5/25/13

Bouncing back from T4 failure

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Home Innovation E-magazines Velocity archive Velocity 2011 Velocity August 2011 Bouncing back from T4 failure

Bouncing back from T4 failure

August 2011

After failing his T4 part B first time round, Mark Dallman passed comfortably in his resit. CIMAs study support and learning specialist Rebecca McCaffry found out what made the difference. Mark Dallman sat his T4 part B exam (BZCS case study) for the first time in March 2011 and was disappointed to fail with 22 credits. Determined to succeed, he sat again in May and passed with 33 credits - a great result. His preparations for the March paper featured a taught course with BPP Liverpool, which included sitting mock papers under exam conditions. He also worked through past case study exams and produced draft versions of business strategy models, as well as a draft introduction for his report. For the T4 part B exam, students are expected to carry out their own research into the industry detailed in the preseen. The March and May 2011 exams were based upon the construction industry, so Mark spent time searching for construction news on the internet, reading company reports and collating around a dozen diversity
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Bouncing back from T4 failure

examples, all related to the construction industry. It is easy to get carried away with research, as Mark found out to his cost. I think I spent too much time reading company reports, which are very detailed. Despite having carried out a lot of preparation, on exam day Mark made the common mistake of spending too much time on his calculations. Time management had been an issue throughout my strategic exams and the case study mocks. I felt I needed to nail the calculations before I could understand the issues and prioritise. I believe that this was a major contributing factor to my failure in March. A new approach Following the disappointment of results day, Mark decided to try a different approach. He attended a resit course with his tuition provider, which included further mock exam practice, but also used the resources from casestudyaide.com, a T4 community website which he had discovered shortly before the March exams. I made much wider use of the case study forums and signed up for extra mock exams, he recalls. I also reread all the mock exams that I had worked on, and compiled a full list of the issues arising, noting their impact and urgency. In the May exam, Mark felt that he had much more conviction over his prioritisation. I accepted that the financial impact of a decision was not necessarily the key motivator or influencing factor for prioritisation. The business strategy and ethos has as much bearing, if not more. Once you have your priorities, stick with them. Good time management Mark worked on his time management by practicing business models and calculations to strict time, aiming to read the unseen material and complete the calculations in the first 35 minutes of exam time. This allowed him plenty of time to write a well structured and balanced report. While preparing for the May exam, Mark constructed an in depth SWOT analysis for BZCS. This approach was different to March in that I explained each point rather than simply making a list, and carried this through to the exam. I also put together a wider list of diversity examples, using the SWOT analysis as the guide for areas to research. From the pre-seen we knew that BZCSs project management system was a weakness, so I looked for examples of poorly performing IT and its resulting impact on business. So how did Mark feel on exam day? Definitely more confident. I was far more prepared for the exam as a result of exam practice, industry research and general preparation. That is not to say I didnt still have doubts! Top T4 tips Marks advice for T4 success is: know the preseen, and youll understand the company strong time management is essential have conviction over your prioritisation practice on earlier case study scenarios build a full SWOT and relevant business models in advance, then update on exam day make sure you cross reference the relevant appendices into the main report body text collect plenty of diversity examples these dont necessarily need to be from the same industry as the
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Bouncing back from T4 failure

pre-seen practice lots of mock exams. Visit the T4 support page for free study resources from CIMA. Links T4 exam requirement part (b): the communication document Contact us What did you think of this article? Please email velocity@cimaglobal.com with editorial comments, questions and suggestions. Please email advertising@cimaglobal.com for advertising questions and rates. Velocity is the global e-magazine for CIMA students. It is sent to 80,000 students once every two months.

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