Online studying guarantees CIMA success! Here's why...

Do you ever find it difficult to fit in your CIMA course around your busy working life? If you do, you should seriously consider online learning for CIMA.

All of Astranti's CIMA materials are online. This means no classrooms, no waking up at the crack of dawn for an early morning class or dashing to a late evening session after a hard days work. Online courses and materials mean you can study in your own time, at your own pace and in your own way. 

As a tutor for the CIMA qualification, I know this is THE best way to study if you want to master the CIMA syllabus and achieve that all important pass. Here's why...

How can YOU make the most of the night before your exam?

It's the night before your CIMA exam and you're nervous and unsure how to proceed. Should you stay up and try and cram in as much extra revision as possible? Should you get an early night? Should you go for a run to try and clear your mind?

We've all been there - it can be a tricky decision. Many of us end up buckling under the pressure and trying to revise as much as possible until the early hours - but time and time again studies have shown this is not the best approach. Read on to find out how you can make the most of your pre-exam evening and set yourself up for CIMA success the next day!

Here's how to use algorithms to succeed in your CIMA revision...

What is one of the most important inventions of the 20th Century? Computers. It seems that in the modern day the whole world is computerized - your CIMA exams will even need to be sat using a computer! We rely on computerized systems so much because they are infallible, in a way that other human-controlled systems are not.

Sometimes, when work or revision is stressful, we all wish we could perform tasks as well as computers can. But what can we learn from these devices and how can this help your CIMA revision? Read on to find out...

Tailor your revision to suit your learning type!

Everybody is different and we all learn in different ways. Experts agree that there are four main learning groups into which individuals fall - visual learners, audio learners, linguistic learners and physical learners.

Read on to find out more about these different learning groups and how your own learning type could effect which type of study material is best for you!

Why accountancy is a great career choice...

I'm sure you know how tough studying for CIMA exams can be. Revising in the evenings, in the early mornings, even during your lunch breaks - it seems like you're always working. What's more, some of the material can be really difficult to understand. Even the most hardworking students might sometimes question - is all this really worth it? 

Well the answer to that is 'yes it is'! Top accountancy jobs are among the highest paid jobs in the world, meaning your hard work will quite literally 'pay off' as you progress through your career. 

Check out our four fun accounting facts below - they're guaranteed to put a smile on the face of all prospective CIMA accountants! 

Can I cram for an exam and still pass?

Working life can be stressful enough without the burden of CIMA exams. While trying to juggle other responsibilities, it’s incredibly easy for working CIMA students to think ‘I can always do my revision another time’. But can you leave your revision until the last minute and still get the results you want from your CIMA exams?

Four tips to help change your revision...forever!

Have you ever walked into the self help section of a book store? If you have, then you may have noticed that there are a good number of books claiming to perform near miracles in a very short amount of time. Become happier in six days? Sounds good! Stop smoking after one session with a hypnotist? Sign me up! Learn how to grow your own money tree? This book comes with free saplings to get you started!

Okay, so maybe some of these aren't exactly the real deal – but it doesn't stop a lot of books from claiming to change your life in under a week. As great (and easy) as it sounds, the effects are unlikely to last long term. In order to see real results, you must keep working on your goals consistently. How can we do this? We have some great tips from one of the most successful self help gurus - no money trees included!

Why online learning is the best!

At Astranti, all our CIMA materials are online. This means no classrooms, no being up at the crack of dawn for an early morning class or dashing to a late evening session after a tiring day of work. It also means that there are no heavy books to carry and no study texts to suddenly lose when you need them most! Although online learning does have its drawbacks, there are a lot of advantages to studying with me, myself and I. Here's four reasons why we believe that online learning will be the future.

Prepare for your CIMA OT exam with this handy guide.

Are you preparing for your CIMA OT exam? It can be easy to feel overwhelmed, with so many different topics and possible questions! If you are feeling like you are not sure which route to take, have no fear. I was speaking to an examiner the other day and they told me about a route through the exam that will navigate you towards success!

Model, Average or Disaster Student... Which one are you?

People regularly use the term “The Model Student” within the education industry when describing what the ideal student would do when passing their exams with top marks.

However, the idea of the model student can seem a bit out of reach for some students, as they may think that they will never get to that level.

I wanted to explore the idea of the model student therefore, in order to try and work out what really makes the perfect student within the accountancy world, with the hope of potentially inspiring a few students to reach that little bit further within their own studies to achieve the best that they possibly can.

Don't make this big mistake!

I was recently approached by a worried student who was struggling to remember his theory. He was spending hours reading the CIMA Study Text but simply couldn't remember what he'd just read - nothing was going in! He talked me through his revision technique and basically we soon released that he didn't have a strategy. He simply spent hours reading through the CIMA Study Text over and over again. 

His biggest mistake was that he was not taking notes. I suggested that he should spend one hour on a specific subject annotating the text and capturing the key points as he went along. I am pleased to say that he was quickly able to take me through the CIMA subject in great detail much to his own surprise!

Sometimes it isn't enough to simply read through a piece of text - in my experience you have to take things a step further like this student did. Take notes as you go along. The process of reading a portion of text and then translating this into a written note helps your brain to consume and understand the information. It also helps you to remember it at a later date.

To help you do this really well, here are 8 simple but effective note-taking tips:

Exam Tip - Reward your hard work!

You may have an exam approaching in the next few weeks and there's no doubt that this can be a very stressful experience...

Scrabbling to cram in that last bit of revision whilst doubting whether you know enough to pass the exam - I'm sure this is a scenario familiar to us all. 

Sometimes it can feel like a very stressful period, but it's so important that you enter the exam hall with a fresh and positive mind-set, so what tricks can you employ to calm yourself down?

Management Pass Rates - 2015

2015 was expected to be a difficult year with the introduction of the new syllabus. 

However, many students performed well considering the change. There were those who might have been a little apprehensive or not as accepting at the start, with some students having studied with CIMA (and the old syllabus) for a long time.

Objective Test Pass Rates

As you can see though, the official results below give a good indication of how management OT students have performed between January and December 2015: