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.
Different Skills
Writing exam-based essays requires a different skill-set to answering multiple-choice questions. Both types of exam use valid assessment techniques that are widely recognised as providing effective tools to test whether exam candidates are able to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and application of a technical subject under exam conditions.
However, these two types of exam require totally different skills and so it is understandable why an awarding body such as CIPS deploys both types of exam within its qualifications.
Multiple-choice questions test an exam candidate’s ability to “process” information and determine the correct answer from a range of options provided. There is no creative skill required, the cognitive processing is purely one of analytical discernment.
Essay-based exams are different. As well as cognitive processing, they also require you to formulate and “package” a response in terms of an answer. The output package (i.e. the essay) ends up getting assessed by the examiner and this may (or may not) be truly representative of the exam candidate’s knowledge, understanding and application.
What do we mean by “cognitive packaging”?
Cognitive packaging is what you and I do whenever we communicate to another person or entity. We plan, construct and package the delivery in order to be understood. This includes the words we use, the structure, the context and the level of supporting description or evidence to reinforce our message. You cannot do this with a multiple-choice exam.
In other words, essay-based exams require additional skills beyond analytical processing, they assess your ability to construct a response in a coherent, well-structured and presented package - and in a nutshell this is why practice mock exams are valuable.
In business, the skill of essay-writing is rarely required. Most written communication (such as emails, reports and presentations) require brief, fact-based explanations and unfortunately the quality levels of written language for these types of communication falls short of the required quality levels for Level 4 and above.
It’s for this reason, that most CIPS learners struggle with the written elements of essay-based exams.
Practise, practise, practise…!
It perhaps goes without saying that the only way to improve the “packaging” element of exam essay writing is to practise writing exam essays! This is where mock exams come into their own element.
Sadly, most CIPS students focus on the technical content of the CIPS syllabus for their essay-based [constructive response] exams. But this is wrong.
“I spent more than a decade as a CIPS examiner. I saw at first hand that applying good exam technique to essay answers can lift the result by +20%. This demonstrates that technical knowledge on its own is not enough; the ability to communicate in a prescribed format is fundamental.”
Here at Cordie, we provide all of our CIPS learners with free “exam writing techniques” eLearning. We also offer half-day exam essay-writing skills workshops to help improve these critical skills.
How to use mock exams productively
Plan your use of a mock just like any other learning tool. Mocks should be undertaken approximately 2-3 weeks before a CIPS exam. This will give you enough time to get meaningful feedback and to apply any adjustments to your technique.
Our recommendation is to start with a 25 mark question and a blank MS Word document. Give yourself 45 minutes (maximum) so that you replicate the exam environment - and then write.
Here at Cordie we mandate the use of mock exam papers. A number of our tutors are experienced question writers and examiners for CIPS and so we will provide you with realistic mock papers.
We review each and every mock paper that we receive and provide detailed and insightful feedback on what you have done well, plus any areas for improvement. We will also give you a provisional “mark” based on our own experience of CIPS assessment policies and the CIPS syllabus.
Our experience suggests that students who practise mock exam papers perform 15-20% higher in the exam than those who do not.
Can you afford to miss this opportunity?
Get in touch to find out more about our services and how we build-in this marking and feedback service to our CIPS studies free-of-charge. We would love to hear from you!