Hi there
Firstly, sorry to hear you've not managed to pass CM1 so far. I fully appreciate that must be disheartening. I should stress CM1 is a tough exam, many students do struggle with it, so you're not alone. But I appreciate that may not make you feel much better in the here and now.
Studying is so personal, and what works for one person doesn't always for others, so it's hard to give hard and fast advice. I also don't know what materials and techniques etc you've tried so far. But here's a few thoughts. Not all will be relevant to you, so ignore what doesnt help.
1) Try to figure out what's stopped you from passing so far. You'll hopefully remember what kinds of questions you struggled with, and your marks breakdown should help too. Is it one area of the course in particular? Is it more Paper A or Paper B? Is it lack of understanding generally? Or perhaps time management? If you have a feel for where you're falling short, you can work particularly on that area. For example, focus on completing past questions faster and faster. Or blitz certain areas of the course. Or concentrate on using Excel.
2) If remembering equations is a challenge (as there are a lot to remember!), try focusing on remembering how the equations work rather than learning them by rote. While this takes longer short term, it can help long term. For example, rather than trying to memorise the formula for a term assurance, remember that a term assurance is the same as a whole life assurance...except for the lack of payments after time n. So you can take a whole life assurance aged x, and then subtract a whole life assurance aged x + n, allowing for discounting and probability of survival. Try to come up with similar ways to remember other such equations.
3) I always recommend the key to passing is to practice past paper questions. Do as many as you can. There is limited value in returning again and again to the course notes. But the more past exam questions you do, the more you get used to the style of questions, the wording of them and you'll find the same styles of questions repeated again and again. Do them under timed conditions, mark them, repeat. Focus on the areas you are getting wrong. Use ASET or the Vault to see full solutions and explanations, and in particular the Vault includes past questions grouped by topic, which can help you blitz questions on topics you find hardest.
4) Consider what materials you've used so far and consider other ones. I've no idea if you've already attended tutorials or done assignments (and, especially, had them marked). But stats show the % of students who pass is very much higher for students who do these. If you haven't already, please try them...
5) ... and if you have already, consider other materials. Flashcards, revision notes, ASET...different students find different ,materials helpful. Try something different, and see if it helps.
6) Are other students at your company studying CM1? If so, try studying together, as a group. Mark each others' work. Set each other questions. That can make it more engaging and less dull.
As I say, everyone studies differently. I suspect not everything above will help. But it might give you a few ideas to try.
Finally, if you havent already looked, our range of informal "tutor talk" videos include some discussions about these kinds of things. Check out
https://www.acted.co.uk/help-and-support.html?v=695836#tutor-talk - in particular the video called "exam results".
Hope that helps.
Best of luck
Greg
