How to identify additional issues and AOs in case exams
Candidates often waste valuable exam time searching for a hidden additional issue even when a case already provides several strategy proposals. This struggle to confidently pinpoint Assessment Opportunities (AOs) and the required quantitative data makes it difficult to address all requirements within strict one-hour time limits.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Assuming there could be an additional issue regardless of the number of strategic options presented and spending a few minutes looking for itDid this help you?
- 2Asking oneself what the board would be worried about outside of the main strategic optionsDid this help you?
- 3Prioritizing multiple-choice questions over extensive case workDid this help you?
- 4Focusing study time on management accounting rather than financeDid this help you?
- 5Practicing full exams to improve pacing and time allocationDid this help you?
- 6Spending a limited amount of time understanding each capstone option to grasp interrelationshipsDid this help you?
- 7Waiting to read the case first rather than trying to guess beforehandDid this help you?
- 8Relying on quantitative, qualitative, and case facts to back up recommendations during the examDid this help you?
- 9Discussing exam questions with peers online to compare notes and figure out what the required assessment opportunities wereDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’m currently in Core 2, with the exam coming up in about 2 weeks, and I’m still really struggling with identifying the AOs and coming up with the required quant.”source ↗
“I’ve tried practicing retired cases under timed conditions, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how to properly address 2 AOs within an hour.”source ↗
“Let’s start a discussion here, I’ve seen a lot of back and forth about the MA AOs on day 3. What are the three MA AOs for that day?”source ↗
“I am thinking they are going to throw option 3 at us as the scenario based mainly off”source ↗
“I always have a difficult time identifying the “additional issue” in the case.”source ↗
“I’m just trying to know that if there are 5 strategy proposals already, if I should still be looking for another additional issue or not which would obviously save me a lot of time.”source ↗
“I only saw two that really stuck out, the rest felt like a blur of variance analysis and random KPIs”source ↗
“I am getting peoples opinion on which option they think will have been taken from for the day 1 CFE.”source ↗
Where this came up
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