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Dear tutor,
Please, give us a piece of advice concerning time-management on P5.
The matter is that as part of my preparation I try to do the exercises from Exam-kits and past exam papers; I try to devote about 1.5 hours for 50-marks exercise and about 45 minutes on 25-mark exercise. And I really fill shortage of time.
The insufficient time is probably actual for every ACCA-exam, but here the problem is the most significant for me.I know the material quite well and my answers usually correspond to those from the Exam Kit. But it takes me much more time to make the exercise than it should have taken.
What approach to time-management you would suggest? Maybe it is better to answer one part of the exercise properly and do not take the second part of the exercise at all? Or it is worth answering both parts but in less detail (though the quality of answers may suffer).
Your piece of advice will be helpful to many of us!
We would always say that you should attempt every question and every part of every question. There are always easy marks as you start an answer, getting more and more elusive as you go on.
Use the reading time to really study Q1 and note, on the exam paper, relevant points and even an answer plan. Try to write succinctly – I don’t mean on or two word bullet points, but short paragraphs of about 1 – 2 sentences each dealing with a single point you want to make.
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Hi there,
Just wondering how would you use the 15 minute reading time specifically. I’ve had conflicting advice saying use it to understand all the questions and what they are about or alternatively just focus on section a as this is worth 50 marks and don’t look at section b questions. I’ve failed this paper twice before so would appreciate feedback as to how students typically use their reading time and what mins to mark ratio people use?
Thanks,
Adam
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Reading time – 3 mins decide options, 12 mins planning section a
Best Section B question – 10.15am to 11am (best option B) – 5 mins plan, 40 write
A – 11am to 12.30pm – 10 mins plan, 80 mins write
Other section B question – 12.30pm to 1.15pm – 5 mins plan, 40 writeWould the above be a good plan of attack?
Thanks
Adam
You have to do what suits you. As I said, I’m a strong advocate in doing Q1 first.
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Okay, why do you think it’s best to do Q1 first? Would your suggested plan be for the 15 minutes to purely look at Question 1 and choose which section b questions to do?
Minutes to mark 1.6 in exam? Does this sound good in your opinion?
Thanks,
Adam
Q1 is worth 50 %, is very long and takes several reads to understand. It’s hard to devote enough time to that in the middle of the exam. Therefore, I suggest you devote most of the 15 minutes reading to that to really get to know it. You will inevitably want to have a quick look at the section (b) questions, just out of curiosity and nerves, but it might be better to defer making a firm decision as to which to do until after the first question. By then you will probably have a different perspective on things.
I don’t quite get the 1.6 minutes/mark. Most people go for 1.6/mark, but maybe you are leaving some spare time for planning.
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Thanks,. Probably makes more sense to use most of 15 minutes for section a. Guess by doing section a last you may be more tired to think clearly and tackle that volume.
Yes 1.6 allows me a bit more time for planning. I find the examiners questions can be tricky to get what he really wants so extra bit of thinking time helps.
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