Acing Islamiyat

Well Islamiyat is almost all about cramming. Especially when it comes to the different Ayats and Ahadis which have to be used as references in your answers. One should keep in mind that these form a very important part of each answer in the CIE so learn as many as you can. If you think you can't learn the long ones go for the shorter ones but do memorize at least 1 or 2 Ayats or Ahadis for each topic.

This subject comprises of two papers.
The first one has the first two questions based on Quran while paper two has them from Hadis. The last three questions, too, are from differing courses which can be viewed from the syllabus.

And here's another very important advice:

DON'T FOLLOW FARKHANDA NOOR'S BOOK ONLY. It has some very irrelevant things in it and it's also missing out on a few things asked on the paper. And even if you do, always keep the syllabus alongside it to ensure that you are not wasting any time reading things which won't be asked for.

P.S. This is the mistake I made. I decided to stick to this book and was faced with the question related to 'Hazrat Aisha's life during life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)' and I was clueless about what to write. So, in order to keep your choices open, don't stick to one book.

I'd say use Mostafa Draper's and Habib Ur Rehman's books too since they are both endorsed by Cambridge.

Here's a tip for question no. 1: Write the answers for all the 20 passages and 20 Ahadis (1 on each day) and once you are done, go through 5 of them every day so you don't forget them.

As long as part a) of questions 2,3,4 and 5 are concerned, the memorization of the book is enough. You can practice the most recent past papers just for the sake of timing yourself (you'll have to be fast).

As for part b), past papers are very important. Those questions test demand application of the course you've learned and you can prepare for them only through practice. Sometimes, questions are found to be repeated so practice as many as you can. You can start this 8 months prior to your CIE.

As far as timing is concerned, you will need to increase you writing speed. You won't have ample time to think (partly why I asked you to memorize the passages for question 1) so you will need to stay organized.

I used to allot timings to each question as follows:
Q 1 : 12 minutes (3 minutes for each part of each passage/hadis)
Q 2:  25 minutes (18 for part a) and 7 for part b))
Q 3: 25 minutes
Q 4/5: 25 minutes
Last 3 minutes for rechecking or viewing paper.

You can also change the time according to how well you are doing with your papers. But this is something to think about a few months before the CIEs and after you are done with completing your syllabus.

If you have any questions, you can comment below. :)