*** P5 December 2011 Exam was: Post your comments and vote in Instant Poll ***

Q 1 (b) 19 marks Gone.
part (c) How to recommend with no supporting calculation (4 marks gone)

4 Professional marks gone with no report to write..

19+4+4 = 27 marks in total… 🙁

@leighstallard said:
Yeah I had the same approach, read that they’d agreed cost + 19% and went with that. Totally missed the part about 70k.

A post earlier mentioned this method:
my method was to work out selling price (fixed on all three types) at 19% mark up on variable costs. this would then give you contribution.

then there was the 7.5m grant from the government, which i used to reduce the fixed costs for each design, immediately i could calculate break even point on each design.

then added the contribution multiplied by each quantity ordered to (FC less grant) to give me an absolute ‘profit’ from each outcome.

with this you can calculate maximin, maximax, in both cases design 1 as VC were fixed.

finally i applied probability to my ‘profit’ numbers to work out EV of each design, this suggested design 2, from 1, and finally 3.

I recommended Maximin as the most acceptable as Mackerel seemed to be risk averse (they fixed price of steel in question) meaning my suggested design was type 1.

Which one is correct?

@amadani said:
Well, yesterday’s setting was my fourth attempt, wait guys dont judge me and say this guy is stupid , because i am not . actually i cleared 13 papers in 4 settings so i guess i m smarter than Mr. Alex watt, anyways , i studies like a sicko i solved the KAPLAN 64 questions and 5 questions of the pilot paper three times , plus all the kaplan questions suggested for the exam setting for June and December, i studies three separate study notes offered by London business school and opentuition itself and solved their questions as well finally i lost around 3000 USD to attend this exam including my forgone salary + exam fees + fees for special center ( being the only person in my country who attended the exam). having said that , this is how i feel about yesterday’s exam:

Q1: question from Hell, i mean 19 marks for one part , hello examiner where do you come from, what are you , and on what on uncertainy and risk analysis . actually we have to analyze the risk of having a crazy examiner in a reputable professional body like ACCA. and i was really not only uncertain but sure that the examiner knows nothing about P5. i well get 0 out of 19 marks at this part and maybe 5 marks on the other 2 parts being hopefully 5/35.

Q2: Performance Pyramid, i was sure that this question will pop up, not because i am smart because after 4 attempts i became an expert in this paper , maybe someday they will hire me a marker.. it was a nice question however it was lengthy one. i may get 21/25.

Q4: part a) was about the information this was good, part b was about management style, performance style and rewards, this was ok as well but the requirements were unclear hope to get 13 out of 20.

Q5: was ok as well but the scenario was rubbish and did not make sense to me, qulaity costs, Kaizen and JIT. i may get 14 out of 20 . totally as per my calculations i may get around 53 but you know what my only concern is whether the markers of the exam come from the same planet from which Mr. examiner comes from then we may get like 40 or 25 in this exam let us see, best of luck to every body.

Actually 19 marks were enuff for this question as there were too many calculations to be done… First Expected Values then MaxiMin, Maximax and then Minimax regret and it took a lot of time.. and Alex Watt is not a stupid examiner actually you are being over smart and over confident on your past results… And if you really think you have become an expert in this paper.. so you must pass it this time atleast… and if in case (GOD FORBIDS) you dont pass it.. I would recommend you to listen and watch Open Tuition’s and LSBF’s Lectures again and again (If you have not so) .. Trust me you will feel the difference!

Hi All,

I totally agree that the exam was tough. The examinar did mention that this paper will focus mostly on the discursive elements with minimum focus on calculations.
Thr 19 mark question (1b) was an absolute shocker for me and hence, messed up the rest of the question.

However, I request you all to send your exam feedback to the ACCA on your view of the exam (on the ACCA website) and hope for the best.

All the best everyone.

Mush

Hi all

All these comments posted here must be sent to ACCA by open tuition. This examinor should be removed. Meaning all the students in the world say the same thing. he must think that what student can do within three hours time after reading the horible scenarios. The exam idea must be test the average knowledge of the student about the subject matter. because within three hours time no one can come to know the exact knowlwdge about the student. Some times back F9 exam s also looks similar manner. Look at the P2 examinor any one who did that exam paper. he is really good examinor . Examinor should not try to show the entire world that they are smart. of coz they are smart than us. but we are students. We are limited than him. Acca should do something fare for the 2011 p5 diet.Please open tuition these terrible comments about the examinor must pass to ACCA.thanks

Hello everyone!
Can any one correct me about Q-1 (b)?

I did like………

Risk attitudes Risk Averse,Risk Neutral and Risk Taker and Exogenous factors. (Marks 09)

Then

I discussed Methods to incorporate risk and uncertainty like

1-Scenario Planning
2-Simulation
3-Expected Value
4-Maximin Minimax and Minimax
5-Sensitivity Analysis
(As discussed in Kaplan Book)

Then discussed suitability of “Maximin and Expected Value” then calculated Expected Values (left in mid due to time constraints…..!) (Marks 19)

In last part discussed expected value is more suitable. (Marks 03)

Properly in Report format Introduction,Conclusion

@saggart said:
Im pretty sure the government were subsidising 19% on the vc and not total cost + 7.5m for R&D. I calculated the Sale Price based on (FC+(500*VC) and added the mark up of 19%. For the calc of the profit i just subtracted SP-(TC-Gov grants) and for expected values i multiplied the profit figures by the probabilities for each of the three types & demands. Came out with Type 2 which offered the highest return to the company.

I dont see how the minimax regret could have been done under that time as well! just managed to do maximax & maximin

Overall i thought the paper was challenging. First time sitting it and it was tricky enough. It was nice to see the performance pyramid for Q2 as i banked on that coming up. Also Q3 & Q5 was pretty straight forward in terms of rewards & traditional budgeting techniques for q3 and quality control management for Q5. Obviously Q1 b was a stinger and im sure ACCA will compensate this when they are marking. Hopefully ill get this one exam out of the way and no more exams for a long long time! Good luck to everyone.

How do you think ACCA will compensate for Q1????? It wasted a lot of valuable time from the others. Do you think they will say: OK, let’s start marking from +5 marks everyone??

but i thought the price limit is 70k

it is not said that the selling price will be 70k

and the company always mark up total cost by 19% to derive at selling price

anyway I messed up at the government grant part….

I didn’t do anything bout it

I never said the SP was 70k, darthvader misread my post, even if the SP was 70k its only one error, i priced it at tc + 19% mark up. The marks are awarded for knowing that you use ev, maximax & maximin for risk and uncertainity

I dont understand what you mean by “it looks strange to pay the FC and the price” what are you talking about?

I think you just want me to agree with your answer!!! so yeah you’re right

It is more about what you decide from the numbers rather than if they are right anyway. I am worried hardly wrote anything other than a short paragraph on maximax and maximin and a bit more indepth about expected value. Totally stressed at time, don’t think I even recommended a method. Annoyed with self as now it seems so obvious. Oh well need to just move on.

Not sure why called self acca lover, am not really a lover if the pain and hard work! Bristol Kaplan, also Cardiff I believe. He is a really nice guy very helpful and put lots of real like example in which made things more memorable and less dry!

Oh dear, hope you pass! I just want it all done now, had enough years study want to be able to enjoy the run up to Christmas next year!!