SBR*** ACCA Paper SBR December 2018 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

it was a total disaster, didn’t expect that it would be so much difficult :-/

There was ifrs9 in question 2 right? The debt covenant was at stage 2 then stage 3 of the general approach?

Thought the exam was a bit naughty tbh, bit of a disaster ... no consol questions and seemed to be mainly focussed on written answers / reporting standards, not even the type of questions you could have a reasonable stab at with a moderate understanding. Was expecting it to be tricky and hard, but genuinely scanned the exam before I started and just knew instantly that I was in trouble

In my opinion this was nothing like the specimen exams or the September 18 paper. The BPP study materials didn't prepare me for this exam and I thought I'd learnt the sylabus and all of the ACCA technical articles.

The majority what I studied from Kaplan was not needed. So very hard exam and I'm sure I did not pass. The 4th question about taxes was disaster and so the 1st one about the cash flow. Seems that there were put in all specific situations and detailes which I did not studied.

I did all the questions in BPP Revision Kit and all Mock exams. 3 of them in exam conditions. I still don't think I will pass. Question 4. I don't even know what it was about. I only wrote what I knew about Deferred Tax from my revision and that was it. I will probably have to try again in March :( This time I will use Kaplan's material.

I think the examiner was in a bad mood. Exam was very tricky

When i saw the 1st question,i knew i was in trouble! No consolidation! The paper was mostly about conceptual framework and some standards. Question 2 and 3 were moreover ok. But cherry on the cake was Q4! 14 mrks on Tax,seriously didn't see it coming!

For sure the hardest exam I’ve sat to date and came out of the exam so upset. Question 1 was Cash Flows and all a bit of a disaster. Question 4 on Taxes and the application of taxes was very cheeky. Style of exam was very different to Kaplan’s materials and ACCAs specimen and mocks they’ve published and also the September exam. Pretty much know now I’m going to have to resit in March :(

Just not fair. There was not a single thing about q4b that the text books could help with! And it was for 12 marks! Hardly any part of any question was similarly covered in the Kaplan exam kit. It was really hard. Don't know what the examiner was thinking. I suppose the focus should be on learning every single detail from the Conceptual Framework and the EDs, and forget about the specimen papers or the September exam paper! Just so not fair.

I think the examiner needs to look at the approved study material before the exam is written. Students will leave ACCA if they're unable to prepare properly for the exams that are set.

It was not what I expected. Hard!!!!!!!

Could not agree more. Overall felt prepared but was in for a quite a shock this morning. Seems like the last exam was in line with what was suggested by the articles/Mocs. This paper was in a league of its own.

The cashflows question completely caught me off guard and i really wasn't expecting the deferred tax question at the end. I also got confused with the investment property question - the fact that they leased it out made me think i was wrong to treat it as a investment property and didn't know whether it was a lease? Just so confusing... This exam was a complete car crash for me i think its the first exam i have sat where i just felt so hopeless. I spent £700 on a course studying for this exam through BPP but feel like i wasn't well-equipped to deal with these questions at all. I literally felt like walking out of the exam halfway through because i just knew i couldn't pass it. Everyone says the professional level is tough but this was just tough at another level :(

Same here, did all possible questions in Kaplan, past paper, specimens and it still felt like an alien paper!! And I studied all standards in the syllabus, good theoretical knowledge, practice, and have the feeling that i won’t pass :|

Hi guys I found the paper difficult and placed focus on the conceptual framework/exposure draft which was just touched on in the Kaplan materials. The exam did not entirely reflect the study materials I used. Is there way to put a complaint forward? Has anyone done this before? Super gutted as this would have been my last exam :(

This was the hardest paper I’ve sat so far. I am not sure the examiner intended for any of us to pass. Covered All syllabus, IFRS, IAS, study materials, specimen papers- non prepared me for this.

Agree ..its very Demotivating

This was nothing like the September 2018 paper or any of the questions provided in the Kaplan exam kit. Majority of the questions were based on the conceptual framework and exposure drafts. The deferred tax question at the end was totally unexpected!

Sat the exam today. It was a hard exam, but with enough study (including current issues and thorough knowledge of conceptual framework) it was answerable to some extent. Current issues featured heavily and without prior reading on these it would have been hard to score well. I studied with Kaplan and felt quite prepared beforehand, but still found the exam tough. Questions: Q1 - indirect method of cash flows and discussion. Discussion on change in group structure. Discussion of held for sale criteria and discontinued operations. In my opinion, this was an ok question but didn't really follow the format of specimen exams and past paper that had much more workings required. Q2 - accounting and ethical issues. I found this question the easiest of the paper. The director should have measured as a finance lease not investment property - the revaluation gains recognised would have improved gearing and misled investors. Q3/4 - i can't remember what questions were what but her is what I remember that came up: Deferred tax 12+2 prof marks (investor perspective) Discussion on inventory net realisable value Management commentary discussion (current issue) Discussion on how to account for a joint arrangement and subsequently a business combination. There was far too much discussion in the paper. Kaplan exam kits balanced questions with mixture of numbers/extracts and discussion but this had barely any figures.

This will probably be my first resit. I went through all the Bpp kit and some questions in Kaplan that weren't covered in the Bpp kit. Also, did all the specimens and read about the current issues. For the last question, I don't understand how we were supposed to explain the figures in the tax reconciliation, we weren't given enough information as to what they were about. I haven't seen another question like that anywhere for deferred tax. Seems like the pass rate will fall dramatically from 49% in September unless they are really lenient in the marking. That's why I made sure to put some answer for every question, just in case I could scrape a pass.

This paper was so unfair! Question 4 regarding tax was so hard. There is now way BPP or Kaplan material could prepare you for this sort of question. I think ACCA must have freaked out that the pass rate for September was 49% so they made this one ridiculously hard :( All of the revision books are full of consolidated statements and the exam doesn't mention it once.

The question with investment property, I think it should of been held as an investment property but the fv which was used by the md was incorrect, I commented on things like how the incorrect fv would of lead to profits being higher and assets being overstated, also talked about fv measuresment ifrs 13, but some people think it was an lease but there wasn’t any information on discount factors or lease payments ?

Looking at the qeustion paper i thought we were invited for ACCA's funeral. Also in the exam hall everyone was mourning:)

This exam was a shocker, there was hardly any calculations involved, I could of probably walked in there without a calculator. There was nothing really on consol or financial instruments, two core areas in the syllabus. Q2 was the easiest, I think the investment property shouldn’t haven’t been revalued as the directors assumption was a level 3 FV, a level 2 FV was available so this should of been used. The lease treatment was irrelevant. I can’t remember if the investment property adopted the cost or fair value model so I may have messed up on that part. Q3 was a shocker in my opinion, I didn’t like Q4 however I think there could of been a few common sense points made in the tax part. There was too much analysis and writing involved in this paper which caused me to rush Q’s. I finished it but still think I’ve failed, worst exam I’ve sat.

Why ow why didn’t I sit P2 when I had the chance final exam and it will be touch and go wether I pass or not, wasn’t expecting so much conceptual framework, and q4bwas a disaster, 1 made a decent attempt at but doubt I got more than half the marks was not expecting 18 marks on cash flows. Q2 was pretty straight forward and first half of q3 for UK paper was aswell.

Totally agree

Well p2 was in the 50s normally but can’t see this one getting above 35% in line with the optional ones which would be a huge kick in the teeth

It was a nightmare..... Really wasn't expecting something like that. I practice both Kaplan & BPP kit also specimen paper including September question but today's question was out of the world.... Too much confusing.

I quite liked the cashflow question, the only bit with numbers! Think i got 339 as my answer. Q2 and 3 were hard, i wasnt sure whether to talk about level 2 and 3 valuations of whether it should b future cashflows as leased for full uel. The tax part of q4 was awful, for all those marks, i genuinely thort they had put an advanced tax q in our paper by mistake.