Forums › Ask ACCA Tutor Forums › Ask the Tutor ACCA SBR Exams › Choosing optional questions
- This topic has 8 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by MikeLittle.
- AuthorPosts
- February 24, 2015 at 11:49 am #229970
Hello dear Mike
Hope you are fine and thank you with all your help.My question is about choosing optional questions in the exam! As far as I know the 2nd and 3rd questions are usually about different IFSRs & IASs and question 4 is about a current issue.
If the above assumption is right, then do you think whether is it logical and better to just focus on questions two and three because they are about accounting standards , so maybe more repetitive and easier that question 4 which is a current issue and could be about anything!I know it is just a matter of choice (otherwise they were not optional π ) and depends on the student’s knowledge, but would you please let me know YOUR opinion and experience !? Is question 4 usually harder than the other two questions? Is it a good approach to just focus on questions 1,2,3 of past papers?
Kind Regards
Thank you in advanceFebruary 24, 2015 at 12:32 pm #229988That seems a sound approach to me and is almost certainly the one that I would adopt we’re I to have to take the exam again!
Just consider how difficult it is to raise 25 different points on an issue that is currently topical!
Now think about how much less difficult it is to quote paragraphs from an IAS / IFRS and then apply those paragraphs to a given scenario – particularly when the scenario has (almost by definition) to highlight the contentious issues that the standard is now going to resolve
I have in the past told students to avoid question 4 if they possibly could and only in the extreme circumstance where their brain froze and they could think of effectively nothing to say in one of the other options then to attempt question 4
But that’s all personal. It’s not necessarily the way that the majority adopts and it could conceivably be the cause for the majority of fail papers!
Who can tell? Not me!
Hope that helps
February 24, 2015 at 12:52 pm #229990Thank you for your VALUABLE advice.
Well, I myself also think dealing with a 25 mark questions which is about differrent IFRSs and IASs could be easier than a 25 marks question about a current issue π .
Many Thanks Mr Mike
February 24, 2015 at 4:31 pm #230013You’re welcome
November 12, 2015 at 8:03 am #281890Hello Mike
I just googled this same question I had and reached at this place. Very helpful response. But I was also expecting to read something like.. “the examiner would appreciate the student attempting a question on topical issues”. Is that possible?
What I mean is, if we are familiar of the issue in the question we can firstly elaborate on the discussions going on, the fors and againsts, and then put forward our point of views somehow in ways to try adding up to 25 points or plus. Can we expect leniency in marking just because we are attempting question 4?
Thank you
Ahmed Mirza
November 12, 2015 at 8:05 am #281891<Delete>
November 12, 2015 at 8:10 am #281895You can expect no leniency – these are professional exams and there is no room for sentimentality! Sorry
But you’re correct in this – it’s very difficult to arrive at 25 separate markable points in a discussion question on a topical issue.
I said for years to my students, if there’s any possibility at all that you can avoid question 4, then avoid it
November 12, 2015 at 8:29 am #281897Thank you!
November 12, 2015 at 8:51 am #281904You’re welcome
- AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.