Identify your ideal study conditions to get the best from study time, stay motivated and prepare for exam day. By Jackie Durham, education and training consultant, CIMA.
We all have different approaches to life, the universe ' and study. Identifying your ideal study conditions can make a real difference by helping you maximise the effectiveness of your study time. It could even free up a few hours for other activities.
Think about the following questions and use them to identify your perfect study environment. Then read the additional golden rules and guide to exam preparation. You should then be ready to start writing your study plan.
Environmental factors
What helps you concentrate? Do you prefer peace and quiet? Do you need support from others to help you study? Are there people or responsibilities in your home or work environment that make it hard for you to concentrate?
Employer
It could be useful to discuss your study needs with your employer. For example, many students like to study at their office during the lunch break. If you find it too hard to study at your desk, ask your employer if there is a quiet area you can use.
Your employer might offer other support and your feedback could make all the difference. At global drinks firm Diageo, Janet Gibson, who manages Scotland's Finance Capability Development programme for the company, says: 'Graduate feedback told us that the placements they were doing were not necessarily helping them learn about the subjects they were studying as part of CIMA. So we now try to make sure that wherever they are in their CIMA studies, they have a placement that is a "real job" and is helping them learn through experience about the subject matter they are studying.'
Personal factors
An important one is this - what motivates you to study? Perhaps it is fear of failure, or the need to keep on top of things? How good are you at planning and managing your time? If you resent study because it leaves too little time for other things you want/need to do, you need to build this into your plans.
On the subject of motivation, Siva Shankar, finance director of UK property at Slough Estates Group, says: 'Successful students are great at establishing and maintaining a sense of urgency to gain and maintain momentum throughout their studies. This helps them strike that essential equilibrium between personal and professional commitments - and the commitment to continuously improve their potential and prospects, through, for example, earning a good qualification.
'Their chances of success are also significantly increased through what I call "visible motivational end goals" and "covering the bases". That means having a very clear visualisation of what big benefits they expect from earning the qualification - for example, improved career prospects, earnings, ability to successfully juggle commitments, and self confidence. They should focus on this for a couple of minutes each day. This helps maintain motivation and momentum during those times when it seems there's too much on the plate.'
To 'cover the bases', Shankar recommends regularly identifying current and future obstacles that might compromise your studies, and immediately following up by implementing actions to overcome them and prevent future impediments from materialising. He says: 'Rather than being caught off guard at crucial points of their study plan, this helps remove some of the trip hazards on a student's journey to qualification.'
The golden rules for effective study
Whatever your answers above, there are some golden rules with regard to planning and managing your study time effectively.
1. Draw up a study timetable and stick to it. You will need a separate plan for your revision.
2. Be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses as a student ' avoid concentrating only on the areas you are good at.
3. Keep a record of your progress against your plan.
Guide to getting prepared for exam day
Read the How to study section of our website.
Read the full syllabus and read about the verbs used in the syllabus.
Use our college list to find out if there is an approved CIMA Learning Quality Partner college near you.
The official CIMA Learning Systems are very helpful if you're studying on your own - see CIMA Publishing. Attend a revision course closer to the exam if you can.
Read the business press, including Financial Management magazine and Insight.
Practise exam questions with past papers from our free study resources section.
Keep in touch with CIMA events in your area or global region.
Exam technique seminars, case study workshops and other useful events may be available through your local branch, or check out our CIMA Mastercourses.
And finally, don't forget to book exam leave.
More relevant links
Online courses launched at CIMAstudy.com
Studying process and timeframe
College open days and events for 2008
Email your comments or suggestions about this article to velocity@cimaglobal.com.