Despite the guidance given in the notes and examiner's reports there remain some doubts on formatting, for instance: 1) Letters: If addresses are not written in full should the words be blocked off? (cf pg 48 and pg 50 of CMP). I guess it might just come down to personal preferance. 2) Slides: Is there a preferred format for sketching these? I tend to go with two per page to achieve a reasonable proportion and density. It also means I have to sketch out two blocks per page to make them look like slides. 3) Signing off: I'm tempted to use my own name in the paper, using pseudos such as 'Mr P Nutt' feels a bit forced. Maybe it would be easier if the question gave us a name to work with 4) Reports: these are quite rare. CMP states the intro should include the date, author's name, capacity, commissioner of report and addressee. It makes no mention how these should be set as surely they are not just weaved into the intro text. Thanks in advance.
1) Can't imagine it matters, as long as it's clear what address goes where. 2) I've been wondering about that. I had been doing 2 per page. But looking at examiners' reports, they're including quite a lot of bullets on each page - up to 8 or 9 with structuring. So I'm thinking I want a whole page but to draw a line across to stop me including too much. Don't think the examiners are interested in our artistic talent, so I wouldn't bother drawing in slide shapes. Not unless I get very bored in the exam anyway. 3) Don't use your own name! We're supposed to be anonymous here. 4) Good question, let's hope someone has a quick answer for this one... Good luck tomorrow! Louisa
As someone who passed first time (and who, in celebration of my oddity, absolutely loved doing CA3 compared to all the other exams), here's my advice: I used to just write "<Address>" (or "<My Address>", "<Company Address>") and "<Date>" in the areas where addresses and dates were supposed to go to save time. After all they're not marking you on what your address or date actually says, they just want to know you've got the formatting and placement of these items right (eg, address for informal letter always goes top right hand corner of letter) Again for the sake of saving time and giving yourself most space possible, just draw a line across the middle of the page, and you have 2 slides per page. Make sure you add a page number to each slide - easy marks! In terms of structure, always have a title page with title, name and date on it, followed by a contents page, and make sure you end with a summary page, with a line inviting questions from the audience. And remember not to make your slides too cluttered - get all the info you need there but in as concise a way as possible. As with (1), just write "<signature>" and underneath that "<my name>" (for a formal letter) - again I think the examiners are interested in whether you know where a signature goes as opposed to what you write. Boring, I know, but I realised that if I were to let myself make up names and addresses during the exam, I'd probably get carried away trying to come up with something as inventive as possible. But that's just me. I think I've seen one of these done in a past paper or something (can't remember which one). But speaking from having written reports, I'd have a separate title page which has Report title, author's name, date, commissioner of report and addressee and then an intro page which gives a brief overview of what the report is actually about. Then your contents page and the main bit of the report plus conclusion. Hope this helps, and good luck tomorrow!
