How to plan a task answer in five minutes

Most weak case study answers don't fail because the student didn't know enough. They fail because the student started typing straight away and wrote about something next to the task, rather than the task itself.

A few minutes of planning fixes most of that. This article gives you a plan you can use on any task, at any level. We call it a five-minute plan, but treat the time as a guide: on a short task you might spend two or three minutes, and on a long, heavily weighted one a little more. What matters is that you plan every time, and that the plan is quick enough to leave you most of the time for writing.

Before you start: what a plan is for

A plan is not a draft. It is a short list, in your own shorthand, that answers four questions:

1. What exactly is the task asking for?
2. What in the trigger am I responding to?
3. What are my three or four main points?
4. How long do I have for each part?

If your plan answers those, you can write the answer without stopping to think about where it is going. Type it in the answer area or the workings area, whichever you prefer, and delete it before you finish if you need to.

Step 1: read the requirement (about a minute)

Read the task requirement before you read the trigger in detail. You want to know what you are looking for.

Underline, or note, three things:

• The verb. "Explain", "discuss", "evaluate", "analyse", "recommend" and "advise" each ask for something different. "Evaluate" needs both sides and a judgement. "Recommend" needs a decision, reasons, risks and next steps. "Explain" needs what something is and why it matters here.
• The subject. What exactly are you writing about? A task about the price variance is not a task about the usage variance, however much you know about both.
• The limits. "TWO benefits", "ONE possible link", "for the board". If the task asks for two, give two. A third earns nothing and costs time.

Also note who you are writing to and in what format. An email to a production supervisor reads differently from a report to the board.

If the task has more than one requirement, list them separately. Each needs its own part of the plan and its own heading in the answer.

Step 2: use the trigger (about a minute)

Now read the new information properly: the email, the news item, the exhibit.

The trigger is the reason the task exists. Note:

• the facts and figures you will need to use
• what has changed, or what is being proposed
• who is involved and what they want
• anything that links to the pre-seen, such as a theme you already know matters to this company.

Students often skip this and write what they prepared in advance. Those answers score poorly, because they don't respond to what is in front of them. Two or three notes from the trigger in your plan are usually enough to keep you anchored.

Step 3: build developed points (about a minute and a half)

For each requirement, aim for three or four developed points, not ten short ones.

A developed point has three parts:

• The issue. What is the point?
• Why it matters here. How does it apply to this company, with a fact or figure?
• The impact. So what? What does it mean for the business, its people or the decision?

In your plan, each point can be a few words with an arrow: "cheaper fabric → more waste → saving lost, bad for eco brand". That is enough to write a full paragraph from.

If the task involves a calculation, note the method and the figures you need here, and do the working in the workings area. Then make sure at least one of your points says what the result means.

Step 4: cover the competencies (about half a minute)

Look at your points and ask whether the task gives room for marks you haven't planned for. Markers look for four competencies: technical, business, people and leadership.

Two quick checks catch most gaps:

• Who is affected? If your plan has no people in it, add a point about staff, customers, suppliers or another stakeholder and how they will react. If there is an ethical issue, name the principle at risk.
• Is a recommendation asked for? If yes, plan a clear one: what, why, the main risk and the next step. If no, don't add one.

Also check that every point is tied to the company. If a point could be written about any business, add the fact or figure that makes it about this one.

Step 5: split your time (a few seconds)

Each section of the exam is timed separately, and when its time ends you can't go back. So before you write, decide how long you will spend on each task and each requirement, in proportion to their weight.

Write the finishing times in your plan, against the clock. Then keep to them. When the time for one requirement is up, move on to the next, even if you could say more. A partial answer to every requirement almost always scores more than a perfect answer to one and nothing for the other.

A worked plan

Here is a plan for a short Operational level task. The trigger: the monthly report shows an adverse materials price variance and a favourable usage variance, and purchasing switched to a new supplier this month. The task: write a note to the production manager explaining what these variances mean and ONE possible link between them.

Verb: explain (meaning and reasons), plus ONE link. Reader: production manager, not an accountant.

Point 1: price variance: paid more than standard for what we bought → likely the new supplier's price.

Point 2: usage variance: used less material than expected for actual output.

Point 3: the link: better-quality material → less waste → offsets part of the price rise. State the net effect.

No recommendation: not asked for.

That plan took a minute or two to write. It is short, it is tied to the trigger, it covers the verb and the limit ("ONE link"), and it tells you when to stop.

Common planning mistakes

• Planning too much. If your plan is a draft, you have spent your writing time. A few words per point is enough.
• Not planning at all. Starting to type immediately is the quickest route to answering a different question.
• Planning once for the whole section. Plan each task as you reach it, so the plan is fresh when you write.
• Ignoring the plan. If you planned three points and you are writing a fifth, stop and check you are still answering the task.

Practise the habit

Planning gets faster with practice. Use the same five steps on every practice task until they become automatic, then watch how your answers change.

On Eighty Marks, every task is set in your pre-seen company, on an exam-style screen with a workings area. You get marked on the four competencies in about a minute, and see your own answer rewritten to the next level up, with the reason for each change, which shows you quickly whether your plan worked.

Your first task is free, with no card needed. To see what each level involves, go to the Operational, Management or Strategic page.