question elaboration

Is this a language problem? Have you read the suggested solutions?

There really is nothing more I can say. There is no magic formula, no closely-guarded secret. Try the technique of making two points out of one thought. When you plan an answer – you DO plan your answers don’t you – don’t stop planning until you have enough points for the value of the question. But that little exercise should be done within the time allocation for planning your answers! In a 10 mark past question, you should spend 5 minutes ( that’s 10 marks divided by 2 ) planning and 13 minutes writing the 10 points.

Have you read the two articles by P3 markers from April (?) last year in Student Accountant? NO? Then you must. They are both extremely insightful and helpful

Well, I’m sorry, but I have to say that I’m not impressed with the quality of your writing / English! 🙁

However, if you remain convinced that this is not where the problem lies, and you specify where you believe it is, then that is clearly the area / technique to focus on.

I remain, in my own mind, quite convinced that Lisa surely cannot award marks for knowing either the number or the title of any Auditing or Accounting Standard. In real life, all you would do, if you ever needed to quote the number, is look it up on google or in a hard copy book of standards.

As for tying Auditing Standards to Accounting Standards … if you know the accounting treatment, you must surely be able to work out how to audit that accounting treatment.

if you continue to struggle, do please post again

That’s a difficult one to answer – it’s already the second week of October and exams are barely 2 months away.

If you were just starting out on your ACCA studies, I’d suggest that you mixed your studies up with reading English books / novels / articles ( I presume it’s not your first language ). But you’re already at P7 level, so there cannot be SO much wrong with it!

You may ( or may not! ) have noticed that, when you read posts from the tutors, they almost always try to write “proper” English. There is a minimum of “text-speak” and we try to punctuate our responses in the correct way. I appreciate that it’s quicker to write “u” instead of “you” and “xpression” rather than “expression”, “thnx” instead of “thanks” ….

But it all adds up! It detracts from professionalism. And please don’t tell me that your time is so limited that you cannot make that extra effort to write “correct” English. “i” instead of “I”! What’s the problem in pressing the shift key?

The mis-spelling of “favor” instead of “favour” is hopefully just that – a mis-spelling.

As for extending your answers, my normal advice is to tell students that old mantra “Every point has its own paragraph and every paragraph has its own point”

One point per paragraph, one paragraph per point. That includes ( amongst other things ) trying to avoid using the word “and” because that suggests that there could possibly be two points to make. That’s a tricky one when it comes to referring to “true and fair” (!), but the general principle applies in most situations.

Do you have any native English-speaking friends who would be willing critically to assess your style – maybe a senior at work? But they have to be open and honest and not simply prepared to say they “understand what you’re trying to say”

Markers ( I imagine ) are frequently put into the position of having to interpret exactly what is the point that a student is trying to make whereas the quality of your answers should leave nothing for the marker to puzzle over.

You said in your original post that you “feel short of words and expression”.

This comes down to practice! When you are in conversation with your friends, do you talk in English or in your native language? I appreciate that it must be difficult but I suggest that you try to persuade your friends to conduct conversations in English – the more you practice it ( like everything in life! ), the easier it becomes and the greater will be your vocabulary and command of the language.

The sum of the lines you have written in your three posts is less than 6. Why not take the opportunity to fill out your communications by expanding upon those areas of perceived weakness? It all helps!

And good luck 🙂

You’re welcome