*** ACCA P4 September 2017 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

Wow Investment appraisal in Q1…What a shocker! I have to say though a good one too. It’s about time. My last few attempts at this paper have all had Business Valuation in Q1. Nice to see a change. Hoping for a pass this time.

i thought q1 was ok.. better than last time, but very time consuming.. there was a lot of info…

did not get time to finish the whole paper

really annoyed as the last question was something i could easily answer and score but couldnt finish in time..

did q1, then q4, then q2 or 3 (sources of finance)

its really annoying when the examiner deliberately makes these attempts to make the question longer and longer.. there was no need for few currencies to be adjusted for inflation.. either all or none.. but examiner deliberately made some adjusted from question itself so we keep going back to repeat the whole purchasing power parity formula applied on cashlow exchange rates.. very annoying indeed!! >.<

P4 is a test of speed! reading fast , figuring out what needs to be done, calculating quickly.
I’m too slow. Would feel more confident if I finished.

Has anybody else noticed the section B scenarios (text to read) are becoming nearly as long as Section A!

P4 Exam was tough and time pressured. I did q4, q2, and q1 in that order. I got confused on q4a after answering q4b, which is more of an essay or theory. Q2 went smoothly. Then l tried q1. The exchange rates and long information confused me. But I settled to do npv in NR after initially wasting some time. I di not complete NPV for Pusha. I converted the local cost into $ and NR. The local cost generally lower in Pusha than other countries. I then assumed that the NPV should be higher since that is main variable that changed. This then enabled to write the report to the board.

One good thing about this Exam is that the calculations are worth only about 35%. Judging by previous examiners reports and the mark allocation, the NPV calculation in Q1is not worth more than 20 marks. This leaves 30 marks for the theory, report, and professional marks. The hedging calculation in Q4 is 15 marks. The whole of Q2 is mainly theory for 25 marks. Thus for q1, 2, and q4, there is a total of 65 marks for theory, essay, report and professional marks.

Can anyone recall what question 4b was? I did Q4 but can’t seem to remember what part b to this question was.

Q1 was hugely time pressured. Think I manged to cover everything in there but it left with very little time for Q2 which I attempted last.

@tobi6 said:
P4 Exam was tough and time pressured. I did q4, q2, and q1 in that order. I got confused on q4a after answering q4b, which is more of an essay or theory. Q2 went smoothly. Then l tried q1. The exchange rates and long information confused me. But I settled to do npv in NR after initially wasting some time. I di not complete NPV for Pusha. I converted the local cost into $ and NR. The local cost generally lower in Pusha than other countries. I then assumed that the NPV should be higher since that is main variable that changed. This then enabled to write the report to the board.

One good thing about this Exam is that the calculations are worth only about 35%. Judging by previous examiners reports and the mark allocation, the NPV calculation in Q1is not worth more than 20 marks. This leaves 30 marks for the theory, report, and professional marks. The hedging calculation in Q4 is 15 marks. The whole of Q2 is mainly theory for 25 marks. Thus for q1, 2, and q4, there is a total of 65 marks for theory, essay, report and professional marks.

Hi, Do you recall what Q4b was about?

@szilvia said:
4b. Advantages and disadvantages of centralized treasury function

Aha!! Now I remember. I was panicking that I had missed it altogether somehow. Do you recall how many marks it was. I think it was 18 part a and 7 for part b?

Thanks for replying. 🙂

Q4b is worth 10 marks, while q4a is worth 15 marks.

This was my last exam, but defn will have to retake, the time pressure was ridiclous, doesn’t he want to see we can answer questions with knowledge rather than put the time pressure on. I did question one last and I think that was a big mistake as had no time to read it all properly and missed out so much but did mention this in my report, I got two negative Npv, I know huge mistake. What did other people get for Npv? Question 2 and 3 were fine though. So annoying to have to retake on the very last exam ?

This was my 3rd attempt at this paper. I’ve never had to resit 3 times and won’t be surprised if I have to do a forth attempt. I struggle to read the whole question it’s so long… I started my calculations for q1 to realise they had already been calculated for me on the second page. I wasted 20 minutes. Q4 was my favourite but couldn’t think of 7 points for 4b. Nightmare paper, I seriously do not want to sit the damn thing again. I passed F9 with 80% and thought P4 would be a breeze, oh how mistaken I was!

This is my third attempt on this paper. For the past last two sitting I had been making the same mistake with this time thinking to correct it and pass but oooh no I have lost out words.
Idid q1 first which I got confused with the way the information was packed. Get lost in the process almost given up and try to pick up. Time overrun.

Then I had to go to q4 tried to calculate the hedging and get panicked as well. By the time I had to attempt the last question almost 30 minutes left. Chose 3 on expense of 2 and big mistake that had cost my sitting as well.
Reading the question and started it got stuck on the way and not knowing how to go about it.

And for the whole 25 mark quiz and I do not know how much I attempt. Tired of this paper resitting it the forth time It was not my wish and like but the way they are setting this exam I do note know if they want as to pass.