As we 'teach out' the CIM Professional Diploma, passing your Delivering Customer Value in Marketing exam first time is even more crucial. This is a challenging syllabus with a broad range of theory to master, on top of a detailed case study and the need to hone your exam skills. If you still have this module to pass, my top tips to harness the BEAST that is DCVIM may be just what you need:
B is for BASE IT ON THE CASE STUDY
It always surprises me how many mocks I receive that bear no mention to the case study the student has spent hours pouring over! Keep focused... you are giving consultancy style advice to a client and your recommendations must relate to the organisational and brand context.
E is for EXAMPLES FROM WIDER MARKETING READING
Did you just read the slides or skim through a study text? These are great revision tools but demonstrate your wider reading from core and recommended texts. Have you been reading the marketing press? Give some relevant examples of similar organisations experiencing the same sort of problems to back up your recommendations. Have you noticed that The Marketer magazine always covers articles that relate to current assignment topics? Use your travel time and downtime to catch up on your current marketing knowledge.
E is also for EVALUATION
Don't rely on description alone... the CIM Magic Triangle marking scheme tells us that 30% of marks at this level are for evaluation. I always tell my students to say in their heads BECAUSE for every point they write... this is the company's problem, this is the evidence to prove it, and this is what they should do to change that because...
A is for AUDIT ANALYSIS
Again, I often see mocks that have no mention of the audit. Your audit should give you the ammunition to draw on to demonstrate the company's issues and your recommendations for the future. The syllabus is broad but you should have something in the audit to support each element. What have you got that would help you if you were discussing branding, pricing, channel management, competition, environmental influences and so on?
S is for STRUCTURING YOUR ANSWER
Read the question carefully and take note of the command words. Do not think about starting your answer before you've outline planned your response - mind map it, bullet point it, scribble some headings, whatever works for you! Is there a beginning, a discursive section and a conclusion? Have you shown a logical progression of points? Have you used clear headings? Perhaps, the answer would benefit from a framework to shape your response? Think carefully before you commit to paper and your work will be better for it.
T is for THEORY
There's a lot of it in this module - ensure your revision covers the syllabus topics and that you have theory to draw on for each aspect. Write out little cards or use a post-it note style app like Evernote to support your learning. It would be problematic if you went into the exam to find a 25 mark question on channel management and you have nothing to pin your answer to.
T is also for TIMING
It makes me want to cry when a student comes out of the exam and tells me they did okay but ran out of time for the final question and didn't start it. So straight away, their top score is probably capped to 75 and if they average a C for every question, that's 38 marks and a fail... if they'd have got their timing sorted out and given it a shot, they might have ended up with 50 and a pass. If you have 45 minutes for a question, plan your work for 5 minutes, put your watch on the table, write for 35, check it for 5 minutes, move on. Leave a space at the end of each question so if you do have some final thoughts and finish early, you can quickly add them in.
With good revision techniques and lots of practice, this exam can be mastered. Good luck!
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