From February 2020 all first time attempts at a case study exam will be under the 2019 syllabus. CIMA have also used this
as a chance to make some subtle changes to the case study exam.
So what’s staying the same?
Pre-seen information
Firstly, you will still be given pre-seen information around seven weeks before your exam date. This will still be based on a fictitious company and will provide an opportunity for you to consider your previous studies in the context of the workplace.
The style and length of the exam
The exam will still be the same style and format as it was under the 2015 syllabus. It will be three hours long with three or four tasks, and a number of subtasks.
The exam level
At Operational level it is expected that you are an entry level finance professional, at Management you are a finance manager, and at Strategic you are a senior finance manager. The tasks you are asked to complete during the exam will reflect the
work expected at the relevant level.
And what is changing?
The syllabus
Please be aware that this is a change in the syllabus, so you will need to identify any knowledge gaps before you take the exam.
We will be providing the underpinning texts under the 2019 syllabus as electronic copies on MyKaplan, together with mapping to the core activities by the page number in the relevant text. Remember, if there is anything you are ever unsure of you will
have the support of our Academic Support team.
Use of the pre-seen
The same pre-seen will be used for two sittings from May 2020, meaning that there will be two exam sittings with the same pre-seen information.
From May 2020 the sittings will be May and August and then November and February.
In February 2020 there is an exception to this in that there is one pre-seen valid only for the February 2020 exam sitting.
Replacing the competencies with core activities
The exam will no longer be marked using the four competencies - Technical, People, Business and Leadership. Instead CIMA will be assessing you based on core activities, which represent the tasks that are most important to the professional role at
the relevant level.
Changes to the exam days
From February 2020 all exams for the sitting will be on a Wednesday to Friday, rather than the Tuesday to Saturday under the 2015 syllabus.
Please note that any exams in February sat on the Monday and Tuesday will be resit exams under the old syllabus, for which specific criteria need to be met.
For more information on whether you are eligible for this please contact our student services team on 0161 259 7400.
Breakdown of exam time
In the new exams, the expected time per sub-task will be provided, so you will know exactly how long to spend and how the marks will be allocated.
Exam feedback
The results from the future exam sittings will be structured around the core activities, with detailed feedback. This means you will be able to see the areas you performed well in and those not so well in.
Kaplan are here to support you every step of the way. If you need any help or guidance please don’t hesitate to contact us. All our courses are now available to purchase so for details please view our website or contact our student services
team.
These courses have been carefully designed to support students sitting case study exams.
If you need any technical guidance at any point please get in touch with our academic support team via the contact a tutor icon in MyKaplan.