I know the tutors on this site will probably slate me for this (stating that the examiner is totally fair and its all the student's fault for not answering his requirements properly) but I have been struggling with P5 for a while and this time around I did a revision course with First Intuition in London. At this revision course 100% of the class were of the opinion that the examiner's question requirements, under exam pressure, can seem completely bewildering and hard to breakdown.
The pass rates have slumped significantly since he took over as examiner, and to be quite fair I am annoyed that he has the gall to say "he's upset with this", pinning the blame on students. Surely it can't be the students fault every single sitting? With the constant deterioration of pass rates? Students study hard for this exam, and the content is interesting, why has the examiner turned this into a nightmare?? Surely an exam should be a test of content and understanding, not how well you can decode the question and demonstrate exam technique??
These are not stupid people sitting this exam and it is having a huge demoralising effect on people, I can definitely say it has on me as it is my final exam.
What does the examiner or the ACCA gain from this? The abysmal pass rates and disheartened current atudents of this exam are going to push students choosing their options to the other papers. Hence resulting in an over subscription to the other papers, then probably resulting in ACCA having to mark them harsher!
I am at the stage where I do not really care if I get told it's my problem and I "just need to study more concisely/improve my exam technique/read the question". Jobs in finance are getting tougher and tougher in terms of hours and its not easy to fit in studying for an ACCA.
This is for all those studying P5, I pretty much guarantee you there's hundreds of others doing this paper that are feeling the same as you do! I personally feel the exam was way better before the examiner took over and do not think he is a just or fair examiner at this level. I have a group of 30 people who feel the same way and will be writing a petition in to the ACCA after the December exam. It's not fair students have to suffer this way,
I have never heard such unanimous dislike for one examiner and similarity of grievance with an ACCA paper
P5 students, your not alone.
ACCA Forums
APMPass Rates & the P5 Examiner
I haven't come across a p5 student who disagrees with me. Where in "real life" would you sit there analysing a set of perfomance metrics? The performance of the company is the key objective. So this "commerical aspect" is ridiculous to me. I don't see how it relates to real life at all
I definetly feel the students need to voice their opinion to the ACCA. We all have exactly the same greivances!!! It's no longer the case of "ill-prepared" students lashing out because they failed. We have worked hard to pass this. Why should a final level exam be more about exam tecnhique than content? Thats no where near fair
It's my first sitting this Dec, I've studied quite well for it and feel prepared but going through the questions in the past papers he does word some questions in a rather peculiar way. I thought the guys who sat it in June got a really hard paper. Fingers crossed it's not too bad this time round. Good luck all
11y ago#4@wanderboyo said: Wow, I'd write something like this myself but I wouldn't be able to put it any better than that. Spot on, 100% agreed!
You are not alone. I work in an FP&A department and this is the natural choice for me. There are a huge amount of students who feel this way. They cannot keep blaming us when the overwhelming majority feel this way!!!
Every time he is on to decreasing pass rate. I really don't get what he wants.
i agree with these posts. this is the first module i failed, going to retake on 4dec. i failed because i cant understand the qn due to time pressure. answering to qn is the area that i fear most, my english is not that great. i hope by trying to practice all his qn, read his answers, read his examiner's reports will help in my passing this round.
i am so afraid that i would keep failing p5, seeing some of the people here have failed p5 multiple times, i am quite demoralised.
i dont want to waste my life screwing up p5 and restudying p5 for the next few years, there's so much sacrifice in terms of family bonding.
Good luck to everyone! i hope we get a more reasonable paper this time.
" I am giving this one last go but if I fail I have to go against my role at work (and my future) and choose another option just to pass ACCA! :(
I have resisted the temptation to shift to another paper just for the sake of finishing ACCA. Its because I think I have a calling in PM and would want want to major on it as a consultant but one and the only one Sir Alex Watt has not made it easier for me. Hope for the best not the beast this time around.
I completely agree with what u people are saying. The examiner is not able to recognize the hard word we students are making to prepare this paper. I have heard that ACCA now has a policy of not disclosing the examiners. And as far as I know Sir Alex Watt has been there for long time now. Do anyone have any information regarding this?
It is still Alex Watt
11y ago#11I thought I was the only person struggling this much to feel prepared.
I am all for a petition...let's make our voices heard!
Totally agree! Thanks to voice out!
I'll tell you my opinion after tomorrow's exam. This will be my first attempt.
I wish everyone good luck!
+1 Liked this post.
All the best to P5 candidates
If alex was upto 2012 then let me tell u the other one has made life more miserable.
Even i want this petition
11y ago#17Definitely need to do something to improve chances of passing. I work as a Commercial Accountant and this will be my 3rd time having attempted the exam. Topics are reasonable but exams are just horrendous, hard to know what Alex wants. So disheartening.
Hi all. First question was marginally better but yet again section B was terrible. Down to the examiners awful wording of questions and mark allocations! The lower weighted questions seemed like they were not given appropriate mark weighting whereas the requirements with higher marks seem to have barely anything you could write to fill up the marks!!!!
Question 4 had barely any detail to go on!!
It is definetly time to write to the ACCA with a petition, as the examiner does not seem to be a competent examiner. The way he writes his exams induces students to panic and second guess what they have written
We have had enough!! The examiner has caused many of us so much misery and stress having to retake this exam again and again.
I will be drafting a formal letter to the ACCA and post up the link for signatures.
@yogzcro said: I will be drafting a formal letter to the ACCA and post up the link for signatures.off topic, ACCA / Examiners do read your comments on our forums too so as long as they are civilised/professional. it's good :)
Arghhh I don't know whether I passed or not, I imagine not. Section A was actually ok hopefully picked up a few marks even if my calculations may have been wrong.
Section b was a nightmare! I did q2 and q4. I personally feel like I know the syllabus well and practiced a lot of exam papers. Just doesn't seem to help there's no consistency in the paper.
We all feel the same way. And to the team, I feel I am being civilised and professional, but I also want to convey the students frustration. I have heard a lot of fellow students with more uncivilised comments in regards to this exam!!!!
@yogzcro said: And to the team, I feel I am being civilised and professionalI did not say you were not. I was rather pre-empting other potential comments from other angrier students because of some verbal abuse few years ago on our forums.. ACCA stopped publishing examiners names..
i am frustrated. my english is not that great and i regreted picking p5 now im stucked. this is my 2nd attempt. some of the wordings i need some time to decipher what he actually wants and i attempt with much uncertainty. if anyone will post a petition i will sign.
i also hope acca can change its half yearly exams to quarterly exams. it reduce our sufferings in some ways.
i dread taking p5 in jun15... but i doubt i will pass this time.
I totally agree. I pray I pass this sitting...its my third attempt and my final paper.
This was my first time taking P5 - my last paper.
I have looked at a lot of past papers and it is clear that the exam style has changed with this examiner.
Previously, it seemed 65% of an exam was number crunching, similar to F5 with the balance asking you to explain the numbers. Maybe with one of the option questions being a wordy one discussing a model.
In general number crunching is easier and that was why it was a popular paper with a high pass mark.
The current Examiner turned that around and now its around 75% explanation and 25% numbers. To be honest I do not have a problem with that, as we have already done the number crunching in F5+F9 and considering it is Advance level we should be able to explain what these numbers mean and their affect on the company.
However, things are made harder because of the way the examiner set out his questions. He has three areas that lead to confusion:
1) He is not clear in his requirements exactly what he is asking. You can make an attempt but if you guess wrong you will be getting 0 marks for that section.
2) He has large amounts of scenario that is hard to find the connecting facts. Under normal circumstances it is fine under exam conditions it is not.
For example, with most examiners you would find the requirements for part a in the 2nd to 3rd paragraphs (the first giving a little bit of background) the part b requirement in the 4th paragraph etc.
With this guy the requirement for part a will be in paragraph 2/3/6/8 for example. When reading in exam conditions it is too hard to follow.
3) Like the P2 examiner (never noticed it with any of the others) he likes to put in little tricks to try and trip you up. It's like he is showing he is superior to you. However, at least with the P2 examiner he is rather generous with his marking and will give you a mark for trying even if you fall for his trick. I gather the P5 guy is not.
Yes no marking is generous here. He will complain students are not reading his requirements clear enough and will be very patronising that it was clear what was required when he writes examiner reports on the papers.
He induces students to panic and second guess what they have written with the layout of his exam. He purposely gives low mark allocation to topics which you could write pages on and high mark allocation to subjects which you think how can I generate more than a few marks from this?
11y ago#27Good responses. We need to let ACCA and their team know that some things are wrong. I work in a bank where there is no time to do other thing including professional development. I have no employer's involvement in my ACCA studying. I left home for all the weekend in 3 months to read for P5 and score 43. I wept because I have never in my life read that way. ACCA must find something to do to the pass rate in P5. Six of us started ACCA 5 years ago. Others had abandoned it. ACCA should please come out and tell us where things are wrong. All students globally can't be dullard. Please, include me in the petition.
Kind regards.
48 after working so hard for this exam.
I will be starting a petition to the ACCA in regards to this exam and examiner. I think the ACCA have become a shameless money making business. They swell their membership for exam fees at the earlier stages, then at professional level the papers become unreasonable.
Please reply/private message me if you would like to join this petition.
Hi All
I must admit that I am in the same boat with you guys, when I saw my P5 results this time I cried myself to sleep could not believe it. I really work hard at this paper and it is a paper I love and did try hard. My first time I study with Kaplan then BPP and Open Tuition, read every article on the subject, attempted as many questions under time pressure and tried to follow every examiner's advice and comments for this paper and still having problems in passing.
I am not blaming anyone here but if the pass rate has decline so drastically then ACCA should look into this. I will still give it a final attempt in June 2015, but if I don't get it again I have no choice but to switch with all the changes made by ACCA I need to qualify this year.
Please don't give up guys keep trying one day you will achieve your goal, remember every successful person have a story of pitfalls in their way.
i dont understand why so many people are complaining...afterall this is what to be expected from a p level paper since acca has a certain standard to maintain. If they start lowering the difficulty of papers on the request of students, then the acca qualification is truly losing its value and may not be worth more than any other degrees in accoutancy. I am not saying that the exam paper is easy( however the contents of p5 is rather an easy walk as opposed to p4 or even p2) but it is really a true test to our analytical skills and critical thinking ability since anyone can just read and learn the p5 book by heart then spit it out on the exam day which i would say is not the real aim of the p5 exams.
Sign into reply to this topic.