[Woolly]

<cite>@sunilthetutor said:</cite>
I have read the recent posts regarding the level of feeling many of you have regarding the time pressure on this paper. I stand by assessment but also totally respect your views. You were in the room and I only sat the exam in my study – totally different type of pressure.

I can say as an experienced member of the marking team that I have conveyed the thoughts of my student population (which are similar to your views) through the relevant channels regarding the time pressure issue. I believe that all markers in any paper will feed their views back to their respective examiner. This is the correct protocol.

Yes, you have the right to write to ACCA and complain and this is your choice. I personally, do not advocate this approach but I cannot tell you what to do.

As you have now can see a copy of this paper (on the ACCA website) I am sure your respective tutors would have attempted the paper themselves To alleviate your worries, ask then for a copy of their answers. It may help.

Hi Sunil

Thanks for raising the time pressure issue with ACCA and the examiner for P4.

Like some other posters on this thread, I too have always passed all ACCA exams 1st time (exemptions up to P level apart from F6 and F8) and was the top graduating student for the accounting and financial management bachelors degree that I took some years ago now. I have also only relied on self study, often ONLY using BPP books, as they are the ‘Platinum’ rated tuition provider recommended by ACCA.

I personally found the paper quite challenging in terms of time pressure and difficulty (I did not manage to do any calculations for Q4) but I agree with some posters that the difficulty level (not time pressure) was ok, perhaps comparable to Corporate Reporting. I can see now with 20/20 hindsight how everything on the exam paper could have been practised and predicted.

HOWEVER my biggest problem is that the BPP textbooks, especially the one for P4 is not up to scratch. They just do not have sufficient depth to help students grasp the nuances between the different valuation concepts and to truly understand each step taken in each valuation method. For example, look at the definition of FCF and FCFE page 253-257 (ISBN 978-1-4453-9656-9). Contrast this with the Schweser notes explaining the same concepts for CFA level 2 (https://www.schweser.com/downloads/general/l2schwesernotes.pdf). Had this exam not been plaguing me because I had been kicking myself, as a student with a 100% first pass record, I would not have bothered to go online to search for additional explanations of valuation concepts.

The P4 text is also full of errors and typos. One example of an error is the MM proposition formula on page 241 .

As the ONLY P4 study text to be reviewed by the examiner, this is pretty poor. This is also misrepresentation. Had I known that I would require more than just the text, I would have signed up for a BPP revision course or study course. This is probably what BPP, who has a monopoly on the ‘Platinum’ Level market intended!

Not all ACCA students are sponsored by their companies and therefore the examiner has a duty of care to ensure that the textbook he ENDORSES is actually sufficient for students to pass the exam without purchasing extra help.

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