Q + A session with Daniel Scarbro - ranked first place in the world for the August Strategic Case Study sitting.

Q + A session with Daniel Scarbro - ranked first place in the world for the August Strategic Case Study sitting, scoring a brilliant 134 out of 150 marks available.

What was the key to your success?

For the SCS exam I realised that getting my approach to the exam right was more important than revising the theory which is tested within the strategic objective tests. The Astranti videos covered time management and question planning which are crucial to a good exam technique. The more focused and efficient your answers are, the more points you'll have time to make.

What revision techniques proved most effective for you?

Top tips from the CIMA Case Study markers!

Top tips from the CIMA Case Study markers!

At the recent CIMA conference there were a number of presentations by CIMA markers and case study writers. 

They gave invaluable insights into what they are looking for in the exams – and in particular they highlighted the areas where many students fall short.

This is excellent feedback for students as it 'comes straight from the horses mouth'! They have produced and marked many exams so know exactly what they are talking about!

There feedback reinforces the fact that many students are still getting the basics wrong and how with good preparation and planning many more students could be achieving passes.

Here are their top 10 tips to help you succeed:

1. Plan your answers – don’t launch straight into your answer, think about the key points you want to raise and how your going to structure it before you begin writing.

CIMA News - what you need to know! Introduction to scaled scoring for the OTs + personal calculators permitted

Hi Everyone,

A couple of interesting points were raised at the CIMA conference that we thought we would share with you.

Firstly, CIMA announced the introduction of the 'scaled score' for the Objective Test exams.

From November 1st 2015, Objective Test results will include:

1. Grade (pass or fail)
2. Sectional Performance Feedback
3. Scaled Score

Why scaled scores?

Strategic Results Overview 2015

A number of interesting facts and statistics were presented at the 2015 CIMA conference last week.

The conference was attended by key people from CIMA and tuition providers including members of the Astranti team.

We would like to share with you some of the key points raised at the conference.

Mock Exams – Key points from our August student survey

A lot of you will be starting off your revision for the latest set of exams, but perhaps you may be a bit unsure of how to progress and get the most out of your time leading up to the big day. To give you some inspiration, I have assembled a few results from our recent Mock Exam student survey that may be of some interest to you if you are stuck for ideas.

In a recent student survey from August, we asked our students what they felt were the most important factors in helping them pass their exams. One of the common themes among our survey results was the inclusion of mock exams.

Eat, Drink, (Study), Sleep, Repeat!

We all have our own little ways when it comes to exam preparation, and for some of us these techniques have proven to be successful over and over again. Whether that involves religiously scrolling through mountains and mountains of revision notes right up until the exam itself, or whether it’s making sure that we have our lucky exam socks on that haven’t been washed since the miracle success in the chemistry exam of ’98!

However, for the vast amount of us, we still haven’t quite worked out a routine which works best for us individually when it comes to exam preparation. We may have all of the knowledge around the theory that we need, but by the time the exam comes around the corner, and the questions are in front of us, our minds just go blank…

For this reason, I’ve compiled a short set of tips for people who may be unsure of how to physically prepare during the last few days leading up to the exam.

Number 1: Brain Food.

CIMA E3 - Big Data

There are many challenging E3 topics that you will need to understand in order to successfully pass your E3 exam. For example, Big Data is a subject which many students find difficult to grasp at first!

At Astranti we aim to make difficult subjects easy to understand. All of our materials are designed to ensure that our students are given in-depth knowledge of all the key subjects, but in a format that allows you to learn easily and effectively. 

As an example we'd like to share with you a new and updated section of our E3 Study Text which explains Dig Data in a straight forward and clear way. 

Big data and it's uses

Big data is a term used to describe sets of data so large that they simply cannot be analysed and interpreted by standard reporting facilities. The value of big data is that it allows you to draw from an enormous amount of different data as opposed to having many separate sets. As a result it can be possible to identify unusual business trends and correlations that would otherwise be impossible to spot.

Big data has the potential for almost universal application; here are some examples of big data being implemented in the real world:

• Used by some hospitals to monitor patient details and the treatment sought, meaning they can assess the likelihood of readmission and if high make sure the issue is resolved there and then thus saving time and money further down the line.
• Consumer goods companies monitoring facebook/twitter and as a result gaining key and an uninhibited insight into consumer behaviour which they then use in their marketing campaigns.

• Governments can use them to measure crime rates as big data allows the inclusion of many other factors which in theory can help determine why crime rates are increasing/decreasing rather than just the fact that they are.

Gartner's Three Vs

In a 2001 research report Gartner outlined three key challenges faces organisations with their data. These three elements are:

Volume - increasing volumes of data mean there is a lot more to manage and it is harder to extract key information from it

Velocity – there is an increasing speed of data in and out, which means data can quickly change. This means that information analysis needs to be quick to spot and react to the latest change.

Variety – the range of data types and sources of data can be varied making analysis difficult. e.g. data in different IT systems in an organisation being hard to bring together to analyse linkages.

Gartner then came up with a formal definition of big data related to these 3Vs which is:

Big data is high volume, high velocity, and/or high variety information assets that require new forms of processing to enable enhanced decision making, insight discovery and process optimisation.

The seven stages of the big data process

The seven key stages and challenges that make up the big data process are as follows:

Capture – What kind of data is needed and how is going to be captured. This is usually an indirect source (rather than manual data input), a prime example would be the barcode reader in a retail outlet.

Storage – As you might expect, the amount of data we are talking about cannot be simply saved on a laptop hard drive. Big data sets can require physical systems that take up entire rooms or even buildings. In addition to the sheer size needed both physically and memory-wise you will need to make sure the systems are adequately protected as you may have access to private customer information.

Curation – Once the data has been captured it then must be organised, controlled after and maintained in a way that allows it to be usable and re-usable, an on-going, day to day upkeep of the data in effect. This may involve the way it is structured on the system to enable it to be analysed.

Analysis – The process of interpreting the data, millions of bits of info means nothing unless you can use to help answer questions/illustrate results etc. This could be the ability to separate the data out by date, product, customer or make linkages between different types of data e.g. sales made by customer group at different times of the year.

Visualisation – The data which is analysed needs to be illustrated in a clear and digestible format so that it can be used to make decisions. This may take the form of graphs or condensed simple tables.

Search – When you have as much data as a big data system can compile you must find a way to search across the vast data landscape to find the info you want. An example of a search system would be google; which can accurately search through billions of web pages based on a few key search terms. Each 'big data' system needs it's own 'google' type search system to access the relevant data and help users access relevant information.

Data Sharing and Transfer – Data must be shared with those who need it so that relevant people can access the information produced and indeed relevant information is proactively sent to the people who can best use the information gained.

Big data as a strategic resource

Big data is increasingly becoming of strategic importance. As an example, retailers that understand their customers and their needs better by analysing big data are able to produce better products, target marketing campaigns better and price products in a way that attracts more custom based on past buying patterns. Together this can provide firms who use Big Data effectively a competitive advantage.

Astranti Financial Training. 

CIMA official pass rates - F3 has the lowest pass rates at Strategic level

Hi everyone,

As you are probably aware, yesterday CIMA published the pass rates for the Objective Test exams. These statistics are based on students who have attempted the exams between January and May 2015. 

Here are the key points to take from yesterday's pass rates:

• The performance pillar is achieving the lowest pass rates with only 54% of students passing P1, 57% passing P2 and P3
• The enterprise pillar is achieving the best pass rates overall. 83% of students passing E1, 91% passing E2 and 71% passing E3 
• P1 has the lowest pass rates at Operational level
• P2 has the lowest pass rates at Management level
• F3 has the lowest pass rates at Strategic level
• Overall the F1 and P3 exams have the lowest pass rates
• Overall the E2 has the highest pass rate
• In more than half of the objective test subjects less than 50% of students are passing first time

Although the exam style and format has changed for these subjects, it is interesting to compare the pass rates from last year to this year. As you can see from the table above the pass rates have generally been a lot higher since the implementation of the objective test exams

Astranti Financial Training 

The secret to passing the CIMA OT exams revealed

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to those of you that completed our survey to find out - What does it take to pass an Objective Test exam?
So far we've had a great response with over 60 students taking part!

We've received responses from students who've passed and failed exams across all CIMA subjects, This means we have good range on which to base our findings.

These findings should definitely help you in your upcoming exams and will surely be beneficial to future students.
Here is an overview of the key points:

The secret to passing is...

Putting in the hours!
We were able to break down the exam pass rate by hours of study and the results were clear.

Hours of study	Number of Passes	Number of Fails
40-60	22	10
Less than 40	40	41

• Students that studied for between 40-60 hours had a pass rate* of 69%
• Students that studied for less than 40 hours had a pass rate of 49%

If you want to increase your chances of success, you should aim to study for 4-6 weeks and put in 10+ hours each week.
*Pass rate= number of passes/total number of attempts

The toughest exam is...

• Based on the survey, students are failing P3 and F3 on more than one occasion before they pass.
• So far P3 had the highest failure rate in our survey proving to be the toughest exam.
• Now that CIMA have changed the pass mark, I would hope that the pass rate in these exams falls into line with the others!

What materials should I be using?

• Study Texts, Mock Exams and Revision Questions were the most popular study materials used by students, with a majority of respondents finding them 'useful' or 'extremely useful'.
• Everybody (that's 100%!) who had passed an exam had used Study Texts as part of their revision and 95% had completed Mock Exams.
• 80% of those people who have used Mock Exams had completed 3 or more.
• More than three quarters of students who had passed exams had used Revision/Practice Questions.
• A combination of study texts, revision questions and mock exams was seen by students as the most useful revision materials.
• By contrast, the use of these materials was much lower for students who failed exams. More than half of the students who had failed, did not use revision/practice questions as part of their preparation for the exams.

Lastly, we were pleased to see that every student in the survey that used our Astranti materials had passed their exams.

You can still take part in the survey by going to the following link. It's totally anonymous and will only take a few minutes - What does it take to pass an Objective Test exam?

Astranti Financial Training.

28.6% find SCS exam harder than expected - see the results of our survey

Hi everyone, 

We recently asked our students to complete a survey based on their experience of their recent Strategic Case Study Exam. 

We've been looking at the fascinating feedback very carefully and here is a summary of the key points:

54.8% of respondents found the difficulty of the exam to be 'as expected', with 28.6% finding it 'more difficult'.

Students commented that that there weren't any big surprises in the exam and the questions were fair in comparison to what they anticipated.

Some students commented that their writing approach and structuring of answers went well in the exam, with many saying that the Astranti study text was helpful in these areas.

They also felt they did well in applying the pre-seen into their answers which is a good sign!

Time management was stated as an issue by many students, emphasising the need for mock practise.

Other comments indicated that many students found they had a good understanding of the theory but found it difficult to apply the models within specific questions.

Almost 50% of students concluded that they should have spent more time on mock exams.

36.8% said they would revise LESS theory

Here are 5 tips from the survey for future students:

1. Become an expert on time management
2. Complete as many mock exams as you can
3. Understand the pre-seen and industry in-depth
4. Don't put too much time into the study of theory (but do enough so you are competent!)
5. Make sure you answer the question!

We hope you've found this information useful.

If you've took your strategic Case Study exam and you've yet completed the survey we would love to hear from you - SCS Survey 

Astranti Financial Training.