*** ACCA Paper SBL June 2019 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

Q1 was 14.

Then 2 a I think was e10
Part b was 6.

Then 16 for Q3

Q4 a was 12 and b was 10

Then 5 was 12

But I’m afraid I don’t remember the professional skills mark breakdown

@arm2250 said:
I can’t remember seeing phrase ‘how to retain and attract customers in relation to the highlighted headings for Coming Soon ‘ I just talked about social media directly, competions, emails, q and a with authors, partnership with finance company acca, use Twitter Facebook better, improve search tool

It wasn’t that exact phrase, but something like that. I think it may have been in the brief text before the actual requirement

Not really sure what I thought of the paper, quite difficult to tell. I didn’t use many models though. Also struggled on question 2b

Coming soon was a part of the digital portal presentation (at the very bottom) and it mentioned about the future exiting developments, engagement with customers and mobile app.

@arm2250 said:
I used same headlines but just not in the table

I did the same, as I had no room
To answer all requirements? Did you do one a page? But answered all the specific requirements?

Hello,

Odd exam. As everyone mentioned – not outrageous but too much for such a short amount of time. I felt the questions were all over the place.

Didn’t like 2b – found it a bit random and hard to know exactly what to draw on. Said they should have a team reviewing all research, HR reviewing writers credentials etc

For Q4b I only managed three things – social media (way to connect with customers) I mentioned potential to have an online purchasing system to help customers to buy online. I also mentioned something about search partnership so it’s not all their data but customers can draw on many data platforms (google etc) so customer don’t need to go off the site (I think I was reaching here).

Q5 was a mess – what were they thinking? What an odd thing to do. Mine was an absolute mess. I am shamed of it. I could barely read it in the end – not sure how they will go.

Used two models really – SAF (but found it ended up restricting me) far more Non-Financial than Financial to draw on. I also said they should acquire but the board needs some direction and new people if they are going to be able to success with the new company. I used basic ethics for the ethics part (Professional Behaviour, Integrity etc) then used Tucker’s 5 for the Commercial Issues part.

Not feeling confident at all.

Used more than one book – did anyone else? I think I overdid it.

@noushie2008 said:
Hello,

Odd exam. As everyone mentioned – not outrageous but too much for such a short amount of time. I felt the questions were all over the place.

Didn’t like 2b – found it a bit random and hard to know exactly what to draw on. Said they should have a team reviewing all research, HR reviewing writers credentials etc

For Q4b I only managed three things – social media (way to connect with customers) I mentioned potential to have an online purchasing system to help customers to buy online. I also mentioned something about search partnership so it’s not all their data but customers can draw on many data platforms (google etc) so customer don’t need to go off the site (I think I was reaching here).

Q5 was a mess – what were they thinking? What an odd thing to do. Mine was an absolute mess. I am shamed of it. I could barely read it in the end – not sure how they will go.

Used two models really – SAF (but found it ended up restricting me) far more Non-Financial than Financial to draw on. I also said they should acquire but the board needs some direction and new people if they are going to be able to success with the new company. I used basic ethics for the ethics part (Professional Behaviour, Integrity etc) then used Tucker’s 5 for the Commercial Issues part.

Not feeling confident at all.

Used more than one book – did anyone else? I think I overdid it.

I used two books so don’t worry, remember the more the merrier for marks.

2b was very poorly phrased and only 6 makes

4b I mentioned similar ideals

Q5 I adapted the format to fit my words and the style of format was impossible given the 12 marks available.

I did one page a point and express the 3 criteria in each page for each category

Agree with everything above, so strange.

I didn’t use any of the models, I didn’t see the need, and didn’t have the time to even think about the models. I think there should be one less question and one less exhibit for the time allocated. Everyone seems to just rush the last question.

It is a combination of P1 and P3, so either more time should be given or less questions?

Thanks, Nathan.

So you mentioned purchasing system too?

Did you use ACCA ethics plus tucker’s five for the ethics part?

I am also wondering if I messed up by not splitting financial and non-financial out for Q3 – I used SAF but ended up only using financial in the acceptability part which I only ended up speaking about shareholders and employees (I think I made a massive mistake trying to blag it here because I said employees could benefit with a bigger company and there would be more job potential) I was majorly running out of time and was at acceptability with one minute left for the question – so the last part was a massive load of nonsense I think – blocked it out of my mind.

I said this. Too many questions (why do they need 5!) Four is enough and six exhibits. I didn’t even finish the last two in my planning time. I had to read them in the write-up time.

@noushie2008 said:
Thanks, Nathan.

So you mentioned purchasing system too?

Did you use ACCA ethics plus tucker’s five for the ethics part?

I am also wondering if I messed up by not splitting financial and non-financial out for Q3 – I used SAF but ended up only using financial in the acceptability part which I only ended up speaking about shareholders and employees (I think I made a massive mistake trying to blag it here because I said employees could benefit with a bigger company and there would be more job potential) I was majorly running out of time and was at acceptability with one minute left for the question – so the last part was a massive load of nonsense I think – blocked it out of my mind.

I didn’t mention purchasing although that would be a relevant point in justified.
I assumed the system already allowed it since they offered e books, but as long as you justified you’ll get credit so don’t worry. Remember the mark scheme says at the top “this solution isn’t fully coherent of all solutions and credit should be given for all valid suggestions”.

I didn’t actually use ACCA ethics or tuckers for this question, although they could’ve been used. I just used the case as I was rushed so for example: the fact he purposefully misquoted sources to fit his conclusion as opposed to considering all evidence was unethical and led to misrepresentation or the fact that he may have distorted the report to gain the TV show and so was acting like unethical etc.

Again I didn’t use SAF per say, as I find using it can restrict your answers, but I just stated a wide range of factors (fin and non financial) to evaluate both arguments using the SWOT and exhibits 🙂

I wish I didn’t use SAF – I never did in any of my mocks and I got 75% in two I did. Should have stuck to what I was doing before – I just panicked. I don’t want to sit this again but I am not confident I won’t be.