I have decided to write the CP1 paper in the upcoming April sitting and would like some advice in my preparation. It has been mentioned that CP1 is directed more towards the writers knowledge of breadth rather than depth. And since the exam has been shifted to an open-book format, I was wondering how important is it to recall and remember the course notes. In the past few weeks, I have been continuously going through the course notes in hope of understanding and also for remembering and recalling important points. But is this the right method of preparation? Is it necessary to remember each and every point? Or should I switch to answering as much past papers? I feel the latter will be better in formulating ideas and also for structuring answers. Do you guys agree? Thanks in advance
It will be useful to know the concepts and key definitions verbatim for each chapter so you can efficiently get them down in the exam. Other than that I believe doing exam papers is key.
Whilst I would definitely encourage masses of past exam paper practice, could I just add a note of caution to the suggestion to learn things 'verbatim'. Try to aim to understand the concepts and ideas within the course, rather than learning them off-by-heart. In this age of open-book exams, the examiners are looking principally for your ability to apply concepts to given scenarios. In those (now rarer) cases where knowledge is being tested more directly, you should ideally be aiming to express things in your own words. Having good grasp of the ideas and principles, and being able to identify quickly which will be relevant to each given situation / question, is therefore key to achieving this.
