Objective Test (OT) exams

I’ve had a couple of questions about the Objective Test (OT) exams (Thanks Princess and Simon), so I thought I should start off by posting ‘what I know’ about these unusual exams. As usual, feel free to comment on this post, if you have any questions…

1. There are still nine subjects, arranged in three pillars.

2. Each subject is examined in two different ways:

- Through an ‘objective test’ (OT) exam, which is only on that subject.

- Through a ‘case study’ exam, one at each level, which examines all three subjects at that level (I’ll start posting soon about these exams).

3. All the exams are computer-based.

4. Each OT exam is 90 minutes long, and you can choose when to sit your exam.

5. Each OT exam consists of 60 questions, each of which is worth one mark.

6. To pass, you must achieve a score (the ‘pass mark’) of 70% (i.e. you need to get at least 42/60 answers correct).

7. In each OT exam, the questions are generated from a large collection of questions, so each candidate gets a unique exam. There’s no value in asking someone else “what was in your exam?”

8. You’ll find out whether you’ve passed straight after the exam, so you don’t need to wait for a marking process.

9. If you don’t pass, you can book another attempt as soon as you like.

10. You need to pass all of the OT exams, at a level, before you’re allowed to enter for the case study exam for that level.

I’ll do another post, soon, looking at the different styles of OT question that you might find in the exams. There are practice exams available from CIMA, so you can have a try before the real thing. There’s also a load of support material on the CIMA website.

Any questions?