Ever struggled to know how best to prepare for your exams? While the techniques for a CIPS multiple-choice OR exam may be slightly different to those of an essay-based CR exam, education experts are in agreement of six key things that will help give you the best chance of studying effectively and obtaining the best result possible in your exam.

Good news! After some extensive lobbying by employers and study centres, CIPS has recently announced a “stay of execution” on four of its Regional Exam Centres in the UK.

They are big and wordy. They are expensive. But are they any good??? We have recently undertaken a professional review of all of the CIPS Study Guides to offer our learners the best advice as to how to use these book “beasts”. Read more here, or look through the Cordie YouTube channel for each of our reviews.

One of the more challenging aspects of your CIPS studies involves interpreting supplier financial records. This is incredibly important for any procurement professional as it helps to understand and be reassured as to the viability of a supplier’s financial resources. Here, we explain how you can find out more.

We recently asked a group of our CIPS Level 5 students what they thought were the keys to success when sitting an online CIPS “Objective Response” multiple-choice exam. Here are six top tips from what they recommended.

CIPS has just published the proposed changes to their Level 5 Advanced Diploma in Procurement & Supply syllabus. The basic qualification will remain the same, but the technical content of the core modules has been reviewed and modernised. These changes won’t come into force until the first exam assessment in 2025, but here we give you the initial heads up...

Writing mock exam papers is a crucial part of your CIPS studies and a core element of the Cordie curriculum. Here, we explain why mocks are so important for your exam preparation and also how best to use a mock exam as a study and revision tool.

It’s a myth that floats around grammar schools and higher education authorities. Almost all of these respected establishments will tell you that you must start an exam essay with an introduction. Here, Cordie Director and former CIPS senior examiner Ian Thompson, explains why this is not always the case for CIPS exams. In fact it could just be a waste of your time.

YouTube is an amazing resource. Here, we explore how you can use it to maximum effect when revising for your CIPS exams. But beware! There are also some dangers of using this as an exam preparation tool, so read on to find out more.

Good news… CIPS has just updated the index pages for its Level 4 study guides to make searching and referencing learning content a lot easier. You can access these updates in the Workshop Materials section of our learning portal for each of the Level 4 study modules.

Earlier this week, a senior Government official asked us what impact the proposed changes to the UK public procurement would have on CIPS studies and our Commercial Apprenticeship programmes. Fortunately, irrespective of this week’s announcement about the UK General Election, this is unlikely to affect your CIPS studies and it will not affect any CIPS exam assessments. Below, we give you a little more detail, albeit purely from a CIPS learning perspective.

HOT OFF THE PRESS… CIPS has just announced their proposed changes to the Level 5 Advanced Diploma in Procurement & Supply syllabus. Last week, Cordie was invited to a special briefing about the proposed changes. The basic qualification will remain the same, but the technical content of the core modules has been reviewed and modernised. These changes won’t come into force until the first exam assessment in 2025, but we give you the initial heads up here.

Recently released salary data from the UK Government has shown the significant value employers are placing on apprenticeships in procurement. The lure of attractive salaries and a practical skills training programme, plus the benefit of having no student loans hanging over completion, has meant that the demand for these apprenticeships is far outstripping supply.

With just a month to go before the May 2024 exams, we repeat our frequent reminder to all CIPS learners that you must not rely on the content of the CIPS study guides for your exam preparation! Although they have been published by CIPS, they are actually written by independent freelancers and, at times, the technical content is misleading and inaccurate. Even CIPS itself makes it clear that it does not assess the content of its own study material, for reasons that we explain below.

It’s CIPS exam week and, once again, we are excited to support all our learners through the final preparations for their ‘big’ day! This year we have introduced an additional “CIPS Exam Essay Writing Skills” workshop to support first-time CIPS students with the skills and techniques to write great essay answers during their Constructed Response (CR) exams.

Do you know how to access and use the “Performance Report” for your CIPS exam results? In this short article we give you advice on how to interpret your feedback scores and use them to improve your results at the next exam.

Back in November last year, we reported that CIPS had announced a 60% cut back on its Regional Exam Centre network in the UK. Here we update you on how those plans are going and discuss what impact this might have on you as a CIPS learner.