General ACCAACCA options exam changes

I think that the criteria for awarding the 20 marks should be very clearly defined, otherwise it risks adding further subjectivity to the marking process, as well as demotivating candidates. Basically students will spend their 3 hours trying to achieve 80 marks, or 50/80 which few will. And then a marker will asess the entire paper to determine if the student was professional enough overall and pass or fail him...

These are Strategic Professional Option exams - by which time candidates should be able to understand what professional skills marks are - and how to earn them - especially if they have already passed SBL which has 20 PS marks. The option exams currently have 4 professional skills marks - these are clearly defined; the new communication skills marks available in Q1 will be very similar to these and it will be very clear to every marker when to award these marks. Markers are professionals - they know what professional skills are - for example, in AAA it will be clear whether a candidate has accepted some information at face value or effectively challenged/made some critical assessment of it to earn marks for "professional scepticism". There will be a LOT more guidance and resources published in time for candidates sitting w.e.f. September 2022 to prepare for the change.