CLASS ACT


egular readers of this column will know that this is not the first time that I have addressed the issue of how best students can prepare themselves for the IMIS Diploma and Higher Diploma examinations in order to maximise their chances of success. There is a very particular reason that I am coming back to that matter now with


ARE YOU READY FOR TH R


Steve Wallis discusses how best to prepare yourself for the June 2013 examinations.


two different concerns in mind ahead of the examinations in June 2013. The first is that these will be the first examinations of the new syllabus, and, as I briefly mentioned last time, they will have a new format which all candidates will need to be aware of and prepared for. But the other reason that this is fresh in my mind is that I have just finished reviewing the examiners’ reports of the June 2012 examinations and preparing my own chief examiner’s report on the outcomes. My concern is that repeatedly the examiners are reporting on shortcomings in the way that candidates are tackling the examination papers – and that these are the SAME factors that come up time after time and really do need the attention of


students and their teaching centres. My worry is that if students are not clued up to the new examination format and continue to commit avoidable errors in their approach to the examinations, then completely preventable under- performance next June may be the undesirable outcome.


Let us start with the new examination format which applies to all Diploma and Higher Diploma examinations. The key driver for the change in format is that IMIS is aiming for Ofqual recognition for its qualifications and that one factor in this is that examinations should examine every Learning Objective of the syllabus. Clearly the present format will not do – it is a choice of five out of eight questions which means that candidates can evade certain topics by carefully choosing which questions to tackle. The way in which IMIS has decided to address this is to introduce compulsory questions into


40 December 2012 | Volume 22 – Issue 4


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