*** P3 December 2013 Exam was.. Post your comments ***

I guess PEST could be used as well as there were a few political aspects with government influences and technological implications (internet) and economically there was more disposal income.

Agree with all, it was very very time pressured exam. Wasn’t able to give a fully committed answer to 4). I attempted 2 as most of it wasn’t calculating but commenting and critiquing. Due to time pressure missed out 80% of 2b) and 20% of 2a). My answers were generally poorly constructed too (as not sufficient time to plan/read back).

Q1)a) was extremely open ended, Applicable models were not over specified.

Q1b). Found it difficult to construct in a neat format again. I found the financial information particularly un-revealing and couldn’t write much about FRQ? FRC? On reflection SWOT/PESTEL may of went well in the “Suitability” section, however in the exam I tended to waffle.

Content wise- nothing too bad. Real challenge in this exam especially was time and application.

I only managed to do Q1 and Q4, as I spent a bit too much time on Q1, I think Q1 was a lucky break for me, I am hoping to score at least 45 points on it. Q4 was also relatively easy and pretty much common sense. I am 99% certain I have passed.
Thank you very much, OpenTuition, I have only used your resources for study (I read two chapters in the Kaplan study text, but they were so boring, and never even opened the exam kit 🙂 But then again, I got lucky with the questions :).

Re: Q2 there was little calculation in June suppose they have rectified that now but 25 marks obscure.

I think the only models that were actually applicable in this exams had been specifically given, SUITABILITY, FEASIBILITY AND ACCEPTABILITY. Then 4 of the 6 I’s, Poter’s diamond and any simple one you could add.
I gave all the question good attempts with the exception of q2 where I really struggled. Though I treated the time series analysis in the pilot paper but the combination with linear regression threw me off balance. When I noticed it was going to waste my time, I quickly went on to do q4 and then came back to attempt q2 again. I then went to do the b part dealing just with budgeting, if you are lucky enough to pay attention to the b part, it had no connection what so ever with a part and one could score about 5- 6 marks in part b alone. I tried some calculations with a scanty explanation in part a and I hope to get at least 3 out of the 15 mark, that could make the difference that I need.
My first time of feeling so horrible after an exam. I only hope I score above 50.
Good luck to you all.

I tried to write as fast as I could, but I had only one hour left when I finish question 1!!

Then I started to panic! I used about over 35 mins or so to finish question 3, I had only about 20 mins left when I started question 4 which suppose to be my favorite question! I pretty much left the last 10 marks blank! 🙁

I actually budgeted my time for each section of my question wrote down the start time and the estimating finish time. However it is so difficult to execute the actual plan.

I just hope I have done enough in question 1 to give me a pass!

Good luck to those have more papers to sit!

Hi Everyone

I also thought the exam was ok just a little time pressured and I had managed to forget my calculator and only just found out when i went to sit at my desk so it threw me off worrying how many points I would lose out on. Needless to say the numbers in q2 freaked me out because of my lack of calculator so I didnt even really read the requirements here.

I managed to complete the whole paper but wasted time on q1 by answering some of part b in the part a section so I am not sure if I will lose marks for repeating myself. The financial acceptability of the acquisition was rushed with very few calculations, I think I managed a rough GP and NP margin as well as ROCE, gearing and interest cover but I literally calculated roughly in my head and hoped for the best. I meant to scribble a note on the paper that I had no calculator incase I got them wrong and to maybe get a pity point or two . I ran out of time a the end to write it though so missed out there.

I dont even remember what I wrote but I know q1 was all jumbled because I was stressed about the calculator. The first 20 mins I could barely write because my hand was shaking so much! Gutted because I think without that I would have done ok with the questions. I was confident on methods and direction of growth (used rough generic strategy cost leadership and forward integration of the value chain through the acquisition of Logistics company). Mentioned a lot about the importance of cultural fit for acquisitions and even a little on Ashridge portfolio (possible heartland business due to high feel and benefit) for the new proposed acquisition. I also saw enough in the question to relate Diamond Model in part c. I definitely waffled too much thought trying to make up for the marks i lost by not being able to do much financial analysis.

Does anyone know roughly how many points financial ratios would have got?

I think I did ok on question 4 and question 3 was a little rushed because I left this until the end and there was a lot of scenario to get through. I didnt apply any models really but used the problem areas as headings and made common sense recommendations relating to each. I cant really remember what I wrote but I think it was all taken straight from the scenario with not much theory in terms of models at all.

I used an extra answer booklet but was shaking a little at the end and didnt attach it to my original, will they do that for me? I did write my name, student number and desk number on the additional booklet and the invigilator assured me that they would link it up for me but somehow I am unsure. The way they collect the papers is so unorganised, if it gets lost I will definitely have failed.

I am trying to push it out of my mind until results are due but its so annoying that silly little mistakes not even to do with my exam technique or knowledge will be the reason I fail.

Good luck everyone…enjoy the couple of months reprieve til it starts over again!

JB

Same, I thought this was the most time pressured exam I have ever sat and I only have one of the options left to take.

All those models learn for nothing, the whole thing just seemed to be basic common sense- I wonder if I would have just written the same as I did if I had not studied the textbooks at all and come into it ‘blind’ lol

Let’s see if I got a pass, I really have no idea at all when usually I have a fair idea. I didn’t even have enough time to see how many points I had written for each section I just kept going to finish the paper on time!

Sounds like you did really well, I’m kicking myself now as I was rushing so much I didn’t use any of those models.

i think question 2 was a gift from examiner just to use basic F5 knowledge to interpret and make some sensible comments…… and this question is also expected as in last sitting there is not much form financial analysis overall paper was ok

I have used marketing mix

wow.talk about time pressure. I also found it hard to apply models
Q1..explained what is meant by each of the terms then concentrated on developments in the past, why they worked or did not used some industry cycle, integrating the value chain although I got the logistics wrong as a downstream. In future used some PESTEL, management style etc
b..Report with Intro, SAF and Conc. for S..I mentioned cultural mix, industry and competition..A—stakeholders in both comp, exit cost, redundancies,etc..F – financial analysis more or less…no real model
C – I could not link factor conditions to Machine shop..:( and forgot the name of firm structure……n rivalry

did Q4..real nice question but rushed it a bit after spending 2 hrs on Q1, 4Ps given and part b ..analysis under the 3 headings they gave

For sme reason i felt Q3 would be too much to read and interpret in 20 mins so looked at Q2 and saw budgeting and a light bulb came on…my only issue was trying to tie it back to question sufficiently.

Then i gave up