Study and Exam Techniques

Hello OT forummers, I was the past exam candidate for the previous June 2012 exams and I passed it. I would like to share my experience to you guys on how you could prepare for your P5 exam up ahead:

1) Have you read ALL of the technical articles? There were no new TAs, hence suggesting ALL topics will be examinable. Also marking schemes appear to adhere to points made in the TAs, so every old and new TA is important.

2) Have you revised ALL PYQ? Your chances of passing could increase if you can cover questions on all topics, rather than playing by luck and hoping a certain model or chapter would come out.

3) Expect the unexpected! Be very careful not to rely too much on question spotting. There’s the risk of spotting a question successfully… but you don’t know how to answer it. (as what have happened in June 2012, everyone knew performance prism will come out, and it did, but unfortunately couldn’t answer it. Reason? Few exam candidates read the TA… the rest read the text books and lecture notes.)

4) Alex Watt has a strong tone for ‘information relevance’ and ‘how information can be used for relevant decision making’. Bear this in mind when it comes to models and applying them to the case. (ie. How would performance reporting be made easier if we used this model? How would this performance reporting affect management behavior?)

Alex Watt notes in his comment ‘Most students do not care what the client wants, but more concerned about what the client can do’. So be careful not to “answer your own question” and dumping your client away.

5) Alex Watt is different from the methodical Shane Johnson; he needs you to understand the question requirements very closely. He will NOT tell you what model to apply – he expects you to know. (*ouch)

The student was supposed to figure out which methods he was referring to base on the situation and general requirements. In this case, the student was required to make a judgement call on what model was the most suitable given the information available and general requirements of the question (which mirrors the real world)

6) Are you getting stronger in your F5 knowledge like learning curve? Check up OpenTuition revision videos to freshen up your F5. Once you have done that, back up your knowledge on its theory. Often Alex Watt’s questions combine a mixture of applying both theory AND calculation.

7) P5 is famously known for being very hectic with timing. Make sure you have sufficient time to complete all four questions. My experience – I finished the fourth question on the very last minute. One mark equals 1.8 minutes – if you exceed the time for one question, just move on ahead to the next question. Your job is to secure as much marks as possible.

Lastly, keep this in mind when analysing the case:

What are things that you should understand about the client before you sell them a solution?
Their objectives
Their constraints
The environment in which they are operating in
Their current systems and culture
The staff ability to change
The customers and what they want
The suppliers and the issues that they cause

Good luck everyone! Alex Watt is not scary at all if you know the proper way to ‘taming him’. 🙂