CIMA Lecturer Guide for Effective Course Delivery partner docs...CIMA Lecturer Guide for Effective Cour1e neTiverh 6 Plan Most of our CIMA students are ‘adult-learners’, even so,

CIMA Lecturer Guide for Effective

Course Delivery

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Introduction This guide is designed to provide a practical overview guide to help you design a successful CIMA course, especially if you are new to

teaching CIMA subjects. These guidelines are based on many years of accumulated knowledge and insight and a result of work with

course providers across both public and private sectors. While there is no one best way to conduct CIMA courses successfully, this

guide offers a blueprint for successful and effective CIMA course delivery with suggestions grouped around the process CIMA lecturers

are recommended to go through when establishing a course of CIMA teaching.

The key (progressive) stages of designing a course of CIMA teaching are;

The focus is on the students’ learning processes, engagement and experiences, and the environment within which learning takes place.

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2CIMA Lecturer Guide for Effective Course Delivery

KnowledgeThe primary responsibility of a CIMA lecturer is to ensure that students fully understand the

requirements of the CIMA examinations and demonstrate the required level of knowledge and

skill in their answers to examination questions so that they will be confident and successful.

The CIMA syllabus is designed to develop five progressive competencies and skills vital for

employment (not mere knowledge), hence CIMA exams focus on testing both knowledge and

competencies. As a CIMA lecturer, students expect you to support and guide them in identifying

and developing the skills and competencies that will be examined in CIMA examinations.

The CIMA syllabus is designed to develop five progressive competencies (CIMA calls them Learning Objectives), as illustrated in the

diagram below. These five progressive skills and competencies are taken into account in setting the examinations.

Knowledge is what CIMA students are expected to know in terms of facts, theories, models, techniques, frameworks, calculations etc.

(e.g. Definition and types of stakeholders)

Comprehension is what CIMA students are expected to understand. That is

the history, background, strengths, weaknesses and links between other topics

in the same syllabus. (e.g. Relationship between stakeholder analysis and

Mendelow’s matrix)

Application is the ability to do something in practice. That is, CIMA students

are expected to apply knowledge in different contexts. (e.g. applying

Mendelow’s matrix to a given business scenario)

Analysis is the ability of CIMA students to identify problems and suggest

practical solutions. Students are expected to consider proposed solutions

and then discuss issues arising from the application of such solutions. (e.g.

Alternative strategies to manage stakeholders and issues arising out of such

strategies)

Evaluation involves the ability of CIMA students to identify possible solutions

and then discuss their strengths and weaknesses, so that they can then

recommend and justify the most appropriate solution. (e.g. Recommending a

course of action to manage stakeholders and justification for it)

If you refer to the table of verbs hierarchy (see Appendix 2), the five Learning Objectives, and their associated skill levels, are closely

linked to the exam verbs. For instance, the verb ‘Explain’ is linked to the level 2 learning objective, comprehension and the verb

‘Discuss’ is linked to the level 4 learning objective, analysis.

These verbs are usually found:

• In examination question requirements; and

• In the syllabus, more precisely, in Component Learning Outcomes (explained below)

Therefore, the verb in the question requirement indirectly communicates the skill level students are expected to demonstrate in their

answer. Similarly, the verb in the component learning outcome in the syllabus conveys a very important message to lecturers (and

students too) about the nature and the level of skill you need to help students develop the ‘knowledge / information’ (found in the

indicative syllabus content) you teach. The ‘knowledge / information’ in the indicative syllabus content is usually in the form of facts,

theories, models, techniques, frameworks, calculations etc.

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5 - Evaluation

4 - Analysis

3 - Application

2 - Comprehension

1 - Knowledge

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‘Discuss the importance of post completion audit’This is a Component Learning Outcome (CLO) from E2, Enterprise Management. The ‘knowledge / information’ is post completion

audit and you are expected to coach your students to demonstrate analytical skills with regard to post completion audit in the

CIMA exam. This is simply because the verb ‘Discuss’ in the above CLO is linked to analysis, a level 4 skill.

Each subject within the syllabus is divided into number of broad syllabus topics with an assigned study weighting. The percentage

weighting is intended as a guide to the proportion of study time each topic requires and also the proportion of marks allocated for

each topic in the examination.

E1, Enterprise OperationsThe syllabus comprises the following syllabus topics and study weightings:

A The Global Business Environment 20%

B Information Systems 20%

C Operations Management 20%

D Marketing 20%

E Managing Human Capital 20%


Navigating the CIMA syllabusP1 – C. PROJECT APPRAISAL (25%)

Learning Outcomes

On completion of their studies students should be able to:

Lead Component Indicative syllabus content

1. prepare information to support project appraisal.

(a) explain the processes involved in making long-term decisions;

(b) apply the principles of relevant cash flow analysis to long-run projects that continue for several years;

(c) calculate project cash flows, accounting for tax and inflation, and apply perpetuities to derive ‘end of project’ value where appropriate;

(d) apply activity-based costing techniques to derive approximate ‘long-run’ product or service costs appropriate for use in strategic decision making;

(e) explain the financial consequences of dealing with long-run projects, in particular the importance of accounting for the ‘time value of money’;

(f) apply sensitivity analysis to cash flow parameters to identify those to

which net present value is particularly sensitive;

(g) prepare decision support information for management, integrating financial and non-financial considerations.

• The process of investment decision making, including origination of proposals, creation of capital budgets, go/no go decisions on individual projects (where judgements on qualitative issues interact with financial analysis), and post audit of completed projects.

• Identification and calculation of relevant project cash flows taking account of inflation, tax, and ‘final’ project value where appropriate.

• Activity-based costing to derive approximate ‘long-run’ costs appropriate for use in strategic decision making.

• Need for and method of discounting.

• Sensitivity analysis to identify the input variables that most affect the chosen measure of project worth (payback, ARR, NPV or IRR).

• Identifying and integrating non-financial factors in long-term decisions.

• Methods of dealing with particular problems: the use of annuities in comparing projects with unequal lives and the profitability index in capital rationing situations.

2. evaluate project proposals. (a) evaluate project proposals using the techniques of investment appraisal;

(b) compare and contrast the alternative techniques of investment appraisal;

(c) prioritise projects that are mutually exclusive, involve unequal lives and/or are subject to capital rationing.

• The techniques of investment appraisal: payback, discounted payback, accounting rate of return, net present value and internal rate of return.

• Application of the techniques of investment appraisal to project cash flows and evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the techniques.

P1 – D. DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTY IN ANALYSIS (15%)

Learning Outcomes

On completion of their studies students should be able to:

Lead Component Indicative syllabus content

1. analyse information to assess the impact on decisions of variables with uncertain values.

(a) analyse the impact of uncertainty and risk on decision models that may be

based on relevant cash flows, learning curves, discounting techniques etc;

(b) apply sensitivity analysis to both short and long-run decision models to

identify variables that might have significant impacts on project outcomes;

(c) analyse risk and uncertainty by calculating expected values and standard

deviations together with probability tables and histograms;

(d) prepare expected value tables;

(e) calculate the value of information;

(f) apply decision trees.

• The nature of risk and uncertainty.

• Sensitivity analysis in decision modelling and the use of computer software for “what if” analysis.

• Assignment of probabilities to key variables in decision models.

• Analysis of probabilistic models and interpretation of distributions of project outcomes.

• Expected value tables and the value of information.

• Decision trees for multi-stage decision problems.

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Check that you understand• The five Learning Objectives

• The relationship between the Exam Verbs and Learning Objectives

• The syllabus navigation

• The importance of Component Learning Outcomes

• The importance study weighting

Actions• ‘Study’ the syllabus. Carefully go through each Component Learning Outcome (CLO) of the CIMA paper you intend to teach.

Identify the relevant Learning Objective (skill level) for each of the CLO, via the Exam Verb at the beginning of the CLO.

• Read the examiner’s article. This will help you to understand the approach in teaching and examiner expectations.

• Go through recent past exam papers. This will help you to understand the assessment strategy, style of questions and also will enable you to identify the Exam Verbs most frequently examined in that paper.

• Understand the Verbs used. In appendix 1, you will find a very useful article that will help you to understand the varied and specific course of actions warranted by each Exam Verb.

• Go through recent Post Exam Guides (PEGs). The PEGs are written by the examiner or the lead marker, and contain: marks allocation, common mistakes by students and the Component Learning Outcome examined for each exam question.


PlanMost of our CIMA students are ‘adult-learners’, even so, they still tend to depend on their CIMA lecturers for study material, psychological support and direction. Therefore, careful and extensive planning and preparation is needed, prior to the face-to-face teaching sessions with students.

One key decision would be how much face-to-face teaching time is required in the classroom. This depends on a wide variety of factors including, how much students can afford or will be prepared to pay; whether students are going to be full time or are employed; students’ prior knowledge of the subject matter / educational background; other challenges such writing skills etc. CIMA recommends 200 hours of ‘study time’ in total per paper, but one hour of high quality lecturing equates to about 3 hours of private ‘study time’. In other words, if you plan 40 hours of face-to-face lecturing, this provides the equivalent of about 120 hours of the required 200 hours study time’; students will then need to dedicate about 80 hours of their own time to personal ‘study time’. You need ensure that the face-to-face teaching time includes ‘exam preparation’ by way of past paper question practice, mock exams etc. You may plan to balance this between homework and class-work.

At the planning stage, another key decision you need to take is what teaching materials you are going to use in the classroom (this may have been already determined by the course provider / leader). In general, you have a number of choices, namely:

a) CIMA’s Learning Systems – these are the only products endorsed by CIMA, and a good choice for a new tutor.

b) Material produced by other reputable course providers.

c) To create your own material – if doing this, make sure they are exclusively produced for CIMA courses and strictly in line with the learning outcomes in the CIMA syllabus.

Lesson planning involves preparing detailed Schemes of Work (SoW) covering the syllabus in full. The SoW will be very helpful in organising the teaching resources, classroom teaching, homework assignments etc. SoW need to be individually made for each CIMA paper you intend to teach, and need to be regularly updated to reflect syllabus changes, student feedback, and lessons learnt during the course delivery.

In the SoW, each teaching session (say, 2 hours) is recommended to include:

• Component learning outcome(s) to be covered during the session.

• A list of CIMA past paper questions that examined the CLO(s). Tables analysing ‘past papers by learning outcomes’ for each paper can be found in the CIMA website[insert link]

• Key terms. These are the core vocabulary students need to learn.

• Key points. These are what the students have to know (facts, theories, models, techniques, frameworks, calculations etc) as they will form the foundation of examination questions and therefore also answers.

• Teaching material. The relevant pages from the CIMA Study Text, CIMAstudy.com modules, your own course notes, presentations, mind maps etc to aid teaching the key points.

• List of CIMA past paper question(s) to practice during / at the end of the session.

• List of CIMA past paper question(s) for home / self practice.

• List of CIMA past paper question(s) to which students should write answers to time and submit to you for correction and feedback.

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An extract of E2 paper SoW may appear as follows:

Date(s)

and

Time

Learning

Outcomes

Key Topics (models,

theories, techniques,

calculations)

Reference (e.g. CIMAstudy.

com modules / CIMA

study systems chapters)

Class Questions Homework

Questions

Discuss the

nature of

competitive

environments

Analysing

competitors

Accounting for

competitors

SWOT analysis

May 2010 – Q1

(Full answer)

Nov 2010 – Q6b

(Plan answer)

Mar 2011 – Q5

(Full answer)

May 2011 – Q1

(Lecturer feedback)

Sep 2011 – Q4

(Self practice)

Sep 2012 – Q1

(Self practice)

Nov 2012 - Q7b

(Self practice)

Actions• Refer to the relevant Self-Study Guide in the CIMA website. This will be a useful guide to preparing your SoW.

• Identify the number of face-to-face teaching hours available (for both teaching theory and practice questions).

• Breakdown into 2 – 3 hour teaching sessions.

• For each teaching session, identify:

− Component Learning Outcome(s) − Key terms − Key points − Reference material, such as relevant pages from the CIMA Study Text − Business examples (e.g. any relevant, but short news items, newspaper / magazine articles relating to the topic that will help

students to understand the theory better) − List of CIMA past paper question(s) to practice during / at the end of the session. − List of CIMA past paper question(s) for home / self practice. − List of CIMA past paper question(s) for which students will write answers to time and submit for you to correct and provide

feedback. • Read relevant Post Exam Guide for the above lists of past paper questions. This will give you deeper insight from the examiner

how to plan answers, the allocation of marks and potential mistakes your students may make.

• Read relevant CIMA technical articles on CIMA website. These articles are written by examiners, experienced CIMA lecturers, technical experts etc, so you will be able to derive useful insights and a different perspective on the subject matter.

• Prepare teaching material such as presentations, your own course notes, mind maps etc.


Delivery Your behaviour as a teacher in the classroom can have an immediate and visible impact on

student motivation. If you appear enthusiastic, presenting the information in an organised and

interesting way, and showing a genuine interest in teaching, it will have an immense positive

impact in maintaining students’ attention.

Help your students to ‘keep the end in mind’. Keep reminding them (in almost every lesson) that

your collective effort is about getting them through the exams. Often you may help them to

reflect as to why they have embarked on CIMA exams and the rewards in life once they pass CIMA exams. Explicitly communicate to

your students what they need to do to be successful and achieve their personal goals.

It will be very useful to mention the Component Learning Outcome you will be working on during your teaching session, as you have

identified in your SoW. Give students a list of past papers which examined that Component Learning Outcome and allow them to flip

through the question requirements of those past paper questions. This will enable your students to see how the rest of your teaching

will ‘fit into’ passing the exam.

Adult learners display greater enthusiasm and interest for a course if they can relate the content and course activities to their daily

lives. By connecting the academic information to real-world experiences through newspaper articles or something that was on TV

news will deepen their understanding of the material and allow your students to see the value of what they are learning.

Vary your teaching methods. In addition to the conventional ‘board and chalk’ teaching, you may use academic activities that get your

students to actively participate in the class and allow for more immediate feedback. Problem-based learning, collaborative learning,

experiments, etc will allow for greater student interaction and the opportunity for students to practice newly acquired skills and

knowledge. Supplementing your lecture with guest lectures, a group discussion, or student presentations will add variety and hence will

make your teaching more effective and enjoyable.

All students like to interact with their peers, and many students claim to be inspired by competition. However, you must be careful not

to create an environment that will lead to comparison, divisions, or irreverent dialogue among your students. Extremely competitive

environments may induce performance anxiety which can impact learners’ experience and in turn will work against your efforts at

motivation.

Generally, adult learners learn well when they view the potential outcome to be of personal value to them. Therefore, it will be useful

to give them a list of ‘key terms’ and ‘key points’ at the end of each teaching session.

A feeling of achievement is more important to adult learners. Towards the end of your teaching session, it is useful to practice a past

paper question from the list you provided at the beginning of the teaching session. Given the time constraint, you may just plan the

answer or write a short part of the full answer to time. This enables them to get self-evaluation and motivate them take more action

towards a sense of accomplishment.

At the end of each subject topic, you may include a session in the scheme of work to revise that subject topic and practice more past

paper questions / mock examination.

Actions• Design and use class surveys or diagnostic tests to get a sense of what students already know or believe about the CIMA course

they are about to study. These can be used on the first day of class and also when introducing a new topic.

• Collect business examples so that you may relate current affairs to what you teach.

• Spend time with students whenever possible (say, before the session or during breaks) so that you may build a good rapport with your students and collect informal feedback.

• Collect mid-session feedback from students about your teaching methodology, exam preparation, classroom environment etc so that you may fine-tune your delivery for the rest of the course.

• Demonstrate genuine interest in teaching and be enthusiastic always.

• Have a regular conversation with the fellow CIMA lecturers to share your own teaching experience and learn from their teaching experience.

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SupportCIMA students generally have busy life styles. They meet you face-to face only when they come

to your lectures, yet they expect your support and guidance throughout the time leading to the

exams.

Some lecturers share their email address as the main mode of communication in between face-

to-face teaching, and students are encouraged to clarify any doubts they have. You may send

an email periodically, perhaps with some interesting business news you read or reminding them

about their homework. If you think that it is practical, you may share a phone number, providing clear instructions when you will be

available to take calls from students if they need any help from you.

The best support you can offer is to help your students develop exam techniques and confidence towards the exam, Question practice

is the key for exam confidence and exam success. Set past paper questions for home practice. Warn students of areas where they may

go wrong in planning and writing their answer. The examiner’s comments in the Post Exam Guide will help you identify these.

End of session revision and timed mock exams have proved very effective in exam success. The syllabus topics may be revised through

question practice using relevant CIMA past papers, as all CIMA questions have gone through a thorough quality assurance process.

Timed mock exams will enable students to gain ‘near-exam’ experience in terms of reading time (20 minutes), question selection, time

management etc.

Recognising your students’ hard work and the effort they put into their learning will certainly motivate them. Correcting their

homework assignments and returning them quickly and by constructively communicating both positive and negative feedback, you are

able to acknowledge your students’ hard work while still encouraging them to strive for more. Although this requires time and effort on

your part, it will provide you with valuable feedback as to whether students have understood your lesson and any areas they generally

struggle with. It is helpful to maintain a record of student performance for home work practice questions in order to track students’

progress.

Actions• Create a separate email account to share with your students, through which you may maintain a dialogue between your face-

to-face sessions.

• Organise end-session revision / exam preparation in order to develop exam techniques via question practice.

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Review Student feedback is an important part of the review process. This will enable you to take

corrective action in order to ensure that your students are both satisfied with your service

and pass the CIMA exams. Further, the student feedback will help in future course planning,

identification of problem areas and the development of appropriate action plans to address the

issues raised.

Encourage students to inform you of their exam results. This will enable you to maintain a record of students’ pass rates which in turn

will help you in future target setting and overall appraisal of the success of your teaching.

Actions• Collect end-session feedback from the students and reflect upon what went well and areas for improvement, and take action

accordingly.

• Maintain a record of exam results so that you will know how your teaching has helped students in their exams and any actions of improvement needed.

ConclusionThis guidance is especially designed for lecturers who are new to teaching CIMA and offers only basic and overview guidance. If you

need any specific technical support, including a dedicated Train the Trainer workshop for your college, you may contact CIMA via

[email protected] through your CIMA course leader.

The following support material is freely available in the CIMA website that will be very helpful in planning and delivering your lessons.

• CIMA syllabus

• Past paper questions

• Analysis of past paper questions by Component Learning Outcomes

• Post exam guides

• Suggested answers

• Articles from the examiner

• Technical articles from the examiner and experts

• Reading lists

• Short exam techniques videos

All the best, and enjoy teaching CIMA.

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Appendix 1This is an extract from an article by David Harris, who explains the importance of verbs in learning outcomes in the light of

understanding the syllabus and exam questions. Read the full article at http://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/Student%20

docs/feb2010verbsarticle.pdf

List – As it says, just provide a list. Each of the items on your list should be expressed in terms of a full sentence, for clarity, but there’s

no need to go any further than that.

State – Again, pretty obvious. Just say what you need to say in a fairly concise manner. No need to explain or clarify, unless you think

that what you’ve written isn’t clear.

Define – This is really asking for a dictionary or textbook definition, but your own words can be used instead. Asking you to define

something is simply a test of memory – a pretty low level skill – but if you use your own words you’re actually doing ‘describe’ or

‘explain’, which is fine.

Describe – A straightforward ‘what it is’ statement. Think of it as the next step on from ‘list’ or ‘state’. However, you might need a short

paragraph, rather than a single sentence, depending on how complex or technical the issues are.

Distinguish – One or more lists. You can only distinguish between things, so there need to be two or more things given in the

question. The trick here is only to list the features of each of the things that make them different from each other.

Explain – A tricky one. Quite often examiners ask you to explain something, but get a description instead. Think of it this way – if

you are asked to describe a dog, it’s easy: Furry animal, four legs, goes ‘woof’. Now explain a dog. See what I mean? You need more

guidance as to what approach to take, or you need to decide on your own approach. It’s not possible to explain what a dog is, but it’s

easy to explain why people keep dogs as pets, or how a dog may be trained. If you’re asked to explain something, use a paragraph:

Write a sentence that makes your point, then write another to explain why the first sentence is so, or the consequences of the first

sentence. If your point still isn’t clear, write a third sentence that makes it clearer.

Identify – To do this, it’s really necessary to have a scenario. It’s not really application of your knowledge, but more a selective use of

it. Think of ‘identify’ as being like ‘explain in this situation…’. Go through what you’ve learned, and pick out only the bits that apply to

the situation described in the question.

Illustrate – Easy. Give an example. If there’s a scenario, give a relevant example. If not, pick whichever you like. Alternatively, you could

draw a picture (we call them ‘diagrams’) or do a quick calculation by way of illustration (as in ‘explain and illustrate what is meant by

an adverse variance’).

Apply – This verb is used quite a lot in the learning outcomes, but rarely in exam questions. In a learning outcome it means that you’ll

have to do it for real, not just talk about it in theory. In the exam, you’re more likely to be given a different (and more specific) verb

from level 3.

Calculate – Obvious. Do the maths.

Demonstrate – A tough one. You need to prove something to be true, beyond any doubt, or show that it applies in the situation

described, by giving evidence. This verb is most likely to be used in situations where there is one correct answer, rather than where you

are expressing an opinion. Think of it as an explanation with an illustration.

Prepare – For this verb to be used, there has to be a fair amount of (often numerical) data in the question. You take the relevant

data, process it (perhaps by calculation, but often just by rearranging it), then provide it in a particular format; for example, “Prepare a

balance sheet from the trial balance provided…”.

Reconcile – Another numerical one, this time asking you to prove that two things (often the results of calculations) are the same as, or

are consistent with, one-another. Think about reconciling an Income Statement to two Balance Sheets.

Solve – Again, generally, calculating an answer to something. Literally, providing a solution. However, whereas ‘calculate’ normally tells

you how to do something, ‘solve’ may leave you to choose the most appropriate method.

Tabulate – Obvious. Produce a two-dimensional table of results.


Analyse – Now we’re starting to get into the really difficult stuff. This is asking for a series of detailed explanations, often opinions

rather than facts, each with an illustration (if appropriate). Think about ‘analyse the published accounts…’: Calculate some ratios,

explain what you think they mean, relate them to each other, relate them to the context of the question. Alternatively, what about

‘analyse the variances…’? The same set of steps? I think so.

Categorise – A number of lists, with an explanation after each item saying why you put it in that particular list and not one of the

others.

Compare and contrast – Fairly obvious - an explanation of the similarities and differences between two (or more) things. Compare

and contrast a dog and a cat? They’re both furry animals, but one goes ‘woof’ and the other ‘miaow’.

Construct – Like ‘prepare’, but possibly with an explanation as to why you put things where you did.

Discuss – This is a tricky one. In order to discuss something, there needs to be an ‘argument’. In other words, you need two or more

differing or opposing viewpoints. Also, any discussion should, if possible, end in a conclusion. Think about; advantages, disadvantages,

conclusion. Or; reasons why, reasons why not, conclusion. Or; maybe this, may be that, conclusion. Can you ‘discuss’ one viewpoint?

Sure. Examiners often ask you to ‘discuss the advantages of…’. Does that mean you have to do the disadvantages as well? No. Simply

go through the advantages, saying whether they apply in this situation, or whether they’re each a major advantage or a relatively

minor one.

Interpret – Literally, translating from one form of words to another, where the latter is more understandable than the former.

‘Interpret’ is often the second stage of ‘analyse’. Think about variances again. In order to produce a ‘variance analysis’, first you calculate

the variances, then you interpret them. Got it?

Prioritise – Normally you will be asked to prioritise a series of issues/problems or options/actions. What you need to do is to use

one or more appropriate ranking criteria (such as ‘financial impact’ or ‘urgency’) to put the items into what, to you, seems a logical

sequence for attention. You need to explain, unless it’s obvious from the question, or from earlier parts of your answer, what criteria

you have used, and why. You’ll also have to explain, for each item, why you put it where you did in the list of ‘priorities’.

Produce – This is really creative stuff. You start with very little (or nothing), and end up with the finished article. How about, given two

Balance Sheets and an Income Statement, ‘produce a Cash Flow Statement…’? Or, what about ‘produce a report…’?

Advise – Tell them what you think they could, or should, do. Construct a good, comprehensive, argument that leads to one or more

options for the owners or managers (normally) to consider pursuing. An evaluate with a recommend – it doesn’t get any more difficult

than this.

Evaluate – The second of our ‘top level’ verbs, and another tricky one. Think of evaluate as a higher level discuss. It might mean

calculations, but it might not. You can say how valuable something is in qualitative terms, as well as monetary. This is easier to

illustrate than to explain, so I’ll give an example later.

Recommend – Just that. Tell them what to do. Often, when recommend is used in an exam question, it’s the last requirement. If there

are three requirements (a, b and c), you might find that part (a) says ‘explain’ or ‘identify’, part (b) says ‘discuss’ or ‘evaluate’, and

part (c) says ‘recommend’. Are these the three stages of ‘recommend answer? I think so. If you get an exam question that asks you to

recommend, without any preceding requirements to identify and evaluate, you need to do a series of things; identify and explain any

reasonable options, evaluate each, conclude and recommend. Once again, notice how you are breaking a high level verb down into a

series of steps, using verbs from lower in the hierarchy.

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Appendix 2LIST OF VERBS USED IN THE QUESTION REQUIREMENTS

A list of the learning objectives and verbs that appear in the syllabus and in the question requirements for each question in this paper.

It is important that you answer the question according to the definition of the verb.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE VERBS USED DEFINITION

1 KNOWLEDGE

What you are expected to know. List Make a list of

State Express, fully or clearly, the details of/facts of

Define Give the exact meaning of

2 COMPREHENSION

What you are expected to understand. Describe Communicate the key features

Distinguish Highlight the differences between

Explain Make clear or intelligible/State the meaning or Purpose of

Identify Recognise, establish or select after Consideration

Illustrate Use an example to describe or explain Something

3 APPLICATION

How you are expected to apply your

knowledge.

Apply Put to practical use

Calculate Ascertain or reckon mathematically

Demonstrate Prove with certainty or to exhibit by practical means

Prepare Make or get ready for use

Reconcile Make or prove consistent/compatible

Solve Find an answer to

Tabulate Arrange in a table

4 ANALYSIS

How you are expected to analyse the

detail of what you have learned.

Analyse Examine in detail the structure of

Categorise Place into a defined class or division

Compare and contrast Show the similarities and/or differences between

Construct Build up or compile

Discuss Examine in detail by argument

Interpret Translate into intelligible or familiar terms

Prioritise Place in order of priority or sequence for action

Produce Create or bring into existence

5 EVALUATION

How you are expected to use your

learning to evaluate, make decisions or

recommendations.

Advise Counsel, inform or notify

Evaluate Appraise or assess the value of

Recommend Propose a course of action

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