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I am sorry to hear that Melissa. I am on the same boat with you. I failed on my second attempt and this is my final paper. I failed an exam twice, the first time in my life. Got 41, in June 2018 and 34 this time. I applied for an administrative review as I was expecting a marginal pass or a marginal fail. I was shocked that I got 34.
My strategy for December will be:
– Excel on theory and get all the easy marks
– Improve my answer presentation techniques. Prepare an easy to read, easy to mark template for Question 1 appendix and report, learn it by heart and apply it in the exam.
– Learn presentation templates and techniques for different types of questions including investment appraisal, performance analysis, business valuation and interest risk/forex risk management.
-In the last 4 weeks prior to the exam, do at least 2 past exam questions a day in timed exam conditions, and try to improve my pace and accuracy.Good Luck.
I started with Q2. As there were two risk questions I struggled to decide which one to go for. Finally I did Question 3. (that cost me at least 2 minutes)
I ended up doing Q3 as it contained elements of internal control. Peers above were rightly happy that in Q2 AAA 7 step ethical decision making model came up. However the way examiner structured the question 2 gave me trouble with time management.
Part a was only 8 or 9 marks but 3 different requirements. Nature of professionalism where you in inevitably had to begin explaining elements of profession and conclude that professionalism is the putting your knowledge experience and principles in action for public benefit and highlighting head of audit’s responsibilities as a professional and as a senior company manager was I think far too much for 8-9 marks . I must admit I struggle with time management and perhaps I write too detailed. This question took me more than 45 minutes. AAA model was easy of course but for each mark you have to write the step and link it to the case. That is two or three sentences per mark.
Q3 – I think I did a mistake for choosing this question. The examiner asked to identify generic risk and the specific risks arising from the serious theme park ride accident. There are some many generic risks on ACCA syllabus. Each identification requires a sentence. Specific risks requires a paragraph and while writing the answer, one must pay attention not to duplicate. Then comes the internal control part. Something like importance of Elements of Internal Control control and recommendation of suitable control activities were required. Recommending suitable controls required thinking and elements internal control required detailed writing with illustrations
I was again over 45 minutes. When I finally reached Part 1, I had 75 minutes to answer a case with lot of small requirements where I had to keep going back to case reading and reading .
One thing that got me really frustrated was the way the new examiner testified Corporate Social Reporting . He has used an abbreviation for Corporate Social Reporting in bracket (CSR) in part b of question one. And in part C he asked something about CSR strategy. That froze my brain !!! I got confused whether he was testing Corporate Social Responsibility strategy or Corporate Social Reporting Strategy as he used CSR abbreviation for Corporate Social Reporting. It is understandable to ask questions in a tricky way but I think this one was more like a booby trap.
Question 1
The theme of the scenario, a public sector organisation with a leader who tries to run the company in Ryan Air style mainly for his self interest, with a question broken down to so many little parts testifying ethics, social reporting , stake holder claims , agency issues and CSR strategies was a bit too much .I could only answer up to transaction theory and skipped part C because of the CSR abbreviation confusion.
I self study as I can not really afford private tuition. My kaplan text book only covers Corporate Social Reporting with a page of bullet point information and to my luck Corporate Reporting came up !!!
P1, is a time pressured examination and the style of the new examiner makes it more difficult for me. The only good thing for me about this exam is I already know that I definitely failed. So I don’t have to wait till 17th April to find out my result. That gives me an other 13 weeks to improve my time management and exam technique but I don’t feel confident with the question style of the new examiner. I am now considering to take classroom tuition and a a mock exam in real exam conditions so I can have a feed back from a tutor on my weaknesses and strengths.
Do you guys have any other suggestion for me on how to improve my time management and exam technique. Shall consider changing Kaplan text to an other. This was the second time I sat in Paper 1. June will be the last and final time. I already passed P3 and I am really stressed. Any tips will be appreciated. Thank you.
Musa
