The CIMA May Case Study Exams are right around the corner. We asked Paul Grobler, an IBTC and CIMA student who achieved the highest mark in South Africa for the Operational Case Study, to share his tips and secrets to success on exam day. 

Here's what he had to say;

"A CIMA Case Study Exam is a very daunting task, especially the very first one you do. For most of us, it feels quite different to previous exams we have done at other institutions. The format is new, the question approach is different, and the scope of thought feels wide. We are faced with practical-application style questions that force us to not only rely on our textbook knowledge but also to think and draw from what we know of the business world in general.

I was very fortunate to score among the top achievers in South Africa for the Operational Case Study exam in November 2021. When I was asked what assisted me in scoring so well, I was a bit stumped as I had not verbalised to myself what made this work.
 After some reflection, I found a few things that I have benefitted from:



Identify and cover all the gaps

We all come to CIMA with some prior learning.  Some learning is even recognised as exemptions.  It is easy to be very happy about the exemptions from these modules and ignore them, but this can be dangerous.  The content styles and proficiency level from prior studies might be different from what CIMA requires, and that can leave you stuck in the exam.


To ensure that your exemptions do not lower your chances, take a look at the Exam Blueprints and visit each of the representative task statements to ensure that you are covered. 
I did IBTC courses for all three modules at the Operational Level even though I had exemptions for two of them. This really helped to refresh and supplement my knowledge for the Case Study Exam.



Do not fear the information you do not yet know 

Very often we hear about a concept or a calculation that is completely foreign to us. Our responses are either to go into a panic or to rationalise that this specific issue is most likely not going to be examined. These are both mistakes – I have made them before.
 When you see a concept you do not know, head into it with an open-minded interest to understand and know more. If your focus is only the bare minimum to pass the exam, you can easily fail to make the concept part of your own knowledge base.

Tackle each question for its own sake 

It is easy to fail a question because you are focusing on all the questions simultaneously. This is an impossible task. You can only focus on one question at a time. To me, the best approach is to sit in a quiet spot and do one question at a time, in isolation. 
It does not help to worry about the next question while completing the current one – this will only slow you down.



Learn for curiosity, not only a certificate 

To me, learning the content became much easier once I started becoming curious about each topic at hand. We all used to learn by curiosity as children.
 Cultivating curiosity can be a conscious process. Some nice ways of doing this is finding other people who are passionate about the topic, and drawing from them the inspiration to learn more. Read business cases, or even browse through the financial statements of listed companies. 


Keep going no matter what - it is worth it.  Each completed level feels like a great leap towards your goal.

Good luck with the preparation for your Case Study Exam!"

Paul Grobler, CIMA Top Achiever.