I hope last week wasn’t too heavy? If it is any consolation last week was the most extensive in terms of curriculum pages, so if you managed to get through the material it is all going to be downhill from here. If you are still missing a bit there is no need to despair, but I would recommend that you wrap this up by Sunday night the latest, as you don’t want to get too far behind the curve.
Are you making sure to complete all of the end of chapter questions? Having mastered these will improve your odds of exam success, as many candidates will not do this.

The week ahead:

We are going to finish economics this week, so we are going through the final two readings in the Macroeconomics study session as well as the two readings that make up study session 6: Economics in a Global Context. It is going to be another heavy week (266 pages), but unfortunately the exam weighting just does not truly justify the effort (As we discussed last week economics is the topic area with the smallest exam weighting compared to the topic weighting in the curriculum).
We are continuing with the standard approach, that should be second nature by now:

  • Answer all of the end of chapter questions before going through each individual reading. The average number of questions per reading in this segment is roughly 26, so it should take about 40 minutes to complete for each reading, if you apply the same pace as for the exam (26*1.5 minute). As you answer the questions make a list of the questions that you find particularly tricky (especially whenever you resort to guessing). Review your answers thoroughly (particularly those that you got wrong) and add these questions to your list. You will now have a targeted list of the hardest questions in the reading seen from your perspective.
  • Write down the LOS on flashcards so that you have them handy, and actively seek out and write down the answers as you progress through each individual reading (It is again crucial that you manage to focus on what is important in this reading, so that you don’t get lost and spend too much time on details). Also make sure to create flash cards whenever you come across key concepts and formulae.
  • Answer only the EOC questions from your list once you are through each reading, as many times as you need, until you can confidently answer all questions correctly (thankfully we continue with standard multiple choice questions in this reading).

I know this is a lot to digest, and despite your best intentions you may be trailing a little bit, or skipping parts to keep up, but as they say “when the going gets tough, the tough get going..” And remember this process is exactly as difficult for all of your fellow candidates, the only difference is that many of them may be wasting their time using inefficient study techniques.

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