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.

Mocks = Success!

Imagine that you are about to take your driving test. You've practised all the manoeuvres, driven along both quiet country roads and busy city streets and spent more than your fair share of free time memorising all of the different parts of the car. However, on the day itself, you do not pass the test. Why could this be? Well, one of the reasons could be that you haven't practised a trial driving test. You've become so used to driving along, chatting to the instructor and knowing that it's okay to make mistakes, that you are not fully prepared for what the test will actually be like.

In the same sense, not taking mocks when preparing for your CIMA exam could cost you exam success. Why are these so important? It's actually for a number of reasons. Read on to find out more!

Staying calm whilst waiting for results.

After months of hard work and nights watching the moon as you do your revision late into the night, the CIMA case study exams are finally over for May! How do you feel? Excited for your result or anxious and fearing the worse? If it's the former, then great! We are sure that you will all get the result you deserve and enjoy the celebrations that will soon follow. But what happens if you are feeling a little nervous? We have some tips that may just help...

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!

Get up to date with KEY information from the Examiner's Report!

One of the best things that I've found you can do when revising for the exam is read the Examiner's report - after all, they will be the ones looking at your exam paper in May! In order to help you get started, we have collected some of the key themes from the February Examiner's Report. The full report is available right here: MCS February 2017 Examiner's Report. We suggest that you read through this yourself very carefully - it could really help you get that pass.

Revision Skills: Which type of learner are you?

When I first started secondary school, one of my teachers really enjoyed creating mind maps when we were learning. If you are not sure what these are, think of lots of colour, information and thin, wiggly lines connecting everything together. Mind maps often start with one word in the middle and link in all of the topics that are related to this. Let's take CIMA, for example. Topics that link to this could be the case study material, key theories and Ethics.

Many of the students enjoyed using the mind maps, but they didn't do much for me. Why is this? Well, it could be because we all have different learning styles. One method of learning may do wonders for one student, while it could be a disaster for another person.

We all have different learning styles. Research has shown that there are up to eight different types – here, we will look at the main four. Which one are you? Read on to find out.

A revision guide just for you!

I was speaking to a student recently who narrowly failed the exam. Why was this? He had good intentions and studied the material, but unfortunately his planning let him down. With so much information needed for the Case Study exam, it can sometimes be overwhelming. It's tempting to give more attention to certain theories or texts, but this needs to be more balanced.

Fear not, however, if you struggle with this – Astranti have a general study plan right here. Don't worry about sticking to the exact dates, as I know that you are all very busy, but this can be used as a helpful guide for your CIMA journey.

Humming to the tune of success...how music can help with revision!

Flashcards, pens every colour of the rainbow, chunky neon yellow highlighters….there are many tools that we use when revising for the CIMA exams. Some of you may prefer to write in plain black and on snow white paper, whilst others will pin notes all over the house to remind themselves of the key areas of the syllabus.

A trio of materials to combat the CIMA exam!

It's not long until the CIMA pre-seen is released! How is your revision going? Do you feel like your mind is blossoming with knowledge or do you currently feel like a stick in the mud who is feeling a little overwhelmed? Have no fear, we are here to help!

Our very first piece of advice would be to start your revision now. Yes, right now, before you start reading that 900-page book, begin studying origami or planning a walk that will take you as far away from the CIMA exam as possible. But without a pre-seen available from CIMA yet, how can you start revising? Well, we may have the materials just for you! The answer is in our Ethics pack, Course Videos and Study Texts. With these three, we have a trio to combat CIMA!

Exam Success: Is it down to luck or hard work?

It's a fact of life that some people seem to have been born lucky. If they are running late, for example, their train or bus is magically running late too. They are never without an umbrella on the day it rains out of the blue or they always have just the right pair of sunglasses in their bag when the sun is shining bright.

Another example of luckiness is when people pass their exams with flying colours...or is it?

A lot of students will come out of the exam and say that the final result is down to luck. If they pass with flying colours, it is because they had a lucky charm on their exam desk. If they don't do so well, their reason for failing is attributed to a simple lack of luck.