Exam / revision techniques

There are some generic 'good practice' things which can go out the window with nerves so it is good to have a plan in advance. The most important thing is to get the timing right. If this comes easily, great, but if not, you should work out in advance how much time you have for each question and absolutly stick to it. It is also a good idea to do some 'exam practice' just to get into the rhythm of taking exams. What I do is to shut myself away and do a whole paper under exam conditions - 3 hours, no books etc. Aim to do quite a few of these - the more the better. If you do this, see if you can get your tutor to look over these to give you some ideas - it should not take them that long to read through and give you feedback and I am sure they want you to succeed. Alternatively do with with a few of your evening class colleagues and review each others.

If you are doing the CIPD set exams I think there is quite a bit of stuff on the CIPD site and your tutor will also be able to give you some help. If you are doing a local colleague exam then you probably need to ask your tutor to spend some time with you. Perhaps having first done one of your own practice exams. Also Clare's suggestion regarding the local branch is a good one.

It has been a while since I took my CIPD exams so this might not be so valid (so read with some caution) but I recall that the main emphasis was on applying the learning to practice. You might therefore try to talk to some people who are doing the HR that you are learning about. Hopefully you work with some (but I do not know how big your company is so there may not be a large HR function). You can use your study group to try to identify some real life examples etc and you can also use the communities. For example, for a topic area you are studying you can do a post asking people to give their views on one aspect or to tell you what in their experience works well and does not work. If you word your thread well and choose some interesting topics you could get quite a bit of interest and it would be generally educational for all who read it. I am not exactly sure what you are studying so cannot give an example, but am happy to try to help - or I am sure Steve Bridger would also be willing to help you with a thread.

Also you do not want to get too caught up in the 'exam' but try to think through the anwers as if you were writing a management report in real life. I noticed that you gave some helpful advice on how to structure a plan in a previous thread. This sort of stuff works for the exam as well. Of course, you need to add in a few references and some case law etc as appropriate which you probably would not do at work, but much of the other stuff stays the same.

I hope some of this helps.

regards, Lisette

There are some generic 'good practice' things which can go out the window with nerves so it is good to have a plan in advance. The most important thing is to get the timing right. If this comes easily, great, but if not, you should work out in advance how much time you have for each question and absolutly stick to it. It is also a good idea to do some 'exam practice' just to get into the rhythm of taking exams. What I do is to shut myself away and do a whole paper under exam conditions - 3 hours, no books etc. Aim to do quite a few of these - the more the better. If you do this, see if you can get your tutor to look over these to give you some ideas - it should not take them that long to read through and give you feedback and I am sure they want you to succeed. Alternatively do with with a few of your evening class colleagues and review each others.

If you are doing the CIPD set exams I think there is quite a bit of stuff on the CIPD site and your tutor will also be able to give you some help. If you are doing a local colleague exam then you probably need to ask your tutor to spend some time with you. Perhaps having first done one of your own practice exams. Also Clare's suggestion regarding the local branch is a good one.

It has been a while since I took my CIPD exams so this might not be so valid (so read with some caution) but I recall that the main emphasis was on applying the learning to practice. You might therefore try to talk to some people who are doing the HR that you are learning about. Hopefully you work with some (but I do not know how big your company is so there may not be a large HR function). You can use your study group to try to identify some real life examples etc and you can also use the communities. For example, for a topic area you are studying you can do a post asking people to give their views on one aspect or to tell you what in their experience works well and does not work. If you word your thread well and choose some interesting topics you could get quite a bit of interest and it would be generally educational for all who read it. I am not exactly sure what you are studying so cannot give an example, but am happy to try to help - or I am sure Steve Bridger would also be willing to help you with a thread.

Also you do not want to get too caught up in the 'exam' but try to think through the anwers as if you were writing a management report in real life. I noticed that you gave some helpful advice on how to structure a plan in a previous thread. This sort of stuff works for the exam as well. Of course, you need to add in a few references and some case law etc as appropriate which you probably would not do at work, but much of the other stuff stays the same.

I hope some of this helps.

regards, Lisette