CIMA OT sitters are being ‘strongly advised’ to return to the review screen and click ‘review incomplete items’ when the 5-minute pop up button alerts you that the end of the exam is nigh. CIMA claims it is good exam technique for candidates to review any questions, which remain flagged in the remaining time they have left.

The institute also tells OT sitters at the start of exams to take about 10 to 15 minutes to click ‘next’ through all 60 items, identifying and answering short questions that can be answered quickly and confidently. These include brief ‘knowledge’ and ‘definition’ MCQs where the correct answer is identified immediately without the need for re-reading of the stem or the options.

It means at the end of the first run-through you may have answered 10 to 15 questions with confidence.  This confidence, says CIMA, will allow you to relax a little and approach the remaining questions more calmly.

Next up should the longer questions you think you know the answers to! These might require analysis of a short scenario, or set of data/calculations. Depending on the subject being examined this could get you up to another 20 to 30 questions complete in around the next 230 to 4 minutes.

Then you have the questions you aren’t so confident about! The advice here is not to spend too long on any one question. In fact CIMA says it should be a maximum of 3 minutes per question. If you think you need more time to review a question then maybe you should submit your ‘best’ answer and click the ‘flag’ button so that you can review the question in any time remaining after all the questions have been attempted.