CIMA Study Prime: P2 Course

I’ve decided to go down the route of using the CIMA Study Prime course for my next upcoming exam – P2 Advanced Management Accounting.

Although I used the Astranti materials to great effect when passing my last exam (E2) first time with a scaled score of 121, I wanted to see what else was on the market and the official study materials from CIMA seemed like a good fit.

Having started work on the P2 course a couple of weeks I thought I would share my thoughts on the CIMA Study Prime course so far.

CIMA Study Prime P2 Course

For those of you not familiar with the course contents, here is what I got when I enrolled on the P2 CIMA Study Prime course earlier this year.

The main reason I choose the course was for the 120 hours of e-learning content – which I feel I will need with the P2 exam as most student experiences I’ve read from the CIMA connect site have been negative and stories of students struggling to pass this paper!

All of the other features and content of the course is an added bonus for me at this point. But I also like the idea of having tutor support by email or phone (within 24 hours) so if I am really struggling with something, then I can reach out for advice.

Another reason why I chose the CIMA Study course is the fact they are partnered with Kaplan and I always purchase the Kaplan exam practice kit for each paper I am sitting, so I know the structure and format of the study texts and exam kits included in this course.

First Impressions of CIMA Study Prime

Firstly, I was pleased to receive an email and invitation for an introductory web session to formally get an understanding of all of the materials included in the course.
The introductory webinar also gave those who attended a chance to submit questions to the host about the course contents and what to expect.

What was particularly useful, was the Study Guide 2016. This document gives you a 7-8 week plan on how to cover the Study Units in the course with the final 3-4 weeks on revision and exam question practice.

There are two approaches to studying the course contents.

1. You can use the Online Study Text 2016 provided, which covers all of the syllabus in the usual text book structure.
2. Or, like I am choosing to do, is to use the Study Units as a base for your studies rather than going through the study text page by page.

Study Units

The advantage (I hope!) by using the study units rather than the study text is the variation of the materials and content. So far I have completed the first three study units and have been very impressed! Here are my thoughts on what I like and what I don’t like!

CIMA Study do state that the whole syllabus is covered in the study units but it’s just a different way to digest the information.

The below screenshot is an example of one of the study units for the P2 Advanced Financial Performance course.

The Good

• The content is clear, in-depth and easy to understand.
• There are links and further reading on each area, so you can delve further into the subject if you are struggling to understand it.
• The variation of study methods i.e. text, graphics, interactive video and review questions makes it a brilliant resource.
• At the end of each study unit there is a 45 minute exam question to go through with the suggested answer – while there is also a summary of the topics covered and what you should have learnt.

The Bad

• I noticed a few typo’s in the text with some of the example questions and answers, which took me a little while to re-read and understand there was a typo!
• Not very mobile friendly – it would be brilliant if you could access the CIMA Study Prime course via a mobile app. But sadly, that’s not the case.

So far, so good with the CIMA Study Prime Course and I’ll update my progress as I go further into the course.

You can find out more information from CIMA directly on their CIMA Study courses here.