Grounding ABPI exam candidates in rock-solid revision techniques
A couple of months back I had one of those “how can you help me?” calls, which didn’t turn out as I hoped.
The caller mentioned that she’d failed her morning papers in the ABPI exam, despite reading the learning manual from cover to cover, and despite using her highlighter pen until it ran dry.
The minute I heard this, I knew I could help her….. Continue reading “How to turbocharge your ABPI exam revision”
When Duncan approached me for help with his exam resits, he was feeling demotivated, demoralised, and overwhelmed:
“…with a young family, other commitments, as well as my full-time job, I’m finding it difficult to carve out any more study time”.
He’d never failed an exam before. His resits were in four weeks.
“What about your moments of downtime?” I asked him.
“Like when you’re: waiting before a sales call; walking the dog; in the car, or anywhere else you could reasonably be listening to the equivalent of crib notes?”
“Yeah. I’ve done all that. I recorded my specialist topics word for word from the learning manuals. But, nothing’s going in. I can’t seem to absorb any of it.”
“Ah. I see.”
Clearly, Duncan was feeling time pressured. Like other candidates before him, he didn’t lack commitment, but I suspected he perhaps wasn’t making the best use of his time.
Recording chapters from his manual would have taken time and effort, especially doing it word-for-word.
Unedited.
This meant he hadn’t processed the topics in those chapters, because he hadn’t made the concepts his own. Putting them into his own words – and summarising – would’ve been a good start. But, because he felt time pressured, he decided to skip doing this.
So, before doing anything else, we needed to… Continue reading “No time to study? These 4 Learning techniques (and 3 tools) put you in control of your ABPI Exam revision”
Have you asked yourself this question?
I was a little stumped the first time I was asked it, since it’s a personal decision on what, where and when to start revising. How can someone else answer that for you?
But then I realised that it’s a fair question, especially when you’re trying to work out where best to spend your time revising. Nevertheless, my answer then, as now, was “…it depends”.
When you’re building your study plan, the time you set aside to revise or learn different topics all depends on how much time you have in total to study.
Continue reading “Should I start with studying the Code of Practice for my ABPI Exam?”
Chances are, when it comes to preparing for your ABPI exam, you’ve been left to get on with it by your company. Perhaps you’ve been told (mistakenly):
“… It’s really easy. It’s just some multiple choice questions. Just read the manual. You’ll be fine.“
Sound familiar?
So, of course, you registered for the exam, bought the manuals, then realised you need more time to prepare. Lots more time. And maybe some help. But, you’re on your own. Remember?
Because you’ve no choice, you’ve gone for it. Frustratingly, you keep missing a pass, by just a few marks.
You know what? You’re not alone.
Yours is an increasingly common experience.
More and more exam candidates are being hired for their sales skills, often with a proven track record in another industry. Coupled to this, you’re told that the exam is easy…that “…there’s nothing to it…just some MCQs.”
Or, perhaps you’re a marketeer taking the exam for professional development. Maybe you have a science degree.
Either way, you’re struggling. On top of the day to day challenges of the job itself, finding time to study can be overwhelming, especially if you’ve no background in science.
This leads me to those 9 things your boss needs to know.
Continue reading “9 things about the ABPI exam your boss needs to know”
Although I’m still working from vs 7, I recently confirmed with Amira Burshan, Education Officer at the ABPI that the main differences between vs 7 and vs 8 are: –
In essence, other than making things clearer, what’s being tested in the ABPI exam isn’t changing, at least not until next year when vs 8 will be fully adopted.
Even then, if you’ve read the independent report on the Exam published in February[1], you’ll appreciate that rather than changing content drastically, the ABPI are focussed on changing how content in their learning materials is tested:
Mnemonics (the ‘m’ is silent) are useful rhymes or memorable phrases, or even just a series of letters, ideas, or associations that assist in remembering something. The trick is for the mnemonic itself to be something memorable that helps you with recall.
For example, the ABPI learning materials provide you with MRS GREN (2.1.1 Life processes) as a way to remember the 7 functions performed by all living things, and demonstrated by all living cells:- Continue reading “8 reasons mnemonics make the endocrine system memorable”