Hi Helena,

I paid for the feedback after my second lot of fails. I would say it is worth it if you are confident that you have tried your best and really don't know where you went wrong.

The feedback is useful if you can remember what you wrote in the exam! But it doesn't give any great insight or inspiration on how to write the perfect answer and pass next time. From others I have spoken to I think the report can be extremely varied, some people receive a few lines about each answer, others get pages and pages (like me!).

I would probably recommend you pay for feedback on one exam rather than splash out a small fortune first time because chances are it is exam technique you are lacking, not knowledge.



Good luck for November
Clare

Would it be possible for those managing the discussions to attempt to get some sort of reaction from the examiners to some of the comments in this thread and that of www.cipd.co.uk/.../discussions.htm

Everyone's points are really relevant and we have very real concerns.

Karen

Hi Karen,

As you're probably aware, there are a number of exam-related threads open at the moment, on which CIPD staff have posted.

I'll alert them to this thread.

Steve

Are there no CIPD closed discussions set up for each tutorial group which enables members to post sample exam answers and then do peer review?

Distance learning specialists like the Open University provide these. They help ensure support and a degree interdependence between group members thus bolstering confidence and improving learning especially for those who do not live close enough to attend face-to-face tutorials.

My group had a list of fellow student email addresses but never shared information. We clearly weren't that friendly of a bunch!!!

The college never provided this level of support either, we would get the occasional case study from one of the better tutors and the session notes emailed for you to print off every week a couple of hours before the class started. So no David, this resource was not available but it may have been useful.

I sat 4 exams in May (Year 1 PDS) and luckily passed them all. Here are the main revisions techniques I adopted...

TIP 1.
My tutor was great and her adive was to have 5 or 6 articles that you can reference in your answers. These were mainly People Management articles.
Remember the title, the author(s) and have a general understanding of the content.
It's amazing what you can shoe-horn into an answer once it's committed to memory. Ted Johns (MLP examiner) particularly likes this.

TIP 2.
Play to your strengths. If you really don't 'get' something, move on. I'd recommend spending that time really getting to grips with something you are more familiar with. For example, I never 'got' Chi Squared testing (Managing Info) and I probably never will!

TIP 3.
Get a revision buddy. This was invaulabe for me and my friend. What one of us didn't understand the other one did. You can talk through scenarios together and this is a real incentive to keep going. Really helpful.

TIP 4.
Practice. Do as many past papers as possible. As others have said, the questions don't change much year on year and doing this really helps with your timing. I also did Section B first, as a slight overrun here is easier to pull back accross 2 Section A questions. The other way round and you could be in a position where you miss a whole section B.
Pay attention to the conext of the questions; eg... "You are asked to prepare a talk for managers" "A member of staff askes you about..." A talk to managers and staff would be pitched at different levels, so aim your answer at the audience.
We were lucky and attended talks by 3 of the 4 examiners - They are not trying to catch you out. (They were actually very nice!) If you can, go to these.

TIP5.
Learn some theorists. There are a number of theorists that overlap MLP and MR; if you learn some of these then they can be used in two exams.
Mind mapping didn't work for me so I came up with some funny ways/mental pictures to remember names. This was really helpful in the exams as it lightened my mood. I also wrote out all of my notes from the year into brief points and pictures, then revised from this. My rule of thumb was 2 sides of A4 for each topic.

TIP 6.
Watch TV... no, not Corrie! If you are like me, you find it hard to remember stuff from books. There are loads of great programmes out there that can broaden your knowledge, particularly for MSBC. I rate Working Lunch & Panorama... I learnt loads from these and even referenced them in my exam.

I hope this has helped. Good luck in November.

Hi Lisa,

Thank you for taking the time to give such a detailed piece of advice. I will definately take this on board, it seems very helpful.

Many thanks
Clare

I have just found out today that i have failed my PM&D exam (no letter sent from my distance learning provider ICS Ltd thanks!).

In my 1st year at college all exams were internally marked and i failed 3 of 4 (the only person in my class), i believe the only way i passed them all the second time around was because my friend on the course explained what they were looking for etc. Since then I decided that i would try distance learning through ICS Ltd.

After giving me wrong directions to my exam and having to hot foot it by taxi to the actual exam location, i was rather flustered sitting my exam. However, i felt that i had done enough preparation and revision work to sit the exam and did so. I came out of the exam with room with a sense of pride that for the first time ever the hard work had paid off! Obviously this was not the case!

My main reason for adding to the comments section was to show that im not going to give up! I will resit in November however i am not sure i will be able to do any better than i already did.

Im not a glass half empty kind of person i just feel that i am more of a practical person than academic and i certainly cant use as many big intellectual words that the CIPD love! (Ive also seen lots of successful people who are in senior HR positions who dont have the CIPD!)

Anyway two more things 1) My lecturer once told me that you will never be able to cover everything in an exam and they will always pick you up on the things you havent covered! Useful huh!?!
2) Does anyone else find the examiners comments on the exam reports slightly sarcastic?

Sorry to bore you all with my life history!

Janine

Sorry to hear your news but at the same time delighted that you posted your determination to succeed.

When I was taking my MBA (through the (Open University) I used their online conferencing system to help with my revision. I tracked down several students who wanted to do revision together, even though we were all based in different parts of the globe, so the online conferencing system was the ideal way to do this -- it even allowed you to send voice clips to one another. We used to get hold of old exam papers then each of us would tackle one question and send it to each other for peer review and comment. This work very well since it allowed us different perspectives -- if you get stuck in one way of thinking this can be particularly helpful.

I found that my fellow students in other countries were particularly interested in taking part since it also allowed them to pick up idioms, phrases etc which would be helpful to them since they are expected to complete all the exams in English.

Working in groups of about three or four was optimal since more than this could create too many opinions.

Each of us has our own technique which we develop based on experience so one person's recipe may not work for someone else. But Janine gives good advice when she points out that it is important to figure out what examiners are looking for and often this information is given at the outset of a course. Consequently, as courses progress and students are busy digesting and applying new information critical advice offered in relation to what examiners are looking for can be overlooked. I remember it being a source of irritation that the Open University tutors were always encouraging us to look at the advice provided in the course manuals about what examiners are looking for -- I'm glad I was sufficiently irritated that I went and looked at it since it paid dividends.

I have no experience of the tutors for the exams you are talking about but was very lucky that I had good tutors while doing my MBA, and of at least equal importance, good fellow students from whom I learnt a great deal. And this is something I would emphasise -- the value of learning in groups whether you do it face-to-face or via an online conferencing facility. It reassures you, it motivates you, it helps you learn and gives you the opportunity to help others learn.

Good luck with the rest of your studies.

Many thanks David.

Well i have just had more bad news, after finding out on friday about my results i have now been told that i cannot resit my exam in November. Apparently there was a booklet sent before my exam in May explaining about cut off dates for resits etc. So because my results where supposedly lost in the post and i didnt read the leaflet i now have to wait until May 08 to resit my exam.

I feel so let down by the CIPD no-one in the exams section were even interested in my plea to actually want to resit rather than give up. How unfair? The exam is in 2months and ICS sort the location etc as far as i am aware all the CIPD have to do is send them the exam paper. Really feel like giving up my whole career in HR which i love and starting again!

Wow this thread has been amazing. I last week started my first part time class for yr1 PDS. I have never sat an exam in my entire life and I have to say having looked at past exam papers I felt I was reading another language. It scared the bejebbers out of me. I have taken some really good tips from you guys and I have told myself I am going to study and work hard.  I have read the first chapter of my text books Managing in a Stratic Buiness Context and Managing for Results and briefly peered at the next chapters, I feel like I am reading gobbledegook, I am also reading the marvellous section on the CIPD website called "HR in the papers today" That I have found is time saving and invaluable. So here's to madness of study. Guys if any of you out there are interested in having an on-line study group I'm up for that. Just email me and we will set something up.

Many thanks to everyone on this thread who has contributed, as Tesco say "every little helps"

 

Regards Kym

Hi All,

I have read through most of the revision technique discussions and I still don't know what to do.  I failed PM&D and Reward in May, I have resat them both in November but I don't hold out much hope of passing them.  I know I shouldn't think like that but feel so disheartened just now.

With no disrepect to the CIPD, has anyone bought the revision guides?  If so did they find them useful?

I am trying to find the best way of revising for me.  I bought the BPP passcards for PM&D and I thought they helped but after sitting the exam I knew I'd failed.  Sometimes I think it's the way the examiners ask the questions.  Our tutors are going to do mock exams starting in March next year but I am trying to work out the best way of revising for these mock exams and also the exams in May, can anyone help?

Hi Leeanne

I too failed my PM&D exam in May, however I'm currently studying my electives so have decided to resit in May 08 once I've done all of these - in the hope that it will help me to pass!

I bought the CIPD Revision Guides for both L&D and Resourcing and have found them much more helpful than the BPP Passcards. The books have helped me to understand what the examiners are looking for in our answers. The Guides also provide you with some real life answers - both good and bad ones!

I think that if you can get hold of one of these Guides then it will really help you with your exam technique. Plus you never know you might have passed your PM&D exam!

All the best,

Helena 

 

Thanks Helena. I am too studying for my electives this year so if I have not passed PM&D hopefully I'll have more of an insight into what the examiners are looking for for PM&D.

 

I will invest in those revision guides, as I had the passcards for PM&D but they obviously didn't help me.

Thanks again,

Leeanne

I am about to take my exams for the Managing and Leading People and Managing for Results and have been revising solidly for two weeks but there just seems so much to remember.  I am particularly worried about remembering theorists and models - does anyone have any tips?  I have not taken any exams since my GCSE's 14 years ago and am petrified about the confusing wording of the exam questions!!  When you are asked to critically analyse, does that mean to give your own opinion or the opinions of academics?

I would be grateful for any advice or tips.

Ella