; answers by the number of marks available for each part of each
question together with the instructional verb.
And finally, some students do not focus sufficiently on the
requirement. Marks will only be awarded for answers that address
the requirement; providing unsolicited information is therefore a
waste of time. Students should imagine that in the exam they are
being paid by a client for the advice they give. The client will only
pay them for the advice he has asked for.
Students continue to believe that possessing detailed knowledge is
the key to exam performance. This is true to some extent, but the
highest marks are awarded for those who use their knowledge in
the proper context. The main pitfall here is that students feel the
need to demonstrate their knowledge, whether required or not, and
it is because of this that many students fail to complete the exam.
Remember that writing 10 good points for a five mark requirement
is a 50% waste of effort.
Interviewer: Do students get rewarded for including bullet lists and diagrams?
Examiner: Very few marks are available for demonstrating knowledge in a
vacuum or for bullet lists or for diagrams. If a diagram is included
it should be properly explained. Candidates should ensure that
every point made refers directly or indirectly to issues within the
question requirement or to information made available. For this
they will be well rewarded.
Interviewer: Are organisational skills important in the exam?
Examiner: Yes, very much so. Students must try to ensure that they are
disciplined in answering questions once they have chosen which
questions to answer. Although they can answer questions in any
order, they should try and answer each part of a question in the
order written and keep them together on the answer script.
Interviewer: It is clearly important to follow the above tips and avoid any
common pitfalls in exam revision and performance. What further
information about student performance would you give which
might help students prepare for exams?
Examiner: After each examination session, all ACCA examiners are required to
produce an exam report. These reports highlight key issues arising
in the last exam and focus on where students performed
particularly well or badly. These are published in February and
August and can be found under paper resources for each paper
which can be accessed through the website.
In addition, after each exam session has been completed, the exam
review board meets. This is a board consisting of ACCA internal
Education staff and six representative members of the approved
learning partner community. Minutes from this board summarise
the comments made by tuition provider representatives, report
survey results about the exams from student questionnaires and
detail the responses. Again, the minutes from the exam review
board are available on the website.
Interviewer: And finally, what would be your concluding advice about the P6
UK exam?
Examiner: First, students must always read the question as carefully as they
can, identifying clearly the instructional verbs contained within
each requirement.
Second, it is important to properly understand the requirements,
assessing how much the examiner is really looking for in each
question part and being fully aware of the marks available for each requirement.
Finally, don’t forget that answers given should relate to the
question actually asked, not the one that a candidate would have
liked to answer.
Interviewer: Thank you very much for sharing your insight into this exam paper.
I’m sure it has given students and tutors lots of useful information.
Examiner: Thank you.
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