Study Panic
Oh dear, I’ve been very lazy in terms of my study programme for the CIM Professional Diploma and now I’m suffering for it. Fortunately I may have caught it early enough to avoid complete disaster and embarrassment.
So far, apart from religiously attending the lectures I haven’t really done anything. I have read the introductory text book that I bought - Essentials of Marketing (3rd Ed) by Jim Blythe - which is excellent I have to say, very easy to read, clearly set out and, dare I say it, interesting. This has proved invaluable in giving me the basic background in marketing and business which is completely missing from the CIM workbooks. I think the CIM assumes, perhaps not unreasonably, that you’ve studied the CIM Professional Certificate first, or if not, that you’re bright enough to work out that you’ll have to do some background reading. The only problem is trying to remember it all. I keep having to look the basic stuff up again because it hasn’t sunk in yet.
We’ve got a full day of lectures on Saturday including a mock exam of sorts, so now I’m frantically trying to do all the background reading and (at least attempt) to learn the contents of the Marketing Research and Information workbook. It’s taken me four hours just to do the first real unit in the book (unit 2). Phew, it’s heavy going really with all the stuff about the Data Protection Act and codes of practice. I think the contents probably get more interesting (and perhaps a little more intuitive) as you go along though - at least the lectures have. I’ve a long way to go before Saturday though!!
Then, next Friday I’ve got another full day on the Marketing Communications module - which I haven’t yet started the reading for. Hmm.
Oh well, you shouldn’t join if you can’t take a joke. And I’m glad that this Saturday’s thing has given me the kick up the bum I needed now rather than in three weeks time when the whole thing would have been hopelessly impossible.
December 17th, 2007 at 04:06 pm
Hi there! I’m thinking about doing the professional diploma in marketing too - are you doing the whole course (4 modules) all before december? I’m stuck on how much time i should allocate for myself for each individual module. I was going to study it from home, as its a cheaper option. Could you give me some advice on what to expect? thank you!!
December 17th, 2007 at 06:12 pm
Hi Caroline
I’m doing the course at the University of Salford - I started in September and you do two modules before Christmas and two modules from February to June. But you can also start in February and finish at Christmas. Obviously doing it from home is another option.
I have to confess I wasn’t prepared at all for studying this course - I’ve never studied marketing before - I used to be a biologist. I found the first few weeks really hard because all the terminology was completely new. I did buy a basic textbook recommended for the CIM Professional Certificate (Essentials of Marketing by Jim Blythe) which really helped - it gave me the basics and a nice glossary - I would strongly recommend reading this or something similar before commiting yourself to the course. If you find this textbook really dull then you’ll need masses of determination to get through the course - if you quite like reading it then that’s a good start.
The really tricky bit is trying to study whilst working full-time - there just aren’t enough hours in the day or energy in the tank. I’ve found that almost impossible to balance, but then I work a lot of overtime which doesn’t help.
Basically you have to learn everything in the workbook for each module. The workbooks contain between 8 and 12 units each and each unit probably takes about 6-12 hours to completely learn well enough to pass the exam (I’m not sure if you do exams or if you do it by coursework on the home study version of the course??). It’s a lot of work (10-12 hours per week per two units I reckon plus revision time). Strangely the units towards the front of the book seem much harder and longer than the units towards the back of the book. I’ve heard that you get lots more stuff to read on the home study version although I haven’t seen it for myself.
I confess I only did one of the exams before Christmas. I didn’t put enough effort in over the 12 weeks prior to the exams (I only did 4 hours per week - ie I turned up to lectures). I had to take a week off work to cram all the rest and discovered I only had time to learn one of the two modules. I’m now faced with taking 3 exams in June or sticking with 2 and doing the other next December. That is the one great thing though - you can resit each exam as many times as possible.
Now all this may seem very negative, but the problems I’ve had with the course have largely been of my own making - I underestimated how much time it would take up and how steep the learning curve would be. Now I’ve got to grips with a lot of the terminology and understand what I’m going to be faced with next term I feel confident that I’ll be able to to 2 if not all 3 of my exams next June. They do design the exams so that you have to learn everything though - it’s impossible to question spot.
As for whether it’s do-able by homestudy I wouldn’t like to say. Personally I don’t think I’d manage it - I’m far too lazy and besides it’s great to have the reassurance of classmates all confessing they don’t understand either and have a tutor on hand to answer questions and mark mock exams for you. I’ve done OU courses - but these are short and they are more of a hobby. I’m really glad I’m studying it with other people.
Anyway, I hope this helps. Let me know if you want to know anything more.
December 18th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Also I should warn you - the CIM are very good at hidden charges. Apart from the uni/college tuition fees you’ll need to join the CIM as a student member which is £160, and pay for your exams (if you choose the exam route) which are £50 each, and buy all your workbooks which are £20 each. Then if you want textbooks too (which I’m not convinced are necessary - google covers most questions) they are £30 each. You can also get revision cards which are about £8 each and which are really very useful for the exams. I dare say there’s a different set of charges for the coursework route. Just something you need to be aware of - it can get quite pricey.
On the up side though I see a lot of jobs that specifically ask for marketing qualifications and the CIM Diploma does seem to be highly regarded. It’s also a very applied course - I now find myself critically appraising TV ads/junk mail etc and trying to work out what sort of marketing mix they are using and how they could improve it.