*** P5 March 2016 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

we should start a petion on line

ask pet-ion

Paper seemed OK to me but again could not attempt 100% and just left with 15 marks to be attempted. Hoping to pass it this time.

Examiner Asked in Q3 (ii) about EXPECTED VALUES of operating profits with evaluation and response of different stakeholders like bankers are reluctant for any new project to invest, so they will either prefer to not invest in new project or consider least profitability (e.g. maximin). VC refered to minimax regret I guess.!!.

While technique of uncertainty (e.g. sensitivity analysis) can be used for different variables e.g. fixed and variable costs to judge response of different stakeholders.

Why should everybody be complaining about P5. What is too special about this P5. What actually is the examiner looking for that student are not providing in their answers. or is just that the examiner is making it impossible for students to pass. By bringing long long scenarios, tricky, confusing question, which require practical solutions with valuable recommendation with this 3 hours? I he just doing this to fails us, and make more money from us?

I’m just worried why the pass rate is so low. Does it mean P5 students around the world don’t know anything? What about those whose have been writing and achieving 48, 49, 43, 40, 45 39 etc for over 2 to 3 years, have they not gained the knowledge or skill required to be qualified? Why is Alex treating students this way.

Yes professional papers need to be difficult and challenging, but must it demotivate the student, must all our years be wasted over just one paper P5, should it fraustrate the student until they become old.

Please P5 students tell me, is the examiner being fair to us, or only want to make it impossible for us to pass, then fail us so that we will register again and then he will make money?

Must we keep quit and be fraustrated until luck comes our way? ACCA and Alex must do something about P5. Before the younger ones (those from the Universities, Polytechnics and high schools) are being discouraged to join ACCA.

I’m pretty sure it’s the exam that isn’t adequate and not the students!!!! Please don’t give up at the very least study another paper!

Well this was my I guess 5th attempt. I never had trouble passing any of the papers, I even was a prize winner in P7, but this this one is the painful one. ACCA wants us feel like its a real life situation but guess what, in real life you take informed decisions and not in 3 hours. So this paper is becoming ridiculous, it more burden to become member then anything else. In my opinion P papers shouldn’t be time pressured. I think someone with not enough preparation will not be able to pass the paper even if given extra time but those who had nice prep would write more reasonable, structured answers to the question. under eliminating time pressure I don’t mean 24 hours but more like CFA timing. In CFA if well prepared time Is more then enough so should be for the P module in ACCA, but then I guess for ACCA this is not profitable enough.

Indeed this paper is more challenging. One of the toughest paper ever . It needs a lot of thinking, understanding the requirements now and again you are writing the answers, adding value, counter arguing all the times. The time allocated does not match with the requirements questioned. Its really time pressured!!!!! This P5 just hoping for the right time. Thank you.

The examiner seems determined to fail us for every minor mistake made. He complicates the requirememts and conceals what is the essence of the question. In the real world its not like that. Its pretty straight forward.

I’ve complained via the survey.

Good idea about template message!

I’m in….

I failed P5 with 48% way back (passed all the others first time) and I am regretting enrolling for a retake. I see this whole course as a waste of time and irrelevant to actually being an accountant.
There is no solid subject matter – it’s all abstract theoretical stuff. And it’s removed from real life. This examiner sounds awful.
I also time out of ACCA in 2017, and I am wondering if it’s worth ditching this and doing P6 and P7, or CIMA – any comments?

@berolina said:
YOU ARE RIGHT!!!

I’ve completed survey and sent a letter to ACCA mail. Please join up!

complaints@accaglobal.com

Can u share the text of complaint here to ensure we all follow suit. P5 is becoming impossible by the day.

@berolina said:
It doesn’t look like a standart, but here it is 🙂

Dear Sirs,

I would like to pay your attention that ACCA management should review examiner approach to P5 Advanced Performance Management paper.

I March 2016 I had my 5th attempt, although I resit exams only twice (P1 and P4 – that is much more complicated). The syllabus is quite straightforward and understandable. The main issue is case complexity, very tough time pressure and examiner intention to mislead students.

Examiner advices to treat business case as real life issue, but managers always tries to make business tasks clear not tricky.

For most of the students P5 is the last exam session, students have real businesses, families and gray hair. The average age is about 30-40. We are solving sophisticated and multifunctional tasks every day and preparing to exam at night. If we could pass 13 exams before we should be smart enough to get ACCA qualification and move on.

The lowest pass rates on P5 confirm that the requirements are too hard and approach to exam should be weakened.
More comments you may find here https://opentuition.com/topic/p5-march-2016-exam-instant-poll-comments/

Thank you for your attention,

Thank You Olga!
Here is my complaint:

“Dear Sirs,

I would like to pay your attention that ACCA management should review examiner approach to P5 Advanced Performance Management paper.

In March 2016 I had my 2nd attempt, although I have never resit exams. Following discussion with other students, that seems demotivating that majority of students have attempted this paper for several times and the paper has the lowest pass rates among all P-level papers. The syllabus is quite straightforward and understandable. The main issue is case complexity (too many requirements, majority are hard to understand), very tough time pressure and examiner intention to mislead students.

Examiner advises to treat business case as real life issue, but managers always tries to make business tasks clear not tricky.

For most of the students P5 is the last exam session, students have real businesses, families and gray hair. The average age is about 30-40. We are solving sophisticated and multi-functional tasks every day and preparing to exam at night. If we could pass 13 exams before we should be smart enough to get ACCA qualification and move on.

The lowest pass rates on P5 confirm that the requirements are too hard and approach to exam should be weakened.

Moreover, that makes students to feel dissatisfied with ACCA approach, doubt transparency and fairness in exam treatment.
More comments you may find here https://opentuition.com/topic/p5-march-2016-exam-instant-poll-comments/

Thank you for your attention,”