PrintTARA’S STUDENT DIARY – POST RESULTS
Exam results have been and gone and despite convincing myself I had failed both SBM and the case study, I happily passed them both. There were of course the usual dramas of the CIPFA website crashing during the day due to technical difficulties and then not being able to access the results or the forum at midnight adding to the results day dramas. When I finally did get my results (at 5.00 am) it was primarily a relief. I can now look forward to a Christmas without exams and am eagerly anticipating spending my annual leave on activities of choice rather than chained to a desk….I will appreciate it all the more so thank-you CIPFA! And for all those who still have exams to sit, do not worry, your time will come!
I thought it might be useful to use this article to share some of my tips on how to pass the dreaded CIPFA exams, before I thankfully banish the thought of them to the back of my mind and my notes to the waste paper bin (or to the highest bidder if the price is right!)!!
In April 2008 I attended a CIPFA North East student society event on Examination Techniques run by Ian Bowler (the current L&M and SBM examiner) and Graham Ball (The Case Study examiner) and I would highly recommend this event to all students. In addition to some extremely amusing stories on the funny things students write in their exams (I imagine my exam script will be contributing to this shortly) they offered some very practical advice on how to pass the exams and also some reassurance that, if you want it badly enough and put the work in, you can and will pass the exams.
They highlighted the importance of one PJI (point, justification, implication) per paragraph with each consisting of no more than twenty words, therefore each paragraph should consist of a maximum of sixty words. They also recommended constructing a quick plan for each question. This keeps the answer tight and focused and gives the marker an easy structure for awarding points. I followed this technique in my exam, making sure I had a PJI for each point on my plan and firmly believe that this contributed to my success.
They also highlighted that students should work together as they are not in competition with one another; if every student got 50% then every student would pass. I worked with my friends (aka ‘study buddies’ from my course) and found their help and support invaluable, not just to moan to when the computer crashed or when we wanted to complain about the vast amount of information that we were required to remember!! We also shared our A4 pieces of paper for the SBM exam, bounced around our ideas on the pre-seen for both SBM and the Case Study and also sat mock exams together and marked each others scripts (a lot more revealing than you would imagine! I did not realise how much time I wasted by focusing on perfecting the calculations and ignoring analysis when they both have equal weightings for the case study). Sharing ideas keeps you focused; this is important, with all pre-seen material it is very easy to drift off into your own interpretation which may be more misleading than helpful. It also made me laugh and kept me sane; this is a definite pre-requisite to any CIPFA examination!
My final tip would be to read Public Finance religiously (learn from my mistakes!) and to attempt your favourite question first.
Any comments or questions can be e-mailed to me at Tara.Baker@northyorks.gov.uk