Studying

Are you studying for a CIM qualification, or deciding to take this route? The Learning Zone is a valuable online member resource, with everything to get you started and keep you on track.

It’s all here, from syllabus information and past papers to assessment details and exam timetables for all these qualifications:

• Introductory Certificate in Marketing
• Professional Certificate in Marketing
• Professional Diploma in Marketing
• Chartered Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing
• CAM Diploma in Digital Communications
• CAM Diploma in Digital Marketing
• CAM Diploma in Managing Digital Media
• Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism

Check out the wealth of Learning Zone resources, including webinars and videos, that will help you get started, stay on track and achieve success in your CIM qualifications.
Here are the next student support webinars being held in April (for the June and September 2013 sessions). These are 50 minute presentations from a Senior Examiner about a specific exam. Each starts with a 30 minute overview followed by a 20 minute live Q&A session. If you miss a webinar it’ll be recorded and uploaded to the Learning Zone, together with PowerPoint slides.

Professional Certificate in Marketing
Assessing the Marketing Environment 25 April 2013 – 08:30 book now
Marketing Essentials 22 April 2013 – 08:30 book now

Professional Diploma in Marketing
Delivering Customer Value Through Marketing 26 April 2013 – 08:30 book now

Chartered Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing
Analysis and Decision 24 April 2013 – 09:30 book now

The December 2012 Assignment and Exam results have recently been announced, so it’s time to make some decisions. Whether you passed or failed, there is plenty of helpful support available to marketing students in and around London.

I passed – what next?

Congratulations! If you’ve just passed your qualification then you have every right to feel pleased with yourself. Of course you can move on up the qualifications ladder and start the next set of professional CIM qualifications. But you may want to take a break first, as a well earned reward for all your hard work. Applying your new skills and knowledge to your current role, before beginning more studies, can also be very satisfying and a great way to embed what you have learnt. And with qualifications under your belt, new promotion and career opportunities may open up for you. So decide what you want and be ready to grasp the next step.

If you want to keep the momentum going, you can find out about higher level qualifications from our Learning Zone. It gives a helpful overview of what you’ll learn, course content and fees. If your interest is in brushing up your digital marketing expertise, then the CAM Diploma in Digital Marketing is a popular choice. If you’ve completed the Certificate, Diploma or Postgraduate Diploma you’ll be exempted from one of the three digital modules, so you’ve already given yourself a head start!

The Student Support Group (SSG), based in London, can offer free personal advice on what to do next and how best to fit these studies around your busy professional life.

I failed – how can I move forward?

Commiserations! Failing an assignment or exam, or perhaps having to defer, can be disheartening, but there’s plenty of support to help you turn a negative into a positive.

Find out how we can help you. There are 3 options you can take, available from the CIM Assessment re-marking and feedback service.

1. Procedural and mark check
2. Re-marking service
3. Individual candidate feedback report

Some fees apply, please check.

Talk it through. Call Caroline at SSG on 01784 463057 for a free telephone conversation which aims to shed light on what may have not gone to plan or to find out about the SSG Digital Marketing courses.

Pinpoint gaps in knowledge. SSG will then offer you a free diagnostic quiz (previously £10) which will test your CIM subject knowledge and help you identify any knowledge gaps which you may need to fill.

Gear up for success. SSG can review a failed assignment/discuss your exam performance and help you see where you went wrong (some fees apply). Then they can provide you with a choice of support services to help you pass next time. These range from a syllabus overview tutorial; assignment briefings; feedback on assignment draft work; case study support and mock exams with feedback – so everything you need to get started, get unstuck, and get finished up to, and beyond, CIM standards.

Once you’ve made some choices, you can register for the June or September re-sits. It’s often a good idea to sit just one CIM subject at a time so you concentrate on it and work at your own pace. With 10 years allowed to finish a qualification, there really is no rush, just your own desire to become qualified and move ahead in your career.

You can also get access to study hints and tips with our series of podcasts too.

We caught up with Caroline Cavanagh and asked her about her career from student days to the flip-side as a tutor and CIM examiner.

How did you get into marketing?
After finishing A Levels I lived abroad for a while but wanted to have something ‘useful’ to show potential employers when I came back to the UK. So I started studying the CIM Certificate through a distance learning college. I had studied marketing as one element of my A level courses and had enjoyed it. When I returned to the UK, marketing roles were the obvious direction and I went on to complete the further two years of study to get the Professional Postgraduate Diploma qualification.

What led to you becoming a tutor?
As I achieved good grades, I was invited back by my college to be a guest speaker and this then led to me teaching one of the modules. I met the founder of the Student Support Group at a regional event and mentioned I taught. Many colleges provide revision help and I found out that this organisation provides individual exam and assignment support. We became new best friends! I started off teaching International Marketing for Student Support Group in 1999 and then moved on to become lead tutor for post graduate level. I now support both Market Leadership & Planning (MLP) and Analysis & Decision (A&D), the case study as a tutor. I love it.

What do you like about Student Support Group?
The clear difference with Student Support Group is that they really care about their students. I have worked with many students who have been through different colleges but then been ‘dropped’ if not successful. This is where Student Support Group excels, working to find out the cause of the disappointment and then working to address that. They’ve being doing this successfully for 20 years. We have so many lovely emails from students now who take the time to thank the tutors and Caroline who runs the office, when they get the result they have been hoping for.

And now you are an examiner too?
Yes, having taught at Professional Postgraduate level since 1997, I became an examiner in 2003 for the International Marketing Strategy exam and then as the syllabi changed, moved to Analysis & Evaluation and now I am part of the Market Leadership and Planning examination team but have also done Analysis & Decision in the past too. It is helpful to get into the examiners’ psyche, when you are tutoring students.

What’s your top tip for Analysis & Decision – the dreaded case study!
The case study is a good test of students’ ability to solve a marketing related problem and demonstrate their skills. Too many students tackle it as a ‘student’ trying to demonstrate their use of models, but tell them to tackle it as if it were a work project and their performance often improves dramatically.

Outside of marketing, what interests you?
I recently gained a Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy. Most people think this is very dissimilar to marketing but not so. Marketing is all about understanding consumer behaviour and hypnotherapy is used to help people change the behaviour they no longer want to have. So there is room for cross fertilisation. And the marketing skills I have are certainly useful in promoting my new venture.

How would you describe your personal philosophy?
I believe in creating a balance. Too much of anything leads to a lack of something else! I have worked with many students in the past who are stressing about exams whilst coping with many other challenges in life and it is great to help them understand that the CIM exam is a good one to have, but if it takes another 6 months for them to get it whilst they work through the other challenges, is this a problem in the scheme of things?

Has all the studying been worth it?
The academic qualifications certainly supported a quick progress in my career. Marketing knowledge has been at the very heart of what I do in my day-today work. I’m a marketing consultant and trainer, I have a thoroughly satisfying role as a Student Support Group tutor and I get to see what students have achieved as a CIM examiner too!

Study resources
Inspired by Caroline’s story? Find out more about CIM qualifications.

There are useful resources for studying members from the CIM Learning Zone to help you pass. Here you’ll find syllabus and reading lists for each qualification and senior examiners reports on past papers, as well as a series of study podcasts created with help from SSG and available to download.

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Embarking on a regime of studying for professional marketing qualifications can be daunting. Some members decide to get a little extra help from an Accredited Study Centre that offers revision workshops.

Run by Jon and Caroline Twomey, Student Support Group (SSG) and has been helping studying members in London for 20 years with individual exam and assignment support. One-time student Sheila Hallsworth looks back on her personal experience.

And was it worth it? Judge for yourself.  Sheila is now Director of Communication and Admissions at Sir William Perkins’s School in Chertsey, an independent day school for girls and one of the top girls’ schools in the country.

Sheila Hallsworth, Chartered Marketer, MCIM

Having completed the Advanced Certificate and the Post Graduate Diploma, gaining Top Student award for CIM London West – again, purely down to SSG, I was asked if I would become a tutor. As I was already teaching, I relished the opportunity to work with such a professional group – led so inspirationally by Jon and Caroline.

During this time I changed career roles, and if it had not been for my CIM qualifications, I would not have got the job I now have – Director of Communication. Having been immersed in the concept of strategic planning in my SSG role, this became part of my daily life, implanting the marketing concept to an organisation that had previously none – a gift for any marketer!

As years and new CIM qualification structures rolled by, I taught on, and became Lead Tutor for, the Analysis and Decision Case Study modules, which adapted with various syllabus updates, and frighteningly spent the next 10 or so years in a very happy and stimulating relationship with the SSG.

I congratulate the SSG on 20 years of success – they practice what they preach – no organisation could be more customer-oriented, offer such outstanding service and give a completely supportive environment for learning. Here’s to another 20 years!”

Sheila Hallsworth
MCIM, Chartered Marketer

Thinking of getting qualified?

CIM  Live on 15 November at the Marriott Hotel, near Marble Arch in London is a free event enabling you to find out more about studying for CIM qualifications and to select the right study centre for you.

Study resources

If you are already on the study journey, there are helpful resources available from the CIM Learning Zone from past papers to reading lists. And a series of study podcasts created with help from SSG are available to download:

• Life as a Chartered Marketer with Mark Batchelor
• How to get on in Marketing – Simon Basset, Head of EMR
• How to stay motivated in your CIM studies – Polly Grant
• Interested in CAM digital marketing qualifications
• How to pass the CIM Professional Certificate
• How to pass the CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing
• Useful study tips to improve technique and save time
• CIM membership benefits and how to use them

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