CP3 vs CA3

Hi guys, what are your first impressions? Is the new exam better?

How much time did you require for prepping after the materials are provided? Is it full time day load of work?

 

From my point of view (I never sat CA3 but heard what other people said and looked at several past papers in prep for this one) if they manage to get the advanced material right it is a big improvement.

Still more subjectivity in the mark scheme than I would like. For example they go on at length about not convoluting things or giving overly long explanations, then in their own specimen answer they give a long and, in my opinion, confusing explanation on profit margin for a non-technical person. Most people I know would automatically understand what profit margin represents but I think they'd have to stop and read that paragraph a few times to understand what they are trying to say on a simple concept, so I would personally mark their specimen answer down. Even in the course notes they harp on about being succinct and then when they get to the bit about inviting questions they decide for no discernible reason that "do not hesitate to contact me" is a cliché and that you should put something twice as convoluted instead. Not sure if I would get bonus marks for suddenly deciding "Dear..." was a cliché and writing "To The Most Esteemed, Honourable and Righteous..." instead.

So overall it seemed an improvement but even after their numerous teething issues are sorted still far from perfect. Still worried the difference between me passing or not could potentially come down to whether somebody thinks "business model" is jargon to a corporate lawyer with an investment portfolio. Especially since I disagree with bits in the official study materials and specimen answers. Still no confidence that they've solved the problem that potentially a lot of candidates, especially close to the pass mark, would have their pass or fail reversed if they had another combination of people marking their exam.

 

Hey Tarbuck, thanks for your feedback - really useful to hear your thoughts! I was just wondering how is the whole new idea of prep time before the actual exam? How time would you need to spend on this and what exactly did you do?

 

Well I had SA3 4 days after the CP3 exam so my plan was to spend about half a day on CP3 every week in the run up to exams, then block study SA3 until the scenario material came out, block study CP3 Friday to Monday then block study SA3 again after. That turned out to be an absolute disaster - their e-mail for requirements didn't cover everything so the Tuesday before the scenario material came out I found out I need to find a new location and computer to sit the exam, get guest wifi in my office and so on. Furthermore on the Friday they made 2 errors in the scenario material and told people to await clarification, of which the final version of scenario material wasn't sent out til 5pm on the Friday. All in all I lost about 5 days of study in the week prior to my 2 exams because they messed up this one so badly. hence the teething problems I mentioned above.

With that said, I'm not sure the block study for the weekend you get the material is entirely necessary. If I have to resit it again I would allocate less time to CP3 in those few days (at least if I still have to sit it with another exam). I still think my original plan was fine if the CP3 had been run seamlessly but frankly after last time I have no confidence it will be next time, so I would try to make a plan that allowed contingencies a bit better!

 

To clarify the bit they missed out of their technical requirements e-mail was that you would need to install a .exe file on the computer. Unsurprisingly this could be a huge data protection issue for us and is blocked from happening by my company, without the IT department going through it and signing it off, which they couldn't do in the 4 days notice I had between receiving the email and the exam material coming out. I would have known I couldn't install it if I had heard any mention of it before the Tuesday before the exam, so take note if you are thinking of sitting it at work.

Even more annoyingly I found out later having spoken to someone who sat the final CA3 sitting the time before that they had the exact same problem and complained strongly that there was no mention of it and not enough time to find a resolution. It's even worse now its in the main exam sitting! So don't assume they will fix it, because they didn't between those exam sittings.

 

Thanks Tarbuck, its really useful to hear your feedback. It really does sound like a nightmare and also because it is just before the big written exam!

I am just trying to understand how much work is required for the actual scenario? Is it 2 full days of work or maybe more?

 

That's a difficult one to answer really. There is enough material in the advanced scenario for you to make up a number of exam style questions to create a number of different document types. If you are sitting it on its own you could spend all 4 days doing that because there is no reason not to. Although obviously do some preparation before that as well.

If you are doing it with another exam(s) then the usual problem of trade off happens and I don't know if there is a right answer. You will want to become as familiar as you can with the material and key all the data on to excel and so on so I would say a minimum of a day. If you have done preparation and attempted exam style questions before the advanced material comes out, I think you would be unlucky if only spending one full day on the prep material instead of 2 was the difference between a pass and a fail - but as always the more you can do the better.

 

So given that the CP3 is just right after CA2 in April and September 2018 exam sessions, does that mean that it is impossible to sit CA2 and CP3 in one session? I have not been through the CP3 experience yet and given that you need some prep time in days proceeding the exam....it sounds that one could not sit CA2????????????????

 

Hi, thanks for your answer. I have not sat CP3 in the last session and have not idea how different it may be from CA3. What is covered/ given in the advance material? And when does it become available?