   ethics video   shows you how to pass ethics questions in the exam
• Our   20 practice ethics questions   enable you to master a range of ethical questions and practice the specific method that is proven to enable you to pass these questions
• Our   questions pack  contains 60 case study exam-style questions , helping you to  prepare for your exam.

3x Live online masterclasses

• Attend 3  LIVE  online masterclass days and get instant answers to your questions from our experienced OCS tutor using our interactive chat box throughout each session

Tutor expertise and Discussion hub

• Ask our tutors further questions and join the student/tutor conversation on our discussion hub
• Tailored support from your personally assigned exam marker , with all of the experience you could need to give you the best advice needed to ensure you pass the exam

Personal course mentor

• Support from your assigned mentor from the first day of the course to the last
• They’ll help you work your way through the course at a good pace, keeping up with your desired schedule and hitting the course deadlines as you go with regular catch up emails, video calls, or a combination of the two – whatever works for you!
• On hand to answer your questions or guide you in the direction you need

Exclusive to the course

Tutor & Mentor support

There are so many benefits to studying online, like flexibility, cost savings and the ability to study at your own pace.

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For this reason, our premium courses give you exclusive access to our tutors and course mentors .

Use our course discussion hubs to contact our expert CIMA tutors whenever you need help with a tricky piece of theory.

And, have regular check-ins with your own personal course mentor via email, video call or a combination of the two, to get help staying focused, hitting your deadlines and ensuring you have everything you need to pass your exam.

How our premium course compares

Giving students value for money is important to us . Why not check out the table below to see how our premium CIMA operational case study course compares to that of the official CIMA publisher?

For the CGMA Professional Qualification, CIMA has published CGMA Examination Blueprints, based on the syllabus, that set out what is examinable in each of the nine Objective Tests and three Case Study Exams. The blueprints are published annually and provide information about the format, structure and weightings of the assessments.

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Exam Resource

May-aug24 management pre-seen material.