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To add to the above, I received notice this morning that my ACCA membership application was successful after completing my last exam this March sitting. I started at the very base and used OpenTuition as my primary academic source for all 13 papers, supplemented with doing old exam questions made availabe by ACCA.
A huge thank you to the entire OT team for making their content opensource. Could not have done this without it.
Passed with 56% at the second attempt (46% December 2022)
More relieved that anything to get the pass as it was my final paper.
Thank you OpenTuition for this amazing platform.
I would suggest completing the ACCA Qualification and then pursuing the MSc. It would be more valuable to you as well as the fact that by most accounts the MSc program is far better administrated than the OBU program.
The best way I found to manage time is by doing the following (only works for center based exams though which I always write)
Assume 15min as reading and question setup time(just for the sake of making the number easy to work with, any time gained here will be available elsewhere)
Use 2min per mark as a base (80 technical x 2min = 160min)
Wait for working paper to be handed out before starting the exam (stay on instruction screen until you get the working paper)
Once you get the working paper set up the following columns
Question Marks Time End time
Start the exam and quickly check the requirement section for each question part. On the table you just created put down the question number, the number of marks, the time available for that question part and the time you need to move on from it by deducting that time from 3 hours (you’ve assumed that 15min is for reading and question setup as stated above).
It on average about 2-3min to do this. It’s simple to do it in your head coz the numbers are all round numbers. You’ll end with 20min available at the end of the exam if you stick to the “End time” for every question but more importantly you will have a target time to end every question, which makes it easy to decide if you want to overrun the time a little for a question you know you’re doing well on or to abandon something you’re battling with so you don’t waste time on it. If you still have time at the end you can go back and try the ones you moved on from
Found it better than the December paper, still realized I made some dumb mistakes after the exam and didn’t identify the multi-period capital rationing properly but overall much better than December.
Failed with 46%. As others have said, I was actually surprised I got that close. Was expecting way less. Actually feel motivated for the retake in March
It was one of those papers where majority of the questions came from my weakest areas. I knew I had failed but thought I did worse than the 46% I achieved. Expected in the 30’s.
Can’t say I’m happy about failing as it’s my last paper but to have done better than expected given the exam conditions I’m actually pretty confident I can pass in March
I know I tanked AFM so there’s no pressure. I’m basically just waiting for results to be issued so can book my re-sit
johnwick12 wrote:The extreme focus on risk management as a 50 mark question threw me off. But the 6 mark on what a delta hedge was AND asking us to hedge options using futures? I have worked my way through all the ACCA articles on this subject, and still failed this question by a country mile.
This was an issue for me as all the information before the exam, even from tutors whom ACCA had on their own webinars stated that risk management questions form part of ONE of the questions of Section B. It’s frustrating that the exam didn’t mirrored ACCA’s own guidance on it. Obviously they get to set whatever questions they please but we prepare based on what their guidance is. Also felt the weighting of marks was far more heavily weighted towards calculations, when the official guidance was that the discursive elements would be roughly 60% of the paper as per September 2022. Anyway it is what it is, roll on March 2023
ACCA sends out a survey after every exam. It in you can give your feedback. It is taken into account because I have raised issues in it before about exam center problems to which ACCA did respond.
I completed the survey this morning giving highlighting many of the issues above. We all had the same experience so I doubt “we are the problem”
Of course professional exams are tough we accept that but to get an exam which is not in line with previous sittings and also diametrically opposed to the information provided by ACCA itself in the Dec pre-mock exam webinar doesn’t stack up
Best way to do it is via the post exam survey. ACCA does review this. In the past I complained about an exam center and they responded to the query, so it’s not a waste of time to do.
Totally agree. It’s like they went the other way compared to September and just made it impossible. Even per the ACCA’s own AFM pre-exam webinar the September mock was to be viewed as the template going forward as it was the first exam set specifically with Professional Skills Marks in mind. Yeah right, this paper was poles apart from that.
Passed with 61% at first attempt. So relieved! The paper was really challenging. Grateful to have made it through. Only 1 exam left!
Had the same paper as @kristinaivanova. Question 1 was the toughest for me. Didn’t finish it. I always stick to the time allocation per question. The rest of the paper wasn’t too bad but I’ve written enough exams to know that you can never be sure how you performed until the marks come out. #justneed50
GillianM – OBU Registered Mentor wrote:I do understand your huge disappointment coupled with disillusionment. Although it shouldn’t be, yes it sometimes it is a bit of a lottery re who marks it and the final outcome [and perversely it seems actually easier to pass the dissertation part of the Brookes MBA than the RAP, even though the latter is supposed to be a more basic qualification…]
Thanks, maybe I will revisit at some point in the future. Qualifying as a Member also opens other options so will see when I get there. At this point I do believe money and most of all time is better invested in getting the last papers done.
As always, highly appreciate your inputs
GillianM – OBU Registered Mentor wrote:Sorry to hear that your appeal was unsuccessful but hope that you will be able to turn it around, but thank you for posting on here.
Thanks Gillian, I appreciate all your comments as well as having this platform to discuss. To be honest I doubt I will resubmit. I rather put the time and money towards the last 3 ACCA exams than go through this process again, only to fall at the whim of some nameless faceless individual. To me it really seems like “luck of the draw” in terms of who marks one’s project rather than an empirical evaluation. I mean to defend a point of view which has no basis on the assessment criteria provided is laughable. I could understand being failed on concrete reasons but not on this. Anyway another lesson learned, so we grow.
mariamohi wrote:Did you get a reply from Oxford Brookes?
Received feedback today. All my queries are deemed to fall under academic judgement, so no further recourse.
Again well done to all those who were successful.
Vicky001 wrote:Received the results yesterday and I passed with Grade B.
Congratulations!
mariamohi wrote:Did you get a reply from Oxford Brookes?
Not yet, I sent a follow-up email just to confirm they had received the email I sent on the 6th. Still no reply other than the automated response. Probably very busy at this time. Will post here once I get feedback
GillianM – OBU Registered Mentor wrote:Good luck martindeo
Thank you Gillian. I’ll settle for a C pass no problem. It’s just frustrating that it appears they didn’t even read the report. It also appears that they don’t pay attention. For example I was criticised both for not including a copy of the interview questions as well as being criticised for not expanding on the included interview questions. Yet under the “evidence” section I included a table of who was interviewed and when, as well discuss the feedback within that section.
I followed the approach you mentioned by asking for clarity on the remarks as I don’t understand what they want from me. I also inserted the comments made by the marker and marking criteria for the failed sections and asked can they please clear up why the markers own language is in line with at least a C grade pass compared to a fail grade or asked how the marker comments on something that doesn’t relate to the marking criteria at all.
I’m hoping to have success with this “matter of fact” approach however I won’t be holding my breath.
Vicky001 wrote:Thank you. They said I should wait a little bit.
Hope it won’t be too long
I would suggest you follow up with OBU and ask why it’s been withheld. The “not marked” status only changed after I was told the marker feedback was available, so that’s not a useful indicator. It’s over 2 weeks since results came out which is more than long enough to have informed you why the results are withheld.
GillianM – OBU Registered Mentor wrote:
martindeo wrote:y @GillianM. It’s odd then that the email I received states the decision to fail me occurred on the 20th of September. Talk about last minute!
So finally managed to download the feedback report and honestly I expected more. I failed 3 sections
Evaluation of information, analysis and conclusions
Presentation of project findings
Information gathering and referencing
The comments don’t make any sense though when compared to the assessment criteria. They totally contradict each other. For example under Evaluation of Information the comment is “Good start on the analysis but need to go further” According to the assessement critera a fail represent no analysis whatsoever. I guess this will fall under the blanket of “academic judgement” but I asked the question anyway.
The other comments are in a similar or even less clear way. Presentation states must submit sample questions of the interview. The assessment criteria for this section doesn’t talk about this at all. It’s about structure of the document and how it’s written. So no idea why that is there.
Information gathering and referencing speaks about not referencing during Part 3 of the document, which is where I put down my own thoughts and interpretations. The marking criteria says that a fail is no referencing at all, notwithstanding the fact that I don’t know how I am supposed to reference my own conclusions.
Anyway, I’ve asked the questions I needed to, lets see what they say.
doflamingo1 wrote:Yup, Im facing the same issue. The site crashes with an error.
I did log it with OBU. Let’s see what they come back with.
