Dear Students The examiners for the Stage 3 Operations Management 1/Operations Management 2 examination (December 2012 diet)

have asked that we provide some further guidelines to candidates taking the forthcoming examination. There are two sections to the paper each containing three questions. Candidates are expected to answer three questions, at least one question must be from each section and ONE other question from either Section A or Section B. Section A - This section will concentrate on the materials from Operations Management 1. Candidates should be familiar with all of the materials and they should develop a detailed knowledge of Environmental Issues, Operations Strategy and Facilities Layout and Flow. Section B - This section will concentrate on Operations Management 2. Candidates must be familiar with all of the materials and be able to respond in depth to discussions concerning Supply Chain Management, Total Quality Management and Product Life Cycles. It is important that candidates are able to make connections across the syllabus. General Candidates who answer only two questions are unlikely to pass the examination and must show strength across both sets of materials. Equally, if a candidate answers more than three questions only the first three questions will be marked. It is unlikely that such a candidate would pass the examination. Legible handwriting is essential. If an examiner cannot read the writing then the candidate is likely to fail. Answers should be well structured. Candidates are strongly advised to plan the structure of their answers. It is critical to answer the question asked. In so doing, it is expected that the candidate will be able to explain the appropriate Operations Management concepts and where appropriate or where asked for, examples should be given. These may arise from the text, wider reading or a candidate's own experience. Examples must be relevant to the question asked. Any diagrams included in an answer must be legible and well drawn. It is essential to explain any diagram used. Finally in all answers candidates should always clearly state how their discussion relates to the question asked. Hopefully the above comments will be of use to candidates in the examination. Please note that it is not normal practice to provide such advice on examinations. The examiners hope that the above will enable you to focus on your revision and improve overall student performance for this paper. Regards Director of External Programmes Heriot-Watt Management Programme School of Management & Languages

External Programmes
School of Management & Languages Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh EH14 4AS Telephone +44 (0)131 451 3864 Fax +44 (0)131 451 3865 Email external@sml.hw.ac.uk Web http://www.sml.hw.ac.uk/external Edinburgh Campus Scottish Borders Campus