Hi, I am taking CP1 (first time) in April. Since we are in lockdown was thinking I might try either CP2 or CP3 as well. I know CP3 has half the recommended study hours but I am a little wary of choosing this subject as the exam is on the day before CP1. I wanted to ask a few questions: 1. Is this subject difficult to pass, and does it really require 120 hours of studying (that's almost the same as CB1)? I have been working in excel with good practice for a long time now so I would think that this subject doesn't require much studying for me, but could be wrong. 2. Which subject is easier of CP2 and CP3 in terms of work required to pass the exam. I don't want to pick one of these and then end up failing CP1 because it took too much of my time to learn. 3. Are there any students out there considering doing the same as me. Or is there anyone out there that has done this before? Please share your input.
Hi, In my personal opinion, if it is the first time you are writing CP1. I would suggest you to strongly stick to it only given the sheer size of the notes and volume of energy and work it requires. CP1 is very bulky and given the pass rates are also quite low, i would recommend you to study well the notes. Then, maximise on question practice because this is very important. If you still need to write CP2 and CP3, i would advise you to write both of them perhaps in September. There is no easier papers as each of them has its own challenge and needs its specific level of preparation. Hope this helps.
I have now sat both CP1 and CP2. I will be re-sitting CP1 this April and I have decided against sitting it with CP2. The reason being is that although CP2 isn't as challenging as CP1, I just feel as though it is a distraction you don't really need in the SAME week as CP1. CP2 is also 2 exams and I don't know about others, but after an exam I get really bad headaches. There is not much recovery time at all between CP1 and CP2. It's such a shame the examiners have chosen to put the two of them in the same week - my employer advises we sit CP1 and CP2 together, but I guess they don't realise that'll be 4 lengthy exams in one week. Having said all of this, I would recommend CP3 with CP1. It is not as time consuming preparing for CP3 compared to CP2. I found for CP2, even doing past exam papers was extremely time consuming. Hope this helps.
I took CP3 alongside CP1. I found it easier and smaller than CP2. For CP3 I: Flicked through the acted materials (~3 hours), and Did one past paper (~4 hours, with marking). At this point I felt pretty confident I understood the format of the exam, how to approach it, and what the examiners were looking for. So that’s all the prep I did. The exam might require more preparation if it takes you longer to understand what the examiners want and what the exam is all about.
Hi all, thank you so much for your input, that is really helpful to me. I might order the CP3 notes but write it in Sept. I really want to do CP1 once!
Goodluck! You will see you will spend some few hours reading the notes (both for CP2 and CP3), but you would spend most of your time practicing past exam papers.
