IMC study tips

Hi

I'm currently studying unit one, and it's taking a long time trying to get through a few hundred pages...any tips?

Thanks

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Reply 1

souman

Original post by greensurf

Hi

I'm currently studying unit one, and it's taking a long time trying to get through a few hundred pages...any tips?

Thanks

Summarise the material and unfortunately there is not way around memorising the dull bits (the whole of unit 1 is very dull..). The whole of imc shouldn't take you more than 3 months to study and sit (alongside uni work).

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Reply 2

Vallern

It depends, I just sat the IMC unit 1 after around 80 hours of studying. Took me around 40 days, 2 hours a day. The truth is it is extreeemely boring, escpecially chapter 3, which is the biggest one. The real test seemed harder than the mocks, however I managed to pass. You should memorize important lists, and try to memorize the most important info in general.

Anyway I am about to start Unit 2? I have a BSc in economics with just a limited few finance courses. Is it really gonna take me 120 hours of studying?? :0

Reply 3

sarx121

Original post by greensurf

Hi

I'm currently studying unit one, and it's taking a long time trying to get through a few hundred pages...any tips?

Thanks

I just sat the Exam yesterday and aced it (1st time round too). I however pretty much memorized the entire book, and I have to agree that after memorizing the 3 mock exams - the actual exam is definitely harder and none of the questions asked, were in the mock exams. I can't say how many hours I studied for, but I must have read the bok around 7 times? Plus 2 weeks of full time studying and some part-time studies in-between.

Anyway I am about to start studying for unit 2 and hopefully can pass it the 1st time round too.

Best fo luck!

Reply 4

Vallern

Original post by sarx121

Congrats!!!
I myself passed Unit 2 3 days ago, and what i can tell you is that if you study, its a lot easier than Unit 1, since it requires you to understand concepts rather than just to memorize them. You will pass it with ease.

Out of curiosity are u working, or are you still a student?

Reply 5

sarx121

[QUOTE="Vallern;71070530"]Congrats!!!
I myself passed Unit 2 3 days ago, and what i can tell you is that if you study, its a lot easier than Unit 1, since it requires you to understand concepts rather than just to memorize them. You will pass it with ease.

Out of curiosity are u working, or are you still a student?[/QUOTE

Hey,

I actually just relocated to London as I was living in Toronto before and I was working in a different field. Anyway since I originally studied Economics, I've never had the chance to go into a related field. So I'm aiming to go into Asset Management once I write the unit 2 exam. I've already checked out some mock exams and the content asked appears lighter than hardcore Economics although I am waiting for the official manual which should come any day now. I hope that it does not require too much logic though.

Reply 6

huwjc

Hi there, I passed unit 1 and need to sit my unit 2 by September 6th - seems like a big task considering that I'm working full time. do you have any tips for most efficient method of study?

Reply 7

Vallern

Original post by huwjc

Hi there, I passed unit 1 and need to sit my unit 2 by September 6th - seems like a big task considering that I'm working full time. do you have any tips for most efficient method of study?

If you can afford it, I suggest you purchase the distance learning programme by Kaplan. It helps a great deal. If you study on your own, its going to be harder. You need to constantly revise chapters you have studies. For example say you study ch 7. Then you go and study ch 8. As soon as you are done with 8, revisit 7. Then do 8 again and go to 9. After you are done with 9 revisit 7,8. You get the pattern, this helps you not forget stuff you e already done.

Also practice questions help a lot, another reason why Kaplan is a sound choixe if you can afford it.

Reply 8

bhasin2304

hi.i am in the process of deciding what course to take, Kaplan, Fitch or BPP. one thing im not too sure anout is for unit 2 is 3 whole days of classes enough or should i get 5 day classes for unit 2? i did study maths at uni but i graduated like 6 years agothanks Jaz

Reply 9

Vallern

Original post by bhasin2304

The math in unit 2 is extreme easy, I don't think you will need any classes, the books inside have all the math you need. I mean the most complicated math was like raising numbers to the power of (some number).

Reply 10

bhasin2304

Original post by Vallern

So did you self study for both units? Hope i can do unit 2 myself even though my maths is rusty from university... What do you suggest for unit 1 classes?

Reply 11

Vallern

Original post by bhasin2304

So did you self study for both units? Hope i can do unit 2 myself even though my maths is rusty from university... What do you suggest for unit 1 classes?

I did the Kaplan Distance learning. The slides and notes are very useful because the contain the most important information so you dont have to study the whole book. This is the case for unit 1. For unit 2 you also need to take your own notes since all informayion is relevant. Also, the extra questions booklet was extremely useful. It contained hundreds of question, really good for practice.
I would not reccomend self study, but I also think attending classes in unessecary. I reccomend the distance learning packages.

Reply 12

jaywin

Hi All,

Interesting to read your posts in terms of difficulty and study time.

I (stupidly) purchased a full set of study books from gumtree and in my haste to begin, did not realise they were unit 9. I know the curriculum change so my books are outdated, but until I sort out some V.14 books, would it be worth while to start reading V. 9 anyway, with the exception of regulatory chapters?

If anyone has any V. 14 books I'd be happy to purchase them from you.

Thanks!

Reply 13

rubenmelim

Hi,
So you would recommend to study through Kaplan?
I just staarted the level 1 and seems to be hard to study alone and only by the oficial book.
Is Kaplan online material worth it? If I study by Kaplan materials, do you think I can do it all in 1 month (2h per day)?
Please, share your view....

Many thanks

Ruben

Reply 14

Vallern

Original post by rubenmelim

Well I did the distance learning by Kaplan. The thing that helped me the most was the online material, which was like a couple of hundred slides for Unit 1. Basically, if you read those slides and add alot of notes on them, you can pass by skipping some parts of the books. This is risky I know, and I can not guarantee it, but the slides contain the most important information, and I could say that about half the questions could be answered based on info solely on the notes. However, you still need 25% more to pass for sure, so you should enrichen these notes with notes of your own.
But you get the jist of it. Plus it is really helpful to do the prep questions provided by Kaplan, you might even encounter a few of the same ones on the test.
I studied around 90 hours for Unit 1.

I recommend Kaplan, but it is going to cost you a lot, if you can manage financially, I think that your chances will be maximized.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 15

rubenmelim

Thanks for the feedback.

I did a quick research and I am a bit confused between BPP vs Kaplan

Kaplan:
Easier to understand but their books seem to have a lot of volume which can be off putting.

BPP: Less volume to deal with, but less examples/illustrations.

Others opinions:

1 - The difficulty level: the difficulty level of BPP is one step higher than the Kaplan. The language used is a little difficult to understand. On the other hand Kaplan generally has a easy language to understand. But BPP is good those students need the concepts to be discussed at a next level unlike Kaplan which discuss the concept from the basic level.

2 - The practice Examples: Practice Examples use in the Kaplan are easy and builds the concepts, from an exam point of view the examples of BPP are stronger and tougher than Kaplan. So once you solve the examples of BPP you are strong enough to solve the past paper examinations.

3 - Theory VS Numerical: For the theory based exams Kaplan has an edge over BPP in the sense that the concepts are more easily explained. On the other hand for numerical based exams we need to solve the questions in the past papers so it is good if we are able to solve the difficult questions mentioned in the book rather than easy questions of Kaplan.

4 - The teacher: Follow your teacher strategy also in choosing the book. Because it is important that the teacher is choosing a sequence and the pattern of the book uses the language of the book in the class so you will understand the concepts better when you are using the same book the teacher is using. Do not shuffle books: Once you made up your mind to use one book don’t shuffle them only if you need to understand one or two concepts you can consult other sources but don’t shuffle, switching is fine if you didn’t like the pattern and language in one textbook you can switch but continuous shuffling the book either bpp or kaplan or any other is not advised.

I am a professional worker so I can only study at the end of the day (2h) + weekends.

Based on this which one should I purchase BPP or Kaplan?

Thanks Ruben

Reply 16

KENNER74

Hi, if you're still looking I have a v14 Unit 1 study book and 'pocket guide' binder available for a good price ?

Reply 17

KENNER74

Original post by jaywin

Hi - if you're still looking , I have a v14 study text and pocket guide available for a good price, the text has important bits highlighted in yellow highlighter, which might be useful as it worked for me !!

Regards
Kieron

Reply 18

adam95!

Did any of you pass unit 1 with less than the 80 hours work? I am a uni student on gap year, and have been doing 1/2 hours per day for 2 weeks now. However, I understand that I should sit both units 1 and 2 before December as then the syllabus will change. Can I cram both in while working 9-6pm and just studying a couple hours in the evenings??

Reply 19

rubenmelim

Hi,
I am studying the unit 1. You can do the exams after November, but the syllabus is a bit different but not much I think.
I am trying to do the exam before the end of november but its difficult as I am full time worker and I study 1-2h per week + 5-7h saturdays and sundays. Its a lot to read.
Just try to study all and if you can buy kaplan or BPP to help you.