MyCIMA

Certificate Exemptions and Moving to Operational Papers

Posted: Tuesday 17 January 2012 by Wyson
Replies : 3
Keywords: Operational After Exemptions

I have been exempted from 4 out of 5 papers at Certificate level.  Of these I am only confident in taking one exemption: Fundamentals of Business Mathematics.  My knowledge of the other papers is sketchy.

If I take these exemptions, will it make studying for the operational papers, P1, E1, F1 a real grind? 

How much overlap is there between certificate level papers and these operational papers? 

Will it a case of looking up some concepts or terminology or will I have to literally study the certificate level texts in full to understand whats going on at operational level?

Frankly, I am surprised to have been awarded these exemptions!  I recently completed an MSc Real Estate Finance degree, mainly learning about about investment vehicles and financial modelling related to real estate.  Accountancy was an adjunct to understanding finance and was covered on a need to know basis, mainly about debt / equity.

Many thanks in advance.

Exemptions

Posted by Rebecca McCaffry on Wednesday 18 January 2012 12:04

Hi Wyson

You can waive your exemptions if you are concerned about them - more details here: http://www.cimaglobal.com/Study-with-us/Exemptions/Accepting-or-waiving-your-exemptions/ - however we have a cut-off date of 1 March for completing the certificate before May exam entry, so if you're planning to sit in May you'll need to get your skates on!

However, exemptions aren't awarded lightly and you'll have already covered a lot of what you need (bear in mind that the CBA is an entry level qualification assuming no prior knowledge of accountancy, finance or business). If I were you, I would get hold of the Certificate level textbooks so you can refer to them if necessary during your operational level studies. The 2006 syllabus books will be fine for this purpose.

Hope this helps

Rebecca
CIMAsphere moderator
http://community.cimaglobal.com/blogs/rebecca-mccaffry

Exemptions

Posted by je on Wednesday 18 January 2012 12:06

Hello Wyson

I had exemptions like you but I had good accountancy experience so I took my exemptions.  I think you would really struggle with P1 and F1 with out much experience.  There is a lot of assumption of prior knowledge in these - basic financial accounting, how to get from a TB to a set of accounts, how to calculate basic variances etc

I would suggest at the very least you do the management and financial certificate papers as these are the foundations for the next level. You don't necessarily have to do the exam.  You can take the exemption but you need to at least go through the courses. 

Hope this helps.

Jayne

 

Going to take the exemptions

Posted by Wyson on Thursday 19 January 2012 03:13

Thanks for the replies.  Really helpful.

I decided to take all the exemptions and read through the CIMA official study texts before attempting operational level.  Skimming through the books, it became clear they are basic, and wont require the discipline of an exam to digest.  Infact they are quite fun to read!