Just in case you’re not familiar with the topics covered in the CIMA F3 syllabus, let’s take a quick look at what they entail:

Financial policy decisions

Looking at the different components of a clearly defined and focused financial strategy which ensure that the company has the right funds invested in the right projects to ensure the long-term success of the business

Sources of long-term funds

Understanding the different ways businesses can raise capital (e.g. ordinary shares, preference shares, corporate bonds, loans) to support continuing operations and new investments

Financial risks

As with any decision, you need to be aware of the financial risks involved, how to quantify them and how to apply that to business decision-making

Business valuation

An accurate business valuation is a key part of most investments because a valuation of a business entity will be needed whenever a price is required, e.g. when buying or selling an entity

When studying this content (and in your exam), you will have to perform some calculations alongside learning and applying the theoretical content – so make sure you re-familiarise yourself with your scientific calculator and remember to bring it with you to your exam! You can find a list of CIMA approved calculators on their website. 

Now that you have a foundational understanding of the CIMA F3 syllabus, let’s take a closer look at the topics that are likely to cause you a bit more difficulty. 

We asked our students and our expert tutors what the hardest CIMA F3 topics are (and where you should plan to spend extra time studying). The areas that came up over and over again were:

So, seeing these topics, it might not surprise you that technically speaking, F3 is the hardest of all CIMA subjects. There are some very complex ideas here. For some, you may just be able to get away with learning how to do the questions (even if you haven’t fully grasped the topic), while for others, you must make sure you get expert tuition so that the topics are simplified and explained in a really straightforward way.

Immediately after you’ve finished your CIMA F3 exam, you’ll receive a provisional pass or fail, which is printed out by Pearson Vue centre or will be available on your My CIMA account if you take the exam remotely. Then, about 48 hours later, you’ll receive your scaled score out of 150 as well as what areas of the CIMA F3 syllabus you were ‘proficient’ in. 

The pass mark in the scaled score is 100 (roughly 66-70%). If you fail the exam, but you’re very close to passing (scoring in the 90s), we strongly recommend you retake the exam as soon as possible. That way, the knowledge will still be fresh in your mind and you’ll just need to shore up the few weaker areas in order to get that passing grade.

So, we’ve taken a bird’s-eye view of the syllabus, drilled down into the most difficult topic areas and understood how your exam will be assessed, but what are the actual steps you need to take to make sure you pass?

So, CIMA F3 is hard! Possibly the hardest of all the CIMA exams.

However, a well-prepared student will pass CIMA F3 first time. So, what is a well-prepared student, and how do you ensure that that student is you?

Astranti CEO, Nick Best, has used his 25 years of experience teaching CIMA exams to share what he has found makes the difference between passing and failing the CIMA F3 exam. 

First up…

Next, you must test you’ve really understood the content by doing questions. Providers like Astranti will often supply practice questions at the end of each chapter of a study text or after each tuition video. These aren’t about passing or failing – these are for you to identify what you’ve understood and remembered and what you need to spend more time learning before you move on to the next topic. 

And don’t just take questions from one provider. Buy multiple revision packs from different ones – they all have their own style and it gives you a wider range to ensure you’ve really understood the content.

Another vital step here is to mark the questions you got wrong so you can return to them in a few weeks’ time. If, a few weeks later, you get the question right, you’ve shown you’ve really learnt the content.

And one final tip here… Not all providers’ solutions to questions are the same. Make sure you find questions that have detailed and clearly explained solutions that don’t just give you brief one-line answers. It’s not about getting the solution ‘right’, it’s about making sure you fully understand the theory, and getting the right question bank is key to this.

Memorising means being able to write out or recite everything in your notes without looking at them. And yes, I really mean that! That’s what the best students can do, and if you’re not doing that, you’ll be behind them and will be unlikely to pass first time! 

By the time the exam rolls around, you should be able to rattle off the meaning of the Capital Asset Pricing Model or M&M’s theories without breaking a sweat, along with pretty much anything else in the syllabus!

CIMA F3 has many formulae and mathematical methods. Some formulae will be provided in the exam itself, and you can see which ones are on CIMA’s formulae sheet, but others will need to be memorised. In addition to revision notes, it can also help to create a sheet with all the calculations/formulae you’re trying to remember, as they can be tricky to recall quickly in the exam. Review that sheet on the way to your exam centre or just before your allotted exam time for those sat at home, just to double-check you really do know them.

This really can’t be said enough. CIMA F3 is not an academic subject to be admired from afar, it’s a practical syllabus that you will need to not only understand but also be able to apply under exam conditions. 

As such, take all the mock exams your provider can give you, and (if you can afford it) get a couple more from other providers. And do them in as close to exam conditions as you can: alone, in a single sitting and without any notes to help.

It is the best way to prepare just before the exam, bar none! Not only are you checking your memorisation and understanding, you’re honing your exam technique. How will you manage the time pressure? How will you approach challenging questions? How will you schedule your time between easier and more difficult topics?

As with the practice questions before, you should be reviewing your mock results to see what you got wrong (even if you achieved a passing mark in that mock). It may seem negative, but it’s essential that you identify and address all of your weaknesses before you sit the real exam. 

Don’t forget there are free practice questions up for grabs on the Pearson Vue website. This is especially useful for anyone new to these exams because it is based on the actual exam software, so you can get a taste of the real thing ahead of the exam. Astranti also have a free mock for you too so make sure you sign up for that. 

3. Finally, with any time remaining, do a third pass of the flagged questions and take time to consider your answers. Since there’s no negative marking, always make sure to answer every question by the end – even if you have to guess!

Watch out for a ‘Pass Guarantee’ when you’re choosing your course provider. With that, if you fail the exam and meet the guarantee conditions, you will be entitled to continue studying until you pass your exam. 

Take time over the different subjects

CIMA F3 has the toughest topics of all CIMA exams. Take time over these, and, most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask your tutors for help to clarify your understanding – you’ll almost certainly need to do this for F3 in a way you perhaps won’t have for previous subjects! 

Learn your formulae

Lots of that tough F3 content is formulae. Now, some that you’ll encounter in your studies will be given to you in the exam, but most won’t be. In either case, you need to be confident in how those formulae are applied and what figures need to be fed into them.

It’s worth considering as you revise which formulae you don’t need to memorise, so check out the CIMA F3 formulae sheet. You’ll see that little or no explanation is given for each, but at least you won’t need to commit the algebra to memory, just learn how the formulae work. 

There’s no point in us telling you CIMA F3 will be easy, but hopefully, now you’ve read this page in full, you’ll be better prepared to face the challenge! If you still have any questions about the CIMA F3 exam, pop them in the question box below and we’ll get back to you!

Good luck with CIMA F3!