How to win following
Alexander the Great’s Grand Strategy
Goals
1. Promotion
2. To be CICM qualified
3. To be more effective at work
Strategy for exam success
Know your enemy
How is your course going to be assessed?
What standard will you need to reach to pass?
Credit Management, Business Environment and Business Law are assessed by a 1 hour online
exam. Accounting Principles will be assessed by a 3 hour written exam. You will need to
cover all of the learning outcomes in the syllabus. Sample online questions can be purchased
from the CICM to give you an idea about the style of questioning and the type of responses
that will gain credit. Past question papers for Accounting Principles are available to download
from the CICM website.
.
Plan your attack

Purchase study material and sample online questions, download past question papers
and make sure you have a syllabus.

Know the date of the exam (see CICM website).

Work out how many weeks you have before the examination and divide up the learning
outcomes between the remaining weeks, allowing at least 3 weeks for revision and
contingency time.

Divide your learning materials into weeks and gather together paper, cards and
coloured pens for notes and revision cards.

Continually visualise both your ultimate success and your study plan for each week.
Prepare

For each learning outcome: read, highlight text and make revision notes, e.g.
bulleted notes, mind-maps, revision cards, tapes.

Learn your notes (test yourself: cover, write, check).

Practice past questions, referring to your notes, and critically review your answers.

Prepare for the unexpected – think of all the questions that could be asked on a
learning outcome and think through potential answers (perhaps make a plan or a
mind-map).

Work with another person if possible, perhaps
by forming a study group.

Hone your skills – go over your revision cards
until you are confident of the contents and
practice questions without your notes in timed
conditions.

Check you know where the exam will be held,
know how long it will take you to get there
and where to park. Decide on the time you will
need to leave to arrive at the exam in plenty of
time.

Plan a post exam celebration.

As the day of the exam approaches get
some early nights and practice relaxation
techniques.

Visualise success – visualise yourself answering the questions well, reading your
results, receiving your certificate; gaining recognition and promotion at work.
Attack

Double check equipment for the exam - proof of entry
letter, ID, (pens, pencils, rubber, calculator for the
written exams).

Arrive on time.

Keep focused on your goal, try not to be distracted by
others.

Remain determined, focused and confident.

Remember if you don’t achieve the pass mark you would like
on this occasion, you can always take the exam again!
After the exams – CELEBRATE!
Focus on your greater goal
A previous Times article suggested that if you want to win at everything in life you should
follow the ‘grand strategy’ laid down by Alexander the Great. The article identified four
‘top tips for winning everything the Alexander way’. One in particular is particularly
pertinent to exam success: focus on your greater goal.
The strategy encourages you to have a clear goal in mind, one rooted in reality. It
suggests that you contemplate this goal day in and day out as by clearly visualising
your goal it will become a self-fulfilling prophesy. The goal, however, must be rooted
in reality as if it is impossible to realise, you will become discouraged. How true this is
for exam success. T his idea with our version of How to win following Alexander the
Great’s Grand Strategy.
Debbie Tuckwood
Director Learning and Development