*** ACCA P5 September 2016 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

the scenarios are too lengthy, it takes approximately 45mins to 1hr to read the whole scenarios .i.e about 1/3 of the available time for the exam. its like the examiners are purposely using it to distract our writing time

I think the free use of the 15 mins time help a lot in completing the exam on time. This is a good change!

@kassy said:
I am glad I am not the only one. Felt he same also for Q1 iii (profit / capital measuring questions…), read it almost 6 times and could not understand what it was actually meaning? I am not a native english though…

I am a native speaker and I struggled to understand some of their wording so I can only imagine how it must have felt for non-native speakers.

Oh goosh. Really time pressured such that i had no time to fill out the questions i answered on the answer booklet..couldn’t finish…What do you think will happen?
The exams would have been ok for a 4 hour paper. A computer brain is needed to do justice within the time allocated…you input the info and you process and then you bring out the result..you pass…wished it were that simple. Maybe the examiners should also as a control sit for the papers at the same time as the students and make their findings and score public rather than in the examiner’s reports. On a positive note, sometimes the exam you feel worse about turns to a surprice pass just like my last P2…Lets all keep our hopes up…It is truly a professional exam

Hi,

If I ere you I would use course notes, videos (OT) and focus on exam practice.
I would do all the questions and see ho they are ansered? That should be enough in terms of theory because the exam is only 20% theory.

The challenge from my perspective is actually to understand the requirements. So practice all questions, at least from June 11 onwards

Good luck. Challenging paper

Hi
In question 1, was the difference between existing & proposed performance measures was only Innovation & Learning part? Coz I didn’t find any other, may be I was wrong.
Another thing, what’s the problem in using different Performance measure. It was a part of question 1, right?

I found the paper to be a difficult one, the main issue for me was that the optional questions were too long giving all the complications that existed in the scenario and the time available to read and plan how to appropriately answer the questions.

IMO the questions themselves were not confusing but looking at the past ten papers, you gotta say the scenarios were all comparatively lengthy. Typically, one out of 3 questions in section B would be shorter.

I implore the markers to be flexible in assessing the candidates knowledge. For example in 1a, if I wrote on the prisms advantage over the BSc, I shd be given marks for it because they are the facts. Just because it’s “out of the sylllabus” does not mean the argument isn’t valid. And why the abrupt change in syllabus? September candidates are usually June 16 failures so the sudden drop of topics isn’t very helpful IMO.

Question 1… i) Problems of BSC…The cost paid to the consultant may outweigh the benefit obtained as the same performance metrics recommended by the consultant. second Bsc is a time consuming exercise. Third BSC may be difficult to understand some measures. Fourth BSC gives too many information so that information overload. and so on
ii) The current PM is helpful in measuring performance specially the profitability of the company. Financial measures are easy to calculate and understand. Most of the objectives measured except on strategy. But all metrics are Financial and not including Non Financial measures that can measure important performance areas. Second all measures internally focused.
The Proposed performance measures:- Looking at critical areas of companies strategies by devising BSC. The learning and innovation perspective is additional area by the proposal. But, The PM metrics are the same as the current PM metrics. It doesn’t come up with non financial measures. Financial measures like EVA are more important than ROCE as they provide information on value creation for shareholders.
iii)The FOUR different computations of ROCE. This can be calculated from the given profit figures and CE figures. and Net profit divided by Total Capital employed 11% is more appropriate for the whole company not for the division. The first computation (operating profit divided by Total CE) good for measuring division performance that are controllable profit figures.
iv) TQM and Current Quality management.
Current quality management has a 47% failure costs from the total quality cost that can be avoided if company works on quality. (Computation of quality cost is easy as given in the scenario.
TQM..Modern philosophy of manufacturing and Continues improvement of quality and zero defects. if implemented the 47% defect can be avoided.
v) Lean…Avoiding wastage and reducing cost and information flow become more flexible and timely with more reliable fashion. The scientists can update themselves and can be innovative and efficiency may be obtained if implemented.
These was my answers for Q1 shortly. am I on the right truck? please comment on my answer.

Depends on how the arguments are framed. Anyway the prism was only used to highlight the weakness of the BSc in determining stakeholder demands and contribution. If I fail it would be question 2 which I should have done first in hindsight.

Do all of you always start with q1? For all the level 3 papers I start with the optional ones. It’s back to the drawing board for me. Sigh

@danielglover said:
Hi all,

Interesting hearing people’s thoughts about the wording of the questions causing confusion. Is it possible the confusion is because you haven’t fully studied and understood the subject rather than the examiner’s grammar?

For most people taking this course English is not our mother tongue. That said there is something about the way P5 questions are asked that leaves most wondering what does the examiner really want.

I cannot imagine doing these exams in another language! It must be hard.