Exam re-sits are never easy. They require facing up to a previous failure and finding the inner strength to better yourself on something that you may have tried your best on already. Here, Cordie director and CIPS tutor Ian Thompson provides a few helpful pointers on how to find success second (or possibly third) time round.
“There’s a few simple rules to follow when it comes to going back over a subject and re-sitting an exam. It requires honesty and self-awareness, plus determination to succeed.”
first, what went wrong?
You have to start with an honest assessment of what didn’t go to plan last time round. Here’s a simple checklist of six of the more usual causes:
Did I put in enough intensive study and exam preparation?
Did I do the “wrong type” of study?
Was I distracted with other things at work or in my personal life?
Was the pressure of exams overwhelming?
Did I lack the right kind of “technique” for this exam?
Was the technical content of the syllabus beyond me?
Let’s look at the top-3 causes here.
Putting in enough study preparation:
This is one of the biggest areas that can let us down, especially if you are juggling multiple responsibilities such as work, family and relationships. Almost everybody underestimates the amount of study preparation time required.
While CIPS recommends a minimum of 600 hours study time per Level, this will obviously vary from person to person (especially if you have prior education or experience that you can call upon). This breaks down to 25 hours of learning time per OR subject (50 hours for a CR essay subject), topped up with a further 30 hours of personal study or revision.
In other words, for each 90-minute OR study module, CIPS recommends 3-hours personal study time for 10 nights leading up to the exam ….on top of your learning / study time (such as classes or eLearning).
While some people may not be able to make this commitment, if you are considering resitting an exam that you have previously failed, why not give yourself the challenge of finding some more time to get yourself more thoroughly prepared this time round?
2. doing the right type of study:
Again, this can be personal to each individual. However, if you are having to resit an exam, it is worth re-thinking what kind of study you are doing. There’s nothing worse than putting in a whole load of misguided effort.
Here are a few tips of the kind of ‘proven’ activities that work for many learners…
Re-write a set of study notes that summarise the key learning points
Stay focused on the essential content of the syllabus
Use a highlighter pen to mark up your study notes and make the key points stand out
Create a set of ‘flashcards’ of the salient points (and then get a friend to test you!)
Create a mindmap that summarises the main content
Make yourself a podcast to play in the last few days before the exam
Pretend you’re a YouTuber and make yourself a few shorts for each learning outcome.
In each case here, you are forcing your brain to process and re-process the important information that you have studied. This is an active form of learning - and repetition will help you to remember it!
Our favourite is about making learning social. Get your friends involved. Invite them round for a pizza or some simple fun food and then get them to test you on your flashcards. Better still, get them to shoot a video of you repeating back the learning content. You can make this fun and effective!
3. keeping focused, not distracted:
We all know that distractions are unhelpful. But what if there are outside influences on your studies that are difficult (almost impossible) to control?
Examples could include:
Family responsibilities and pressures
Additional work responsibilities (extra projects, excessive workloads, a second job, etc)
Caring for a loved one
A personal illness
Other commitments.
Each of the above scenarios requires a different approach. Talk to us to help us understand what else is going on and we will work with you to try to find the best solution. Sometimes, the situation warrants reasonable adjustments or special considerations (…CIPS has a policy for this, which we have mirrored). On other occasions we might suggest a bite-sized or individualised approach to studying for that resit.
Second, what’s going to change?
You may have heard it before, but Susan Jefferies came out with the well-known saying: “…if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”. The concept behind this is that something needs to change to prevent you getting the same exam result as last time.
This is where being honest with yourself as to what didn’t go well first time round is going to help, so that you can put things right. It’s about taking control of the situation.
The next thing is therefore making a determined commitment to making the necessary changes. Sometimes, it helps talking this through with a close family member, colleagues or tutor. Once spoken out, the commitment has been voiced and it is easier to commit to.
lastly, now go do it!
This may sound trite, but it is meant with sincerity. We want you to banish the ghosts of the past and put your anxieties behind you.
Almost everyone is capable of achieving the CIPS qualifications and it may surprise you to learn that nearly every student has a wobble along the way.
So, with all of our support behind you, we ask you to pick yourself up, take heart and reinvigorate your passion for learning.
Talk to us, and we will help you with advice, additional resources and, if need be, additional guidance and tutoring.
You’ve got this! Now go get what is yours…!!!