Objective response (OR) exams are not new exam format to CIPS students. In fact, multiple choice exams were applied to International Certificate in Purchasing and Supply (Level 2) and International Advanced Certificate in Purchasing and Supply (Level 3) of 2007 Syllabus.

However, some CIPS students find it hard to take OR exams. This difficulty may come from several reasons as below:

• Questions in exam may ask about a small section of the syllabus that many students have overlooked
• Some scenarios in multiple choice questions are long and confusing
• Candidates lack of exam skills such as reading the questions
• The time for exam is so tight that students cannot recall their knowledge
• Stress
• Students have not prepared well for the exams

To avoid the above issues, preparation is very important. Here we suggest some tips for you:

• Don’t just read the book, do study proactively by summarising the content by yourself, making questions or doing practice questions.
• Schedule your learning appropriately. Start with tracking your own comfort time then calculate how much time you can spend on studying each week.
• If you are extremely busy (i.e. you have less than 2 hours available each week) then skim read the study guide and find a local study group or arrange a weekend meeting with local tutor. Face-to-face conversation will help you retain the knowledge better.
• If you have lots of available time, congratulations! Spend your time on reading carefully and making colourful notes.
• On the day before the exam, make sure that you have enough sleep and free from stress. Contact the exam centre if you have any special needs. I believe that they are happy to help you.

Remember that most of the time questions come from some corner of the study guide. Passing an exam is not an impossible task. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!