APM*** P5 June 2014 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

This was the worst exam ever!!!! I can't wait to see the pass rate. This is my first attempt and by far the worst P5 paper I have ever seen compared to previous years. What was the examiner thinking? Worst!!!

@ ana.... i think you are so right... u could not have said it better.... i think that is a very good point brought forward...

Adam, if it makes you feel better, I sat my exam in north London and sat next to some sort of service lift which opened several times during exam and I could hear people talking loudly through the lift shaft. They also started seating us at 9.30 which is obviously fine, but invigilator was bellowing at us about getting seated so us ladies who were queuing for the bathroom got in a panic thinking we were going to be late. Ran to another bathroom and was sat at my desk at 945 - unnecessary panic before exam not needed! On more technical note, my course notes had 4 lines on VBM, so I'd barely looked at it, 10 marks was unfair. Though it is stated as a syllabus requirement so maybe more the college I used didn't put enough emphasis on it? Anyway, total fail on my first attempt, will try again in December and put life on hold again etc to try prepare for this ridiculous paper ;(

About the 4thor 5th time for me. It is frustrating and discouraging! I didnt answer a 6 mark question that I know was a simple calculation, because the words we so twisted I didnt have to time to figure out what he really wanted. Real life situations are not that complicated to understand. I work in the field.

disaster...examiner should pls be linient wif marking...

Why can't question 1a ...also mean an evaluation of the figures in terms of the ratios?

Sharon22, The scenario also stated the the CEO didn't want you to analyse the figures...

Yes it did. It said however they want you to look at staff costs and fixed/variable costs.

I know but other parts of question 1, dealt with figures. I think 1a..how the question was asked was too vague and can be interpreted both ways.

This is my first sitting of the P5 paper and is my final exam. I have to say out of all papers this was by far the most difficult, the way this paper has been written is by far the worst. Timing went out of the window as I could not understand what the examiner was asking. I only attempted 2 questions so will be a re-sit in December. More expenditure as the books are only suitable for exam sittings up to June 14. I think ACCA need to address why the pass rates are so low I appreciate they have standards to uphold however I just feel really dissapointed with how this exam has been set. There were many people at the examination hall resitting this paper for the 3rd and 4th time. The question re VBM the text book I study from had a paragraph on it!! A waste of 3 hours - ACCA please sort!!

My first attempt today. Ive been through old papers where the marking notes have been clear that you were supposed to pick out the required model from the topics covered or the headings used in the question however i couldnt see this this time so felt i was just waffling. Looks like everyone else feels same! One of the difficulties in this paper which i havent seen elsewhere is that the questions seem to be strewn through the paper itself with no identification. In p7 for example if a question is 'built in' to a scenario then the questions are in a box, they are in bold and the mark allocation is given next to each requirement. In p5 q1 today i was trying to pick out 3 seperate requirements given in the question and the scenario which in any other paper would have been given as a single clearly stated question. You could not identify the requirement of the question solely by looking at the question ....made more difficult by the fact that these pieces of information were 3 pages apart. Frustrating experience getting an exam generally seen as unfair.. 2 months til results and then there is no feed back on your results and you cant sit the exam again for another 4 months. Friends doing cima have a far better (fairer) system than this now - its becoming tiring studying acca.

That was a waste of me studying hard my mate could have a go and not studied bloody thing

Hello everyone! Looking thru all the comments revealed that this paper was hard for everyone as its was for me-last diet paper was even better. As for me,this is my 3rd attempt (started since june 2013) and d only paper left. I pray for a pass this time around(don't wanna spend 4 diet(2yrs) attemptin 1 paper-it has become an embrassing issue for me going by d fact that all previous paper were so easy for me to pass. Let's review d paper together: -Don't know y examiner failed to text any of the performance models-prism etc was lookin forward to them -Almost all tuition providers even open tuition predicted EVA and beyond budgeting so read it and was well prepared but time was almost running out so cldnt do better justification on them - Q1 EVA calculation,I got +$8.8M as my answer and just comment dat Value had been created Q2-BPR, use 7s mackinsey to asset impact on culture Q3- I didn't even bother looking at it once I saw that its metics calc under risk and certainty(not 1 of my strong topics in either f5/p5) Q4- beyond budgeting,wrote a lot of stuffs on adv and disdvan here but time was nt sufficient to even know whether I ans d question set or not All in all,I pray that the examiner is lenient in d marking scheme and pray to finally pass this paper and have my life back.

I am stunned to read the comments. I passed P5 in June 2013 "First Attempt" Thank God! The paper was tough but the passing rate was good. If you have attempted at least 80% (Quality is must) then I don't think there is anything to worry about. Best of luck to all of you!

Thanks for rubbing it in kingsandqueen :) but very encouraging. I felt that the paper was quite badly written and so did many others in this forum. Hopefully the examiners will mark the papers when they are pissed!.

This exams was awful - examiner needs to be flexible with the marking scheme

What did everyone do with the marketing expense in the Eva calculation, it was something like 7m spent on marketing in the period (50 percent t Adding to the long term prospects of the group) I added this 59 percent back but then struggled to work out how to amortise this. There was the added complication in the cps employed they had spent this for the last 15 years I think? Overall it was tough and I struggled for time but hopefully have a fair chance

When working through question 1 June 2013 under exam condition I had an emergency which took me away. My plan was to work through the past papers down to June 2012. Would have been the second time for that exercise. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN! Today's paper has nothing to do with past exams (P5). The anonymous examiners now setting anonymous questions. ACCA what's going on?

The paper was okay but wording was a little complicated. Q1. It was okay. I knew VBM and EVA. Complex structures were also prepared. Q2. I knew BPR very well but was more confident of budgeting so attempted Q4. Q3. Everything went fine. A little confused if while assessing we have to account for fixed costs or not. I did, but later in part b) also did without fixed costs. Q4. (a) I did not know but I thought I can let go 6 marks. I tried to attempt it but it took too long and compromised part b and c. Although I completed part band c but couldn't elaborate as good as I could have. I hope and pray we all pass the exam.

ACCA INCOME IS FOR ,UK, THEIR INCOME IS VERY HIGH AFTER ALEX COMES

This was my second attempt!!! I must say it was very hard to manage time, I am sure everyone had the same problem. The paper was very lengthy specially people like me who are slow readers and then I have to read the question 2-3 times In order to initiate the answer. I was well prepared for the paper but just in panic I messed up with the answers I knew I could have done better. At the end I missed a 6mark question. This is the only exam I am left with to complete acca. I hope the examiner will be lenient this time. Did anyone went to harrow centre today??? There was young children's school nearby and it was noisy too all the time. I had bad experience from Alexandra palace centre so I took my ear foams with me today that helped a lot in concentration but still couldn't do well as the paper was hard. Best of luck to all of us

It did say that no analysis of the current performance required. Instead I wrote about the deficiencies in current report format i.e. no historical data, only current vs budget, only few benchmarking (to industry aver.), no non-financial data, overloaded with financial data, to ties to the mission statement and strategy like through CSF etc

time time out as usual every time, overall the exam is balanced and fair I believe passable but difficult to score high mark

this examiner is a cash cow for ACCA.

THIS IS MY TIME TO SAY BYE BYE TO ACCA EXAMINATIONS. IN SHA ALLAH I WILL PASS

finger crossed

i even cancelled 2-3 pages after i had written :-(

The examiner is the disaster,the CASH COW of glorious ACCA!

F**K Alex Watt

The comments really motivating,,,The major problem is that similar comments are brought up after every P5 paper but the markers do nothing about it.... Lets face the fact.... All the best everyone.... Despite what, no quiting, the journey has been long.... Hoping the job market is rewarding after all this struggle with p5