when can you sit cima case study exams

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).

I mage: Flickr user Darien Library

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 .

Preparing for the CIMA Feb24 Case Studies: Free Resources and Guides

In the lead up to the next CIMA Case Study exam, VIVA's experts share useful free resources and guides that put you in pole position for exam day.

With the CIMA February 2024 Case Study exams just around the corner , it's a good idea for those of you intending to sit the exam to start laying the groundwork for your studies right now. The February exam can catch a lot of students out - the temptation is always to postpone study until after the holidays .

This is a mistake!

With the pre-seen already available, and a tuition provider like VIVA with full on-demand courses already available for the February window, there is no good reason why you shouldn't maximise your chances and jumpstart your studies as soon as possible. With that in mind, we thought we'd share with you what VIVA can do to help put you in pole position ahead of exam day. Below are a variety of tips, free resources and guides for the CIMA Feb24 case studies to help get you started.

1. Get the CIMA Pre-seen Materials Here

Probably the most important "free" resource of all is the pre-seen document that CIMA releases in advance of the Operational, Management and Strategic case study exams! The pre-seen document should be the focal point of your studies. You need to know this document inside-out. Too many students assume that they can casually browse the document a few days before the exam, and that if their theoretical knowledge is good enough, they'll be fine.

This is another mistake. There's a reason CIMA releases the pre-seen well in advance. It's because they want you to know it like the back of your hand. You need to be able to very quickly recall info from the pre-seen on exam day; to know where to look to find information that will help you answer the question. To know all the threats, opportunities, weaknesses, challenges, processes of the company in question.

Below you can find the links to each of the pre-seen documents for the current exam window:

OCS Feb24 Pre-seen: click here

MCS Feb24 Pre-seen: click here

SCS Feb24 Pre-seen: click here

2. VIVA's Pre-course Work

All of VIVA's Case study courses include a "Foundational Materials" component. This includes around 7 hours of video lectures and quizzes that ensure you are in the right mindset as soon as the pre-seen is released. These materials can be accessed immediately if you have purchased access to the Feb24 Case Study courses (whether as part of our CIMA All Access membership, or as an individual course ). The Foundational Materials include video reviews of your Objective Test theories and syllabi, exam technique lectures, study focus sessions, and more. This is particularly useful for any Gateway students sitting the MCS exam. VIVA's foundational materials orient you by introducing you to the key topics and concepts from the Objective Test exams. From there, if you wish you can further unlock the full suite of video lectures from E2, P2 and F2 with the All Access membership - allowing you to do a deeper dive on theories that you might not be familiar with. Unlock VIVA's full courses (with around 40 hours of learning materials, video lectures, live webinars and mock exams per course) via the links below:

3. Free articles and guides

‍ Perhaps VIVA's best kept secret (though we try our best not to keep it a secret!) is our growing library of high-value free content - the Knoweldge Centre . Much of this content is highly practical and relevant to Case Study exam sitters. Below we include a selection of the best free case study materials and videos that you can start working through immediately in order to ensure you are well oriented and motivated come pre-seen release day: ‍ ‍

Free Articles:

CIMA Exam Dates

5 CIMA Study Tips to Keep You Motivated

How to Pass CIMA Case Study Exams: A Detailed Guide to Success

Working through your CIMA Case Study Course

6 Tips to Pass CIMA Fast

Handling CIMA Exam Day Nerves: Lessons from Public Speaking ‍

Free Videos:

How to pass the CIMA OCS exam

How to pass the CIMA MCS exam

How to pass the CIMA SCS exam

Planning your Answer in the CIMA OCS Exam

What goes into a Strong CIMA MCS Exam Answer?

Analysing and Understanding CIMA SCS Exam Questions ‍

4. Add mock exam marking at any time

For so many students, VIVA's professional marking has been the difference maker, the thing that pushed them over the line to a pass (see here for example).

Our student surveys have shown that VIVA students who had their mock exams marked by our team of experts, were 48% more likely to pass than students who had not had their mock exams marked. You don't have to get all your mocks marked, we understand that sometimes it's just not practical due to time or financial constraints. But the great thing with VIVA is that you can add any amount of mock marking to your course/membership at any time. You can purchase marking for anywhere from just 1 mock exam to 5 mock exams. You can purchase at the links below:

• marking for 1 x mock exam: purchase here  
• marking for 2 x mock exams: purchase here    
• marking for 3 x mock exams: purchase here    
• marking for 5 x mock exams: purchase here

We hope you find the above helpful as you gear up for the Feb24 round of CIMA Case Study exams.

Like to explore how VIVA can help you with your CIMA studies?

Be the first to find out when we release new CIMA resources.

Related resources

Other resources that may be of interest to you.

Exam Resource

Examination timetable.

Examination timetable with dates for all aspects of multiple CS windows

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Mark Foley shares four top tips on mastering the CIMA Case Study Exams The CIMA Case Study exams are the final capstone exams of each level of the CIMA Professional Qualification, which students must pass to gain the CGMA designation. We explore four tips to help you prepare for the exams.

Understand the three Case Study levels

Each Case Study exam lasts three hours, with multiple tasks of equal lengths. There is a natural progression to the levels — Operational, Management and Strategic — that simulate how work as a management accountant progresses. To reach the Case Study level, you will have already passed the Objective Tests, which focus on ensuring that you have acquired the knowledge and skills for each pillar. Case Study exams are more about interpreting data and require practical answers to practical questions and simulate real-life business scenarios.

Operational Case Study (OCS)

Focus — The short-term role of the finance officer and the implementation of decisions.

Skills you need to convey — How to work with others in the organisation and use appropriate data and technology to translate medium-term decisions into short-term actionable plans.

Stats — Three-hour exam containing four tasks related to the enterprise, performance, and financial pillars; allotted 45 minutes per task, each task has two to three sub-tasks.

Management Case Study (MCS)

Focus — The role of the finance manager involves translating long-term decisions into medium-term plans.

Skills you need to convey — How to use data and relevant technology to manage organisational and individual performance; allocate resources to implement decisions; monitor and report the implementation of decisions; prepare and interpret financial statements to show performance.

Strategic Case Study (SCS)

Focus — The role of the senior finance manager entails long-term strategic decision-making.

Skills you need to convey — How to support organisational leaders to craft strategy and evaluate and manage risks that might prevent the successful implementation of strategy, including sourcing financial resources; value the organisations.

Stats — Three-hour exam containing three tasks related to the enterprise, performance, and financial pillars; allotted one-hour per task, each task has two to three sub-tasks.

Understand the Case Study exam cycle

Understand the pre-seen materials

Pre-seen materials — known as ‘preseens’ — are background information about the fictitious organisation featured in the Case Study exam. This information forms the basis of the tasks you can expect to see in the exam. The preseen tells the story of the company, including the industry and context in which it operates, its financial statements, management accounts, markets and competitors. Preseens are usually 26–30 pages long. Key tips include:

• Be ready — Familiarise yourself with the company, industry and current events.

• Analyse — Perform an analysis such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) or political, economic, social and technological (PEST); review financial statements and reporting issues. The end of the preseen will contain live issues regarding what is happening in the industry. For instance, a new standard may have come out that will change reporting standards from the current year to the next and that the Case Study exam must address.

• Cross-reference with the blueprint — Being able to know what you can do is critical. Can you discuss finance options, dividend policy or evaluate digital strategies?

Tackling ‘I can’ from each of the core activities in each of the sections is necessary for success. For instance:

• I can identify relevant costs and benefits. • I can advise on the communication process. • I can recommend a dividend policy. • I can use appropriate technologies to gather data for costing purposes, from digital and other sources.

Have a broad syllabus knowledge and know your company intrinsically.

You become the person when you role-play the exam. Avoid prefabricated answers, as the exam will have details not included in the preseens. Your answers have to be relevant to the question.

Plan your exam approach Manage your time — If you can complete a section early, that time does not get applied to the next section. We suggest spending all of your allotted time within the section.

Keep your answers real and relevant — Remember, this is a role-based exam; identify one or more factors that might be relevant, then explain why that approach would be relevant. The more tangible details you provide, the higher you are likely to score. Do not offer irrelevant arguments for the sake of padding your answers. Aim for neat, discreet paragraphs.

Understand the scoring — People mark the exams, and the pass rate is 60%. Even though a scale is scored 80 out of 150, 60% is the pass rate.

The sub-tasks will be weighted differently. Each case will contain tasks from all five of the core activities:

• Evaluate opportunities to add value. • Implement senior management decisions. • Manage performance and costs to aid value creation. • Measure performance. • Manage internal and external stakeholder.

Scoring example

As the MCS Examiner said: “For a 12-mark answer, it might be possible to identify, say, four issues. A candidate who aims to write about four topics only has to score three marks for each to obtain full marks.”

You have all the tools you need to do well on the CIMA Case Study exams. From all of us at the Association, we wish you the very best for your next Case Study exam.

• The content of this article is based on a Case Study Masterclass webinar delivered by CIMA and BPP in November 2020

CIMA CURRENT ADVICE

Should you sit your case study exam online?

Many students do have a successful experience sitting their case study exams online. However, due to the less controlled environment of the online setting and the need for a continuous and regular internet connection, there are some students who have a disrupted exam experience. Test centres offer a reliable, controlled environment in which to take a test. Where possible, if you feel comfortable travelling to a test centre and feel at ease with the safety and hygiene procedures that have been made available in test centres as a result of the COVID19 pandemic, we recommend that you take your case study in a test centre.

Pearson Vue have more information on the measures that have been put in place.

Copyright © 2024 PQ Publishing.

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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 P1: Your Ultimate Exam Guide

Let’s be clear – simply understanding the theory is not enough! 

You must memorise the content! 

Many students skim this stage, but it’s a major mistake. You won’t have your study text or set of tuition videos with you in the exam!

Learning a whole study text is difficult, though, and learning a video is simply impossible! You need to create some notes as you are studying and then memorise them. Some people use cards. Others use sheets of paper or books, or create a powerpoint presentation for themselves. 

Creating them for yourself the best approach, but it’s also time consuming, so a quicker alternative is to purchase prepared notes, like our set of P1 revision notes? 

Memorising means being able to write out or recite everything in your notes without looking at them. And yes, I really mean that! That’s what the best students can do, and if you’re not doing that, you’ll be behind them and will be unlikely to pass first time! 

By the time the exam rolls around, you should be able to rattle off the six steps for calculating standard deviations without breaking a sweat, along with pretty much anything else in the syllabus!

CIMA P1 has many formulae and mathematical methods (such as the 20+ variance analysis calculation methods). Some formulae will be provided in the exam itself, and you can see which ones are on CIMA’s formulae sheet , but others will need to be memorised. In addition to revision notes, it can also help to create a sheet with all the calculations/formulae you’re trying to remember, as they can be tricky to recall quickly in the exam. Review that sheet on the way to your exam centre or just before your allotted exam time for those sat at home, just to double-check you really do know them.

(Note: CIMA’s formulae sheet covers both P1 and P2, so don’t panic if any of them don’t look familiar at the end of your initial studying). 

Step 4: Mocks, mocks and more mocks!

This really can’t be said enough. CIMA P1 is not an academic subject to be admired from afar, it’s a practical syllabus that you will need to not only understand but also be able to apply under exam conditions. 

As such, take all the mock exams your provider can give you, and (if you can afford it) get a couple more from other providers. And do them in as close to exam conditions as you can: alone, in a single sitting and without any notes to help.

It is the best way to prepare just before the exam, bar none! Not only are you checking your memorisation and understanding, you’re honing your exam technique. How will you manage the time pressure? How will you approach challenging questions? How will you schedule your time between easier and more difficult topics?

As with the practice questions before, you should be reviewing your mock results to see what you got wrong (even if you achieved a passing mark in that mock). It may seem negative, but it’s essential that you identify and address all of your weaknesses before you sit the real exam. 

Don’t forget there are free practice questions up for grabs on the Pearson Vue website . This is especially useful for anyone new to these exams because it is based on the actual exam software, so you can get a taste of the real thing ahead of the exam. Astranti also have a free mock for you too so make sure you sign up for that. 

Step 5: Taking the exam – Doing it in passes

You shouldn’t be surprised to hear that the last step is to actually sit your CIMA P1 exam – but now’s not the time to take it easy!

This tip is relevant to all of the objective test exams, but it is particularly helpful with CIMA P1’s longer scenarios and complex/applied calculations. And the tip is: answer the questions in three passes, or ‘run throughs’.

1. First, spend 10-15 minutes going through and answering all of the really easy/short questions. Any that you know off the top of your head and you feel relatively confident in answering. 

2. Then, in the second pass, take a bit more time, go back through and answer the slightly harder questions. Any that you get stuck on or you feel less confident about, flag them up but don’t spend ages on any of them yet.

3. Finally, with any time remaining, do a third pass of the flagged questions and take time to consider your answers. Since there’s no negative marking, always make sure to answer every question by the end – even if you have to guess!