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Orlagh, do not despair. I found out today that I’ve passed with 60%, but it was my 4th or 5th attempt (honestly, I’ve lost count!)
Like you, I struggled with the timing in the exam rather than the subject matter, which is really not that difficult. I have 4 pieces of advice that I hope will help you:
1) Practice, practice, practice doing timed questions, especially 45-minute ones. Hopefully you are already doing this, but you cannot practice too much.
2) Write something for every part of every question. For example, if you have spent 35 minutes on part a) of a section B question, move onto part b) unless you really can’t think of anything to write for part b).
3) Try to predict the marking guide, e.g. if the question asks you to apply Porter’s Five Forces to the scenario and the question is worth 20 marks, try to write 3 or 4 points per force. It’s easy to carry on writing too much on one element, because you have more points to make, but there are only so many marks on offer.
4) Do section B first. This is controversial, because it goes against a lot of advice out there, but it worked for me after 3 or 4 failed attempts doing section A first and only completing about 65-75% of the paper each time. The theory is that doing section B first maximises use of the limited resource, i.e. time. It’s important though that you stick to 45 minutes per section B question, so that you leave 1 hour 45 minutes for section A, including reading time, but don’t panic if you overrun slightly. Anyway, don’t take my word for it: have a go at doing section B first in a full timed mock paper as soon as you feel up to it and see how you get on.
GOOD LUCK for the March paper! You can do it, I promise!
Thanks very much for your reply. I have heard this theory of diminishing returns before, but the problem I have is that I only complete 60-65% of the paper when I attempt three questions, but I can complete 75% of the paper if I just do two questions.
I have also heard that there is strong evidence to suggest candidates have a better chance of passing if they do Q1 first.