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Greetings Mr Ken,
I am just browsing through some SBL past year papers and I have noticed that there are some questions which are almost entirely knowledge based questions.
This comes to me as a little bit surprising as I am used to questions which give me the case material to work with rather than regurgitating, memorizing things off the list. For example, questions on board diversity and talent management programme. There are no exhibits for me to make reference to, and the model answers show that reference to the scenario is hardly necessary (which makes it a knowledge heavy question).
With that in mind, I am also hesitant on going after every theory in the syllabus. What would be the suggested approach?
Of course, I would use the Opentuition Notes over the Study text.
Yes, irritating when at this level of exam you are expected to merely(?) regurgitate facts.
Many questions can be answered primarily using common sense, but there is a syllabus and some of it refers to knowledge. Your example of a question on board diversity and talent management could be asked in two ways:
1 Advise on the qualitied of board diversity and talent management (factual).
2 For the company in the scenario appraise board diversity and talent management policies (using scenario information).
For both you need to know something about diversity and perhaps its advantages and disadvantages, and you need to know about the mechanics of talent management. However in Q1 above your answer would be factual but for Q2 you would be applying your knowledge to a scenario. In both cases the examiner would be looking to assess that you know what you’re talking about.
So you do need to know theory.
Our notes are much more succinct than text books and, to be safe, I think you should study the theoretical areas as well as practising questions.
Thank you for the advice Mr Ken.
Could I ask some follow up questions:
1) The examiner reports occassionally mention that the candidates answers are too generic and unapplied to the scenario. I find this to be inconsistent as there are times in the model answers where the answers are pretty much generic and a theory dump. I figured this would be the case if the exam scenario has very little information.
So my assumption is that, as long as the exam scenario doesn’t have enough details to answer the specific requirement, then generic answers can be accepted. Am I wrong?
2) I am confused with the “up to 2 marks per point” marking guidelines. The examiner reports state that a well developed answer would need to use scenario facts, talk about consequences, etc. But, when I go through “Read the mind of the marker” articles, I don’t really see the pattern of what qualifies to be a “well-developed point”. The marker sometimes award marks, only if they found it particularly insightful.
Could I ask what’s the right mindset and strategy when it comes to passing the exam? I am afraid that I could be writing too much just to achieve a “well-developed point” at the expense of my time management.
Thank you.
1 A generic answer is better than a blank sheet! However, make sure there is no way that your answer could not be directed towards the scenario,
2 I look at it as follows. Let’s say that the scenario suggests that the economic situation will worsen. In your answer you could perhaps write (depending on the scenario)
1/2 mark: economic situation is worsening
1 mark: economic situation is worsening and this is likely to adversely affect the profit and cash flow of the company.
1 1/2 marks: economic situation is worsening and this is likely to adversely affect the profit and cash flow of the company, particularly because they produce and sell capital goods where expenditure can be postponed.
2 marks: economic situation is worsening and this is likely to adversely affect the profit and cash flow of the company, particularly because they produce and sell capital goods where expenditure can be postponed. The company is already heavily geared so this could pose considerable financial risk.
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