P3 Predictions June 2017

I would be more confident guessing what won’t come up than what will.

However my wild guess for what could be on the paper tomorrow would be

Project management – Post project review, post implementation review, benefits realisation. Possibly project feasibility

Decision trees

Financial analysis in Q1.

A question relating to the Ansoff matrix

Possible question on the Ashbridge parenting matrix including the rationale for parents adding value (synergies, portfolio managers, developers).

A question on the SFA test.

Swimlanes are another possibility. As is big data.

Porters diamond hasn’t been asked for a while nor has strategy lenses.

What I am not expecting, but know a least something about just to stay on the safe side, includes the BCG matrix, the contextual features of change and types of change, Harmon, software choice and a question on people.

If a question that’s similar to Mar/Jin hybrid Q1 comes up in Q1 I think I will ask to be excused from the exam hall and drive home lol. That wasn’t my strongest question being honest.

Some great suggestions above.

For me at least:

Q1 50 Marks

A question that requires the use of:

S – PESTEL / 5 Forces / Diamond
A – Mendelow / Cultural Web or Organ Config / Finance analysis ratios
F – Some variation to apply 9M’s

Optional questions:

Integrated reporting
Value chain
Project Management (Probably for an e-business)

Obviously this is completely speculative but they seem to be fairly hot topics.

I also hope we don’t get forecasting.

I looked at that and had forgotten it since F5, and now it’s not even on the F5 syllabus anymore! You would have to remember F3 I think to remember it.

When studying it I found it too boring, uninteresting, and useless so I decided that is the one area I will take a risk on and hope it doesn’t come up. It’s a load of horse droppings if you ask me. At least the majority of the rest of P3 is interesting

CSFs and KPIs are another small area that could creep up.There’s a technical article up there about them.

Forecasting has practical application in most financial planning & analysis teams. Modern firms update their annual budget using forecasts quarterly to confirm targets remain relevant, accurate and fair.

I would imagine given that strategy is forward looking that a question might invite the use of linear regression (simple) or time series (factors seasonality) to provide a projection.

I think the point of this is exam is not to necessarily understand the maths but more how they can be applied to equip stakeholders with an outlook in a changing environment.

CSF’s & KPI’s can be linked with Mission Statements too, this was assessed in a previous exam paper.