*** P4 June 2013 Exam was.. Post your comments ***

Hi All,
This perhaps will be my 2nd time on commenting on this forum, i know what i did in the exam and am not gonna console my self. i have always been wondering why most PQ opt for P5 and P7 at this stage now i know why . P4 is not an easy paper and i have def failed this one and hoping to write P7 instead. In the time given and the questions it is almost impossible to finish the Qs properly, it doesnt mean we are not intelligent or hardworking or we dont possess good exam technique, i think the examiner should set reasonable Qs for the PQs that are still hoping to resit this paper in Dec and most importantly the Qs should be worded properly.

I have read the recent posts regarding the level of feeling many of you have regarding the time pressure on this paper. I stand by assessment but also totally respect your views. You were in the room and I only sat the exam in my study – totally different type of pressure.

I can say as an experienced member of the marking team that I have conveyed the thoughts of my student population (which are similar to your views) through the relevant channels regarding the time pressure issue. I believe that all markers in any paper will feed their views back to their respective examiner. This is the correct protocol.

Yes, you have the right to write to ACCA and complain and this is your choice. I personally, do not advocate this approach but I cannot tell you what to do.

As you have now can see a copy of this paper (on the ACCA website) I am sure your respective tutors would have attempted the paper themselves . To alleviate your worries, ask then for a copy of their answers. It may help.

<cite>@sunilthetutor said:</cite>
I have read the recent posts regarding the level of feeling many of you have regarding the time pressure on this paper. I stand by assessment but also totally respect your views. You were in the room and I only sat the exam in my study – totally different type of pressure.

I can say as an experienced member of the marking team that I have conveyed the thoughts of my student population (which are similar to your views) through the relevant channels regarding the time pressure issue. I believe that all markers in any paper will feed their views back to their respective examiner. This is the correct protocol.

Yes, you have the right to write to ACCA and complain and this is your choice. I personally, do not advocate this approach but I cannot tell you what to do.

As you have now can see a copy of this paper (on the ACCA website) I am sure your respective tutors would have attempted the paper themselves To alleviate your worries, ask then for a copy of their answers. It may help.

Hi Sunil

Thanks for raising the time pressure issue with ACCA and the examiner for P4.

Like some other posters on this thread, I too have always passed all ACCA exams 1st time (exemptions up to P level apart from F6 and F8) and was the top graduating student for the accounting and financial management bachelors degree that I took some years ago now. I have also only relied on self study, often ONLY using BPP books, as they are the ‘Platinum’ rated tuition provider recommended by ACCA.

I personally found the paper quite challenging in terms of time pressure and difficulty (I did not manage to do any calculations for Q4) but I agree with some posters that the difficulty level (not time pressure) was ok, perhaps comparable to Corporate Reporting. I can see now with 20/20 hindsight how everything on the exam paper could have been practised and predicted.

HOWEVER my biggest problem is that the BPP textbooks, especially the one for P4 is not up to scratch. They just do not have sufficient depth to help students grasp the nuances between the different valuation concepts and to truly understand each step taken in each valuation method. For example, look at the definition of FCF and FCFE page 253-257 (ISBN 978-1-4453-9656-9). Contrast this with the Schweser notes explaining the same concepts for CFA level 2 (https://www.schweser.com/downloads/general/l2schwesernotes.pdf). Had this exam not been plaguing me because I had been kicking myself, as a student with a 100% first pass record, I would not have bothered to go online to search for additional explanations of valuation concepts.

The P4 text is also full of errors and typos. One example of an error is the MM proposition formula on page 241 .

As the ONLY P4 study text to be reviewed by the examiner, this is pretty poor. This is also misrepresentation. Had I known that I would require more than just the text, I would have signed up for a BPP revision course or study course. This is probably what BPP, who has a monopoly on the ‘Platinum’ Level market intended!

Not all ACCA students are sponsored by their companies and therefore the examiner has a duty of care to ensure that the textbook he ENDORSES is actually sufficient for students to pass the exam without purchasing extra help.

Do you believe ACCA have the exam paper on the site already my gosh. That paper was hardddddd

Hi guys,
I must also say that some the study text are not dealing with some of the topics well. for instance a topic like mergers and acquisition are not deal with to an extent that makes you confident to deal with the dynamics of the questions that comes in the exam. Those of us who rely on these books for self study find some of the questions challenging. I had to read some of the cima stuff to really get grasps of some the topics ie P4. This is with particular reference to bpp and kaplan for P4 which we have around.

@Oseidarko try F9 text books they are quiet detailed. Most of the topics deemed as carry forward knowldge from F9 are just revisions in P4 text books i have observed. Guys i suggest in the meantime i know it can be boring but that we start now and prepare as a back up for December 2013 Exams!

I know for me that not an option as iam seriously awaiting this results so i get my promotion but because its that important to me iam studying now to be on the safe side. I have to finish this paper, I have long discovered that Auditing is not my strength hence i have to pass this paper as atleast i know calculating is what i was born to do!

Well I can see what you are saying, but I don’t agree neither to the over 100 students I prepared for this sitting.

Most students are as you say “average” – your words not mine.

Thats the problem. To pass a paper set at “masters level” one must be better than average. Not to question spot and but to know the syllabus really well and work past exam questions under pressure.

Don’t blame ACCA for not being prepared properly. Look at your own preparation.

If you invest the time and resources you PASS. Its that simple.

This answer shows how much discrepancy exists between what tutors, markers and examiners think its real life and WHAT actually IS REAL LIFE.

Let me describe your average P4 student: 75% working in audit for more than 4-5 years, often until 9-10 pm for most of the time until the exam. Investing direct money in study books/on-line training and other ways from which they can understand not the syllabus (because most of them have done it before in the university) but how to “read” what the examiner wants to see, so called “exam technique”. Joining ACCA is a requirement from work, rather than their free will.
Most of them already depressed, after failing P4 at least one and realizing the being prepared properly, doing the K&R kit and past exam papers is not enough, it’s a matter of chance in the actual exam. Praying to God, Allah or other gods to pass, because passing P4 became exactly like winning at the lottery. No, I’ll rephrase that: I win at the lottery every month at least once – i did not win at P4 lottery in 3 years now.

I understand you are a tutor and a marker, and a failing student is a “returning customer” from your part. So this is not directed to you but rather to the ACCA. Yes, the Association of Chartered CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANTS. Yes, it says right there: ACCOUNTANTS. Not INVESTMENT BANKERS. Not VALUATION SPECIALISTS. No BANK TREASURERS. ACCOUNTANTS!

Then why are we tested on MASTER degree level son something that we have NOT SIGN UP FOR? Most of us did not faced in real life 80% of this Paper. Nor of the P6 or P5. EVER! Because we are ACCOUNTANTS and AUDITORS! We we have join an ACCOUNTING qualification!

Putting such a barrier in complementing the ACCOUNTING qualification is not fair in itself. Changing the structure/examiners/syllabus so often is even more puzzling. Having this twisted way of examining, forcing us to invent numbers in order to complete the calculations, totally UNREALISTIC. The end result: people with “spotting easy marks” technique will pass. NOT the one WHO CAN ACTUALLY resolve a problem from START to FINISH. This is not a REQUIREMENT !?! Who would hire such people? I won’t.

The ULTIMATE COST for the P4 student is TIME. Yes, he will have another chance. In 10 (TEN) months from now. And, then, another 10 months. It feels like a long sentence in which you are constantly denied parole. This cost (time) often translate in missing employment opportunities, missing well deserved holidays after an year of working until exhaustion, being absolutely depressed an having a disappointing image about yourself (read previous comments, ho many people, -smart and hard working I would say, otherwise they would not care enough to write on this site- use the words “depressed”, “i feel stupid”, etc.

When you have so many people saying the same story, it means it’s something wrong with the examination, not with the students. After sitting CFA Level 2, I heard people complaining about not studying enough some some parts.. But not complain about how UNFAIR the exam was. And most of them are also ACCA students, or they used to be. Here people complain about being an UNFAIR exam, because IT WAS UNFAIR. We don’t get to be tutors full time, we don’t work in Investment banking, we are accountants. And yes, what you are saying it is correct ONLY in the event that we sign up for A FINANCIAL ANALYST MASTER DEGREE (full time student) not ACCA.

When you’ll stop mocking people’s hard work and efforts, when you’ll test a knowledge of appropriate level for ACCOUNTANTS in this papers, when you’ll make clear requirements on what it is expected from us and provide BPP, KAPLAN, etc with information that is actually tested in the exam (not a wide spread of subjects that can easily cover world’s finance -> so the Examiner is filly covered because he has one word in the syllabus that remotely touches a subject), then ACCA will be assessed by its main STAKEHOLDERS (yes, the “average student”) as being FAIR and then they can blame themselves for not studying enough. When you have at least 50% saying the exam was unfair, chances are that, in the STUDENT’s VIEW IT WAS UNFAIR. And that should be the only ACCA’s concern.

I would like this point of view to be transmitted to the Examiner, who maybe will understand how his “professional ego” is affecting in such a significant way REAL LIVES, not SCENARIOS.

Disaster. i have been cruising easily through all the other papers but this was a very unfair paper. too long a case study and too many missing pieces to put togther in such a short space of time. the examiner was really unfair.

The paper was disaster, indeed i used M+M and got 12% for Qn1 then i attempted Qn3 and 4 with some silly mistakes due to time pressure and jumping some parts. However i wonder what the intentions of such examiner are? ACCA should also be very serious, an examiner like this should be asked to go and look after his ducks than giving people hard time.

Hi Guys!
Has the exams become so challenging?

In Ghana one could see the number of ACCA students shrinking by each sitting. This exams could take a long time before passing. People are moving away from these exams. It is better you get a degree first, get job and start writing these exams in a more relaxed mood. CIMA seem to be gaining some foothold here with their exemption MBA students.

Horrible Paper. Horrible everything. Don’t Know How I performed. Can’t say. The only scoring part of the paper for me was the FOREX Question (Q3) and IF i pass, it would be thanks to that question.

There weren’t many students sitting P4 at my exam centre, after sitting this exam I know why.
I will never take this paper again.

Anyone from Sharjah/Dubai area ready for group study to attend Dec 2013?