cima strategic case study pre seen

What Is a Case Study?

When you’re performing research as part of your job or for a school assignment, you’ll probably come across case studies that help you to learn more about the topic at hand. But what is a case study and why are they helpful? Read on to learn all about case studies.

At face value, a case study is a deep dive into a topic. Case studies can be found in many fields, particularly across the social sciences and medicine. When you conduct a case study, you create a body of research based on an inquiry and related data from analysis of a group, individual or controlled research environment.

As a researcher, you can benefit from the analysis of case studies similar to inquiries you’re currently studying. Researchers often rely on case studies to answer questions that basic information and standard diagnostics cannot address.

Study a Pattern

One of the main objectives of a case study is to find a pattern that answers whatever the initial inquiry seeks to find. This might be a question about why college students are prone to certain eating habits or what mental health problems afflict house fire survivors. The researcher then collects data, either through observation or data research, and starts connecting the dots to find underlying behaviors or impacts of the sample group’s behavior.

Gather Evidence

During the study period, the researcher gathers evidence to back the observed patterns and future claims that’ll be derived from the data. Since case studies are usually presented in the professional environment, it’s not enough to simply have a theory and observational notes to back up a claim. Instead, the researcher must provide evidence to support the body of study and the resulting conclusions.

Present Findings

As the study progresses, the researcher develops a solid case to present to peers or a governing body. Case study presentation is important because it legitimizes the body of research and opens the findings to a broader analysis that may end up drawing a conclusion that’s more true to the data than what one or two researchers might establish. The presentation might be formal or casual, depending on the case study itself.

Draw Conclusions

Once the body of research is established, it’s time to draw conclusions from the case study. As with all social sciences studies, conclusions from one researcher shouldn’t necessarily be taken as gospel, but they’re helpful for advancing the body of knowledge in a given field. For that purpose, they’re an invaluable way of gathering new material and presenting ideas that others in the field can learn from and expand upon.

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Strategic Case Study Examination - May 2023 – August 2023

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CIMA Strategic Case Study

Pre-seen analysis pack

The pre-seen is at the core of every case study. To pass you MUST fully understand the company and its industry .

Why? Because the examiner expects you to apply EVERYTHING to the pre-seen scenario. It’s not about knowing the theory anymore (you’ve proved you can do that in the OT exams) it’s about showing how that theory relates to the pre-seen company.

And yet…

Almost every post-exam report the examiner notes that people are doing poorly because they are not applying answers to the pre-seen.

So how can we help? Our case study experts are here to support you with a range of pre-seen materials designed to make this part of your revision as easy as possible!

The pre-seen materials:

• Let you see the pre-seen through the eyes of our SCS expert , picking out all of the key information
• Apply key theory and models to the pre-seen
• Investigate the top 10 most likely issues to appear in your exam
• Give a detailed analysis of the pre-seen industry , helping you to build more rounded answers in your exam
• Test how well you have understood the pre-seen with a set of knowledge-based questions

“Having been granted exemptions up to CIMA SCS I needed to catch up with the full CIMA syllabus really quickly, I found the Astranti 10 most likely questions and the general hints and tips really useful. I focussed on these 10 topics which stopped me from becoming overwhelmed with all of the potential content. I passed SCS first time and would recommend the Astranti materials to anyone.”

CIMA Qualified , January 2022

Industry analysis

It is critical to demonstrate to the examiner that you have fully understood the pre- seen industry , as a key element to gaining extra high marks in your case study exam!

Researching the industry can be a laborious process, especially when you’re not sure which information is useful and which is not.

Our team has spent hours doing this research for you , finding the information that will help you to achieve a wider perspective of the industry and build a deeper knowledge in preparation for your exam.

• An overview of the industry and its background
• A review of the current market and competitors
• Detailed analysis of a similar real-life organisation to understand how it applies to the real-world
• 25 industry examples to learn and use in relevant sections of your exam for extra marks
• The document provides a detailed industry overview and is fully comprehensive
• The video provides a high-level summary, in around an hour, of the key points

Top 10 most likely issues

The top 10 issues identifies the  10 most likely issues to appear in the exam. Our SCS expert gives guidance on how to deal with the issues in your answers,  provides advice on which models to use and key points you should raise.

Based on our experience of analysing CIMA case studies for over 10 years, our predictions  have been extremely accurate in previous exams, with around 70- 80% of topics in the real exams being covered in our top 10 lists.

• 10 detailed “could be” issues that may come up in the exam and guidance on how to deal with them in your answer including advice on which models to use and key points you should raise
• The document gives summary slides for each of the issues
• The video provides our expert’s analysis of why that issue is so important and how to apply it to the exam

Pre-seen knowledge questions

Once you have worked your way through the pre-seen materials, you can now test your understanding with our pre-seen knowledge questions.

These challenging questions cover a wide variety of topics that you should be familiar with before moving onwards with your case study revision.

• 30 challenging questions
• Picking up the key knowledge you should know before the exam
• Test yourself and learn
• Each question comes with a detailed solution

What our students say

Please see our  testimonials page  for our latest student reviews. Here are a couple of examples:

“I finished my objective exams almost at the end of July, leaving me with only 4 weeks to study for the SCS exam. I decided to try astranti and bought the full SCS course (half the price of usual providers) and I was blown away by how much useful material they add on to their course. I managed to learn a lot in a very short period of time and I honestly recommend astranti to every accounting student now. The ten most likely questions tutorial was spot on… Good value for money and highly recommended.”

CIMA Strategic Case Study Student , October 2019

“The pre-seen video materials were the real reason I passed the OCS, MCS & SCS exams! Not only does Astranti provide great value for money content, it is succinct and makes balancing work/study/life manageable.”

CIMA Strategic Case Study Student , July 2019

Purchase the pre-seen pack

The pre-seen materials are included on both our   Essentials and Premium Courses . Head to the course page to see what else our courses have to offer.

SCS Pre-seen Pack November 2023/February 2024

One-off payment of… £199

SCS Pre-seen Pack November 2023/February 2024 (Instalments)

6x monthly instalments of… £36

SCS Pre-seen Pack May/August 2024

SCS Pre-seen Pack May/August 2024 (Instalments)

Note: Your pre-seen materials will only be available once the CIMA pre-seen for your chosen exam sitting has been released. You can purchase before this date if you wish, and your materials will available as soon as they are ready.

View & Print:

1. Click the “View + Print” link to view the study text.

2.  Wait  for all of the pages to load , this can sometimes take a couple of minutes depending on the size of the document (scroll to the last page to ensure that every page loads).

3.  Click  on the print icon within the document viewer (NOT the print icon in the browser menu).

4.  Follow  the steps to print.

Other things to try:

Please try an alternative browser.   Google Chrome and Firefox are recommended, but other  browsers may also work.  Updating your browser to the latest version can help your document load more quickly.

If you are using Windows XP and a version of Internet Explorer older than 9, we cannot guarantee  that printing will be possible. We recommend obtaining access to a computer with at least Windows 7.

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If your document fails to load, try clearing your cache and browser history. If your documents still do not load it may be due to the network you are on. We suggest trying to print on a different network.

If you still cannot print your document we suggest using a different computer and/or printer in case you are experiencing a hardware issue.

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Strategic Case Study

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• 29 hours of course content
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• Specimen exam debriefs
• 130 exam-grade questions
• Theory review lessons of key topics
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Download detailed course notes on the complete syllabus. Crafted with clarity, these concise and clear guides are filled with real-world examples.

Your tutor walks you through every question from two ACCA TX mock exams, explaining how you should answer on exam day.

Handy on-demand review lessons covering the key topics from the E, F and P pillars.

Our famous E/F/P Applied sessions identify the key theories from your OT studies, and model how to apply them in your answers on exam day.

Your tutor walks you through every question from the ACCA AA specimen exam, explaining how you should answer on exam day.

Our Elite Courses include everything from the Standard Course offerings, plus a range of personalised and exclusive features that will guarantee you pass your exams.

Our Elite courses include live, interactive sessions with your tutor and a small cohort of Elite students. Personalised guidance on exam technique and marking criteria.

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Course Syllabus

Strategic Case Study covers leadership in action: synthesise knowledge from all levels to solve high-stake strategic challenges..

Pre-course work

Ex-Senior Tax Manager at Deloitte, Laura is a standout financial tutor across ACCA, AAT, ACA, and CIMA, earning rave reviews like "best instructor" from students. She's guided hundreds to pass their exams at VIVA, including several World Prizewinners.

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Despite very difficult personal circumstances, with VIVA's help I managed to not only pass the SCS but to achieve my highest case study score from the 3 levels. Please keep doing what you do as it's so good!

I passed my OCS with a scaled score of 137 and got a letter from CIMA saying that I obtained the joint third position for the February 2019 case study and I believe that VIVA's materials really helped to make this possible.

VIVA were absolutely key in my CIMA Case Study exam - where I received first position in the world! I felt extremely supported with VIVA throughout the course, and would recommend them to anybody. I just wish I had found them much earlier in my studies!

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I want to thank VIVA for bringing to a successful end my study journey. I only wish I knew about VIVA earlier! Since using VIVA, I have passed my final exams.

I have used VIVA for all three Case Studies, passing first time on all three. I could not have done it without VIVA's help! Hands down, the best resource out there for CIMA Case Studies.

Before I signed up with VIVA's Elite course I was already enrolled with another tuition provider, and the way VIVA runs this course is 100x better! I will highly recommend you to my coworkers who are early in their CIMA journey.

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