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I know the tutors on this site will probably slate me for this (stating that the examiner is totally fair and its all the student’s fault for not answering his requirements properly) but I have been struggling with P5 for a while and this time around I did a revision course with First Intuition in London. At this revision course 100% of the class were of the opinion that the examiner’s question requirements, under exam pressure, can seem completely bewildering and hard to breakdown.
The pass rates have slumped significantly since he took over as examiner, and to be quite fair I am annoyed that he has the gall to say “he’s upset with this”, pinning the blame on students. Surely it can’t be the students fault every single sitting? With the constant deterioration of pass rates? Students study hard for this exam, and the content is interesting, why has the examiner turned this into a nightmare?? Surely an exam should be a test of content and understanding, not how well you can decode the question and demonstrate exam technique??
These are not stupid people sitting this exam and it is having a huge demoralising effect on people, I can definitely say it has on me as it is my final exam.
What does the examiner or the ACCA gain from this? The abysmal pass rates and disheartened current atudents of this exam are going to push students choosing their options to the other papers. Hence resulting in an over subscription to the other papers, then probably resulting in ACCA having to mark them harsher!
I am at the stage where I do not really care if I get told it’s my problem and I “just need to study more concisely/improve my exam technique/read the question”. Jobs in finance are getting tougher and tougher in terms of hours and its not easy to fit in studying for an ACCA.
This is for all those studying P5, I pretty much guarantee you there’s hundreds of others doing this paper that are feeling the same as you do! I personally feel the exam was way better before the examiner took over and do not think he is a just or fair examiner at this level. I have a group of 30 people who feel the same way and will be writing a petition in to the ACCA after the December exam. It’s not fair students have to suffer this way,
I have never heard such unanimous dislike for one examiner and similarity of grievance with an ACCA paper
P5 students, your not alone.
Wow, I’d write something like this myself but I wouldn’t be able to put it any better than that. Spot on, 100% agreed!
I haven’t come across a p5 student who disagrees with me. Where in “real life” would you sit there analysing a set of perfomance metrics? The performance of the company is the key objective. So this “commerical aspect” is ridiculous to me. I don’t see how it relates to real life at all
My fundamental problem with this paper is that I feel there is a huge risk of misinterpreting the questions asked which could cost me a pass. I have little problem with syllabus or the questions asked, but I do have a problem with them being hard to interpret. What annoys me is that this is not a fair way to assess students and does not reflect real life.
Let’s say a manager tells you he wants a report on topic X, but it’s not clear exactly how he/she wants report written, you would ask them to clarify and they would. Hence understanding the requirement of a question/task should not be an issue in the real world and so should not be an issue with this exam!
This is the only exam I’ve ever sat where I feel like even if I prepared perfectly for it I could still fail. I also get really annoyed reading examiner comments blaming the students for not reading the scenario. I’ve seen questions where I’ve read the scenario many times and it’s still not clear what’s expected. It’s been said that the reason for pass marks being low is the need to bring forward prior F5 knowledge which is not the main reason, it’s the style in which the exams are written.
I definetly feel the students need to voice their opinion to the ACCA. We all have exactly the same greivances!!! It’s no longer the case of “ill-prepared” students lashing out because they failed. We have worked hard to pass this. Why should a final level exam be more about exam tecnhique than content? Thats no where near fair
It’s my first sitting this Dec, I’ve studied quite well for it and feel prepared but going through the questions in the past papers he does word some questions in a rather peculiar way. I thought the guys who sat it in June got a really hard paper. Fingers crossed it’s not too bad this time round. Good luck all
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@wanderboyo said:
Wow, I’d write something like this myself but I wouldn’t be able to put it any better than that. Spot on, 100% agreed!I completely agree! I feel that I know this subject inside out as well as the application (as my job is a consultant in the performance management sector with one of the Big Four firms and has been for the past 5 years!) however I still fail this exam! The way the questions are worded are misleading. I come out of the exam questioning if I even answered what he was asking. I achieved pass marks of 80+ first time on the exams which P5 is based on such as F5 and P3. I am giving this one last go but if I fail I have to go against my role at work (and my future) and choose another option just to pass ACCA! 🙁
You are not alone. I work in an FP&A department and this is the natural choice for me. There are a huge amount of students who feel this way. They cannot keep blaming us when the overwhelming majority feel this way!!!
Every time he is on to decreasing pass rate. I really don’t get what he wants.
i agree with these posts. this is the first module i failed, going to retake on 4dec. i failed because i cant understand the qn due to time pressure. answering to qn is the area that i fear most, my english is not that great. i hope by trying to practice all his qn, read his answers, read his examiner’s reports will help in my passing this round.
i am so afraid that i would keep failing p5, seeing some of the people here have failed p5 multiple times, i am quite demoralised.
i dont want to waste my life screwing up p5 and restudying p5 for the next few years, there’s so much sacrifice in terms of family bonding.Good luck to everyone! i hope we get a more reasonable paper this time.
” I am giving this one last go but if I fail I have to go against my role at work (and my future) and choose another option just to pass ACCA! 🙁
I have resisted the temptation to shift to another paper just for the sake of finishing ACCA. Its because I think I have a calling in PM and would want want to major on it as a consultant but one and the only one Sir Alex Watt has not made it easier for me. Hope for the best not the beast this time around.
I completely agree with what u people are saying. The examiner is not able to recognize the hard word we students are making to prepare this paper. I have heard that ACCA now has a policy of not disclosing the examiners. And as far as I know Sir Alex Watt has been there for long time now. Do anyone have any information regarding this?
@seanan said:
” I am giving this one last go but if I fail I have to go against my role at work (and my future) and choose another option just to pass ACCA! 🙁I have resisted the temptation to shift to another paper just for the sake of finishing ACCA. Its because I think I have a calling in PM and would want want to major on it as a consultant but one and the only one examiner has not made it easier for me. Hope for the best not the beast this time around.
I wish I could do the same but this is holding back my life as I am leaving my country to a country which does not have an ACCA exam centre and this exam is holding me back…and I am not getting any younger!
@oasis said:
I completely agree with what u people are saying. The examiner is not able to recognize the hard word we students are making to prepare this paper. I have heard that ACCA now has a policy of not disclosing the examiners. And as far as I know Sir Alex Watt has been there for long time now. Do anyone have any information regarding this?To be honest I am not even sure if it is Alex Watt anymore…I understand he was the examiner between 2009 and 2012….they have now stopped disclosing the names of examiners for safety reasons I believe…I am not sure if the examiner has changed or if they are just not disclosing his name…
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I thought I was the only person struggling this much to feel prepared.
I am all for a petition…let’s make our voices heard!
I’ll tell you my opinion after tomorrow’s exam. This will be my first attempt.
I wish everyone good luck!If alex was upto 2012 then let me tell u the other one has made life more miserable.
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Definitely need to do something to improve chances of passing. I work as a Commercial Accountant and this will be my 3rd time having attempted the exam. Topics are reasonable but exams are just horrendous, hard to know what Alex wants. So disheartening.
Hi all. First question was marginally better but yet again section B was terrible. Down to the examiners awful wording of questions and mark allocations! The lower weighted questions seemed like they were not given appropriate mark weighting whereas the requirements with higher marks seem to have barely anything you could write to fill up the marks!!!!
Question 4 had barely any detail to go on!!
It is definetly time to write to the ACCA with a petition, as the examiner does not seem to be a competent examiner. The way he writes his exams induces students to panic and second guess what they have written
We have had enough!! The examiner has caused many of us so much misery and stress having to retake this exam again and again.
I will be drafting a formal letter to the ACCA and post up the link for signatures.
@yogzcro said:
I will be drafting a formal letter to the ACCA and post up the link for signatures.
off topic, ACCA / Examiners do read your comments on our forums too
so as long as they are civilised/professional. it’s good 🙂
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