Gingerjo’s Blog

I went to the dentist too today. All is well, no fillings necessary. He just had a bit of a poke around and looked mildly disappointed that he wouldn’t be making much of a profit out of me.

He’s very good though and doesn’t do unnecessary work. One of my previous dentists filled this tiny little hole in one of my molars and that filling fell out after only a couple of years (I expect a toffee was the culprit). I asked my current dentist to refill it but it said it was so small it wasn’t worth it and it should never have been filled in the first place. I never get any pain or anything in that tooth so I guess he must be right.

I had my eye’s tested today. Once again my sight has deteriorated - my astigmatism has got worse. Hopefully this explains why I keep getting headaches - my eyes are having to work really hard and maybe I’ve been squinting a bit too? Anyway I’ve ordered a new pair of rimless glasses for £239 (ouch). They’re a bit square and trendy, but the optician assures me that they suit me. It’ll be nice to see clearly again!

I haven’t done nearly as much studying as I’d hoped for tomorrow’s mock exam, but I have done about 10 hours this week which isn’t bad. There’s so much to learn, but now I’ve had a proper look at the questions and worked through a sample answer I feel a lot better. The good news is that the core question is always basically the same and tests your knowledge of the the different techniques you might apply to market research in specific sets of circumstances. You have a basic format that you always work to and then you apply your knowledge of the different techniques within that framework. Hurrah. The bad news is that I’ve now got to learn all the techniques inside out. However, the stuff we’ve been told in lectures is, at least, starting to fall into place now - I’m beginning to see how it all fits together. So that’s progress anyway.

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.