Nature of the ACCA F9 paper
ACCA F9 Paper – Financial Management – is concerned with managing the finances of a business. Some topics were introduced in Paper F2, particularly discounted cash flow and inventory control. These, and other new topics, are examined at a higher level.
Structure of the ACCA F9 paper
There are three sections to the exam – Section A will comprise 15 multiple choice questions of 2 marks each; Section B of the exam comprises three scenarios, each with 5 multiple choice questions. Section C has two ‘long form’ questions (a full question requiring a full answer) of 20 marks each.These two questions will come from the working capital management, investment appraisal, and business finance areas of the syllabus.The Section A and B questions can (and will!) cover all areas of the syllabus.
There are 3 hours for the exam, plus 15 minutes of reading time if you are taking the paper based (as opposed to the computer based) exam.
Overall, approximately 50% of the exam involves calculations, and approximately 50% is written.
Emphasis of the ACCA F9 exam
Although most of the arithmetic involved is not difficult in itself, the calculation parts of questions are designed to check that you understand the techniques, and can decide what information is relevant, rather than checking that you have just learned rules.
For the written parts of questions there are several financial management theories that can be examined, but many of them are again checking that you understand the techniques and their assumptions and limitations.
How to use OpenTuition to study for the ACCA F9 exam
Use the OpenTuition ACCA F9 lectures along with the F9 Lecture Notes. Make sure that you are happy with the arithmetic, but also listen carefully to the lectures and check that you really do understand the techniques and the theories
When you are confident of a topic then practise as many past exam questions as you can. See also F9 revision lectures based on past exams
How to pass ACCA F9 Exam
However much you have studied, your approach in the exam room can make a big difference. For Sections A and B, look for the short and easy questions and answer them first. In whatever time you have left then spend more time on the longer and harder questions. Try not to spend too long on either section – you should be allowing yourself about 27 minutes for each of Sections A and B. When the time for the whole exam is almost up, go back and guess the answer to any questions that you have not completed – guessing a few questions may only result in one correct answer, but 2 marks is huge if you would otherwise have failed on 48. Don’t waste time doing neat workings for Sections A and B – nobody will look at them.
In Section C allow yourself about 36 minutes for each question. Make sure that you write something for each part of each question – you might get stuck or you might run out of time, but you can always write something, and writing anything sensible will likely get you a mark. For the calculation parts of questions, make sure your workings are neat and easy to follow – the marks in Section C are for the workings rather than for the final answer.
See also:
F9 Forum Support – post your questions to get help from other students
Paper F9 Syllabus & Study Guide
Exam formulae & maths tables
F9 Past exam papers
F9 Examiners’ reports
F9 Examiner’s approach interview
F9 Examiner’s approach article
F9 Examiner’s analysis interview
F9 Technical articles
F9 Pass rates
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.