Tips for success

The best way to learn Management Information is to continuously go through the material and questions. Statistically, it has been proven that continuously learning throughout the course will result in higher pass rates compared to last minute revision.

Question practise is key. Do not spend time rewriting the notes into your own words as this will not be the most efficient use of your time. Instead, confirm your understanding by practising the questions. While practising questions, make a note of the areas you are weaker at and any particular questions that you found difficult. Then, closer to your exam date you will know which areas or questions to re-visit and focus on.

When you move onto the revision phase, question practise becomes even more important. The ICAEW question bank will be vital here. This is made up of questions that are exam standard on each area of the syllabus.

When doing question practise:

• Don’t mark your answers directly onto the question bank so you can practise questions again if you need to.
• Try to write down your workings. In the exam you are provided with a wipeable booklet for this paper. Having your workings down allows you to understand where you went wrong.
• Do not turn to the answer until you have attempted the question. You will learn more by making mistakes then simply reading the answer. For example, if you forget to time-apportion a figure now, you are less likely to do this in the real exam.
• When reviewing the answer, ensure you don’t just look to see if you were wrong or right, but that you understand why you were wrong or right. Compare your workings to those provided in the feedback to see if you can understand where you went wrong.
  Identify areas of weakness and focus on those – revisiting questions in syllabus areas where you have been getting a large number of questions wrong.

After completing all the questions in the question bank try to do at least one practise exam to work on your exam technique. You could use the ICAEW sample exam, or a mock provided by your training provider if this is applicable.

Completing a practise exam in the available time will allow you to think about:

• sticking to time allocation;
• attempting easier questions first then coming back to complete the harder ones; and
• ensuring you have answered all questions in the 1.5 hours available.

Before setting off ensure you have everything you need including your calculator and identification.

Once in the room where you will sit your exam ensure you are comfortable and have everything you need. You are entitled to an ICAEW wipeable booklet so get this set up next to your computer and ensure the pen works.

Ensure you answer all the questions If you have time, go through at the end and check all your answers.

If you are struggling with a question, try leaving it until the end and answering the easier questions first. It might make more sense when you read it again, plus you don’t want to run out of time on the harder questions and not be able to attempt the easier questions!

The areas below are mistakes commonly made by students. Try to look out for these when practising questions and in the real exam.

• Not answering both parts of a multi-part question. To get the marks for these you must answer both parts correctly.
• Not knowing formulas – especially the IRR formula.
• Spending too long on the scenario-based question – leave this question until the end.