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Hello everyone! Congrats to those who have passed P5, and to those who didn’t, it’s OK. Paper P5 is an unbelievably difficult paper destined for potential management consultants, and if you pass it, you may even be in the running to try out for BCG or McKinsey if you so desire.
If you didn’t do well in P5, reassess your thinking if you really achieve the mind of a management consultant. To become one, you need to do lots of reading beyond the text book, and practice PYQs a lot (In my June 2012 sitting, I actually revise one question for five times!) Alex Watt desires his candidates to have a creative and free-flowing intellectual thinking, who are able to analyse the case scenario and are able to use the contextual models flexibly.
No tuition provider can provide you more motivation than you could provide yourself by being current and up-to-date on performance measurements in practical business scenarios, wide reading on the models and lots of PYQ revisions. Get into the mind of Alex Watt as he structures his exam questions, and think yourself like a McKinsey or BCG consultant.
The study text could help you get that 50% pass mark, but aren’t you hungry for even more than a mere pass mark? 🙂
Hi @mono87, I know you have posted up this question before the June 2013 exam, but I think your question still remains relevant in any upcoming exams.
For the benefit of future OT forumers, here’s my opinion. The previous examiner Shane Johnson authored an old PYQ whereby students have to regurgitate the definitions of each dysfunctional behaviours relating to performance measurement.
The new examiner, Alex Watt is smarter and more flexible. He may give you a case whereby dysfunctional behaviours are evident in the case study, but the question requirement may ask you to evaluate these behaviours and how they are adversely affecting performance management on this ‘dummy company’. For example, a manager refuses to sell an old machine to make the reports look better by inflating ROCE, but it will affect the company’s operations negatively in the long-term.
You will need to crack your head a bit more to answer Alex’s question. I agree with you that you will need a fuller understanding, just be sure to be flexible in applying your understanding as well.
Hi @waqasaziz,
1. Index all PYQs by their respective chapters. (For example, group up Qs relating to balanced scorecard)
2. Highly important to study the whole syllabus in the text book.
3. Read outside the text book like business reports and magazines, government outlooks and management issues.
4. I know you are currently self-studying, but do take this opportunity to enrol yourself in a part-time tuition. Paper P5 needs very much a tutor to guide you based on his own work experience or knowledge of the business environment, as examiner Alex Watt makes it clear that Paper P5 is a Masters-level paper and it is not an easy paper to pass.
Venture capitalists are risk seekers, but they would always advocate measures to reduce risk to an acceptable level that would interest them to invest. I agree with @susanprice, you must trump your answer with logic, but your knowledge on ‘what’s logical or common sense’ comes from extra reading off materials outside the text book.
Alex Watt comes in as an ex-management/ strategic consultant, bringing in fresh cases that challenge students to be flexible and quick-headed. It’s an accurate scenario of your future self working in a management-related job, and you must be always prepared with whatever your boss or the merciless, competitive environment will throw at you. This is adequate of the P-level exams to train final level students who shall take the final step to become professional accountants.
I echo what @goodluk has stated here. I was equally stunned by the lengthy Q2 and Q3 case scenarios back from June 2012 exam, and they forced me to digest the information very quickly under the immense time pressure. Despite the stress, I tried my best to keep the answer relevant with what was asked. Marking schemes will appreciate your attempt at answering closely to the question requirements, and closely to the case scenario. If you have done so, you should be on a good track towards passing this paper. (For example, Q1 asked you to evaluate the performance report, but did you got off-tracked by evaluating the performance of the company instead? :0 )
Explaining calculations is much more tougher than doing the calculations, which I can’t deny, is everyone’s favourite!. 😉
I read BPP in the past, but if I want more comprehensive knowledge in certain issues, I read research articles or books written by the authors or contributors to the syllabus itself (ie. Hope and Fraser’s Beyond Budgeting book)
<cite>@busbycat said:</cite>
First question was ok, I chose the AbC question but the numbers started to confuse me then I moved on to the porters 5 forces model which on reading the requirement looked easy but the whole of the text related to a PESTEL analysis. I started to question do I know what 5 forces is?! Am I confused? I checked when I got out and I was correct in my 5 forces, so why did all the text lend itself to a Pest analysis?! I’m not sure I have passed now and very upset as on first glance it looked like an ok paper until the examiner tried to mislead me 🙁Porter’s 5 Forces can also be used as a
1. STRATEGIC ANALYTICAL TOOL – to analyze whether if the firm operates in a highly competitive environment (or not); and
2. PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT TOOL – to assess how the firm has been successful operating in a competitive environment as described (as of the critics’ point of view is that the model suffers in its weakness because it is NOT a model to suggest to a firm HOW to survive competitively)
You can’t find this anywhere else in the text book, but only through supplementary reading OUTSIDE the text book. I actually knew about this because I read a highly specific book on the 5 Forces itself.
ps: I am not an exam candidate for June 2013, so I do not know how the case looks like.
Best of luck to all who attempted P5 today!
To whoever who shall eventually get the highest marks for the P5 exam, like myself (75 marks in June 2012) and @alexkraev (81 marks in Dec 2012), hope you will contribute to OpenTuition forum and add on to the wisdom and advices imparted from us. 😀
@alexkraev said:
Thank you, angryhamtaro !!! I read suggestions you had posted here before Dec. 12 P5 exams. It helped.You are very welcome, @alexkraev! Feel free to contribute back to OpenTuition forum and help more of our friends here to pass P5, or maybe helping them achieve prizewinner status haha!
@oltago, I know you must be joking, but f you are feeling mighty generous to make ACCA richer, you can donate your administrative review fee and they’d be laughing away. Admin review are for those who had marginal fail, like 1 or 2 marks to pass. Surely you knew about this?
@alexkraev, you are very welcome! Feel free to contribute back to OpenTuition forum, share your wisdom and help more of our friends here to pass P5, or maybe helping them achieve prizewinner status in the next exam sitting. Did you achieve your local prizewinner status in your country?
@oltago, I know you must be joking, but f you are feeling mighty generous to make ACCA richer, you can donate your administrative review fee and they’d be laughing away. Admin review are for those who had marginal fail, like 1 or 2 marks to pass. Surely you knew about this?
Congrats to @alexkraev for getting 81 marks, that’s really high! (mine was 75 from June 2012)
And congrats to everyone who passed, and to those who did not, never give up. Alex Watt seems to have shown more mercy in his exams, so in due course, so take this opportunity to emerge stronger than ever next time.
Why put reliance on something that is not certain yet? Well I do agree, anxiety brings entertainment along the way.
It sure does! To be distinctly recognized as a local or global prizewinner or multiple prizewinners would make you a target for every employer to get their hands on to you.
Put your perceptions aside that becoming a prizewinner doesn’t matter. You will be filled with abundant joy if you get the mark you truly deserve based on the amount of effort you put in.
The lecture videos are immensely useful and it’s worth it if you watch them straightaway after each lesson is being thought in your own class. I actually find the P2 and P5 videos are terrific and helped me understand much better.
It’s up to you whether you want to pass, or you want to do better than a mere pass.
@ashpat, it’s fun to be worried! 😀
If you were not communicating effectively with the right points and the right understanding, then it can be a problem. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes, and get a feel of re-reading your script if it makes sense to you. One thing to really overcome this is through lots of reading, lots of practice, and the courage to speak English over your local language with your fellow classmates and lecturer.
The anxiety is boiling over in this forum.
Btw I’m an affiliate and yesterday, I have happened to find a link whereby ACCA apparently allows affiliates to take further exams probably for the remaining optional papers that were not taken. Upon clicking the link, nothing came out. Very cheeky!
Anyway, chill out and wait till Friday. Ok, I keep you guys anxious all over again…
My course representative was told by ACCA that to anyone who viewed the supposed results through ACCA website, it is in fact a terrible system glitch (someone in the IT department got wayyyyy too excited). However, it is confirmed that the results anyone viewed earlier are indeed the results from the Dec 2012 exam. So technically the results are already stored in the ACCA database, just ripe for any purportedly malicious hacking…
Again, with a cautious disclaimer, since the results are released before its official date, there might be changes so check with prudence. Enjoy your whole week, and stop worrying about it.
Woah, hold your horses on the caps lock there, @ataabonsam!
I am also of the opinion that you should complete your fundamental papers first, because the knowledge that you obtain from studying at fundamental level will be the backbone to passing your professional papers at a later stage. Take one step at a time, and it’s advised you don’t take certain exam papers because of their suitability in their exam dates. You should flex your timetable, but you don’t need to flex the exams to work your timetable.
Hi @cannceer, if I may slip into your query, I do suggest you to refer to a tutor that has a keen knowledge on the recent IASes, and hopefully would drive you the motivation to study the IASes in a simpler manner. My tutor used the mind map approach and it helped me tremendously in remembering the tricky bits. Also, although this is not mandatory, you want to have a tutor who’s well known with a certain speedy technique to consolidate accounts in Q1.
I think amongst all P subjects, P2 should really require the guidance of a good and disciplined tutor.
Hiya @sajawal, that is three years behind, so I should suggest you to get the latest edition because of an exam syllabus change in P4.
I’m not sure why is your approach from the employees’ perspective, but with what little remnants that I can remember from P1, the remuneration committee must ensure that remuneration packages are sufficient enough to attract highly qualified non-executive directors to serve on the board. According to ICAEW, NEDs should be remunerated based solely on cash retainer and equity-based compensation.
Wow @kodwo, that is a really old question. I only have access to past papers until 2001 but not older than that.