How did day four & five go for ACCA December sitters? Here’s what they said:
FR: This was a hard test for some 38% of sitters with a lot of questions on consolidation, according to the Open Tuition instant poll.
As one PQ said it was a strange collection of questions that included consolidated financial statements, events after the reporting date, and earnings per share. But they were concerned that a lot of the important areas were not covered – where was tangible non-current assets, revenue, leases, and financial instruments?
We also heard of more technical issues from students, who have rebooked their exams. One said: “ACCA really need to improve this online platform as there are too many issues leading to students like me getting very frustrated!”
SBR: For well over two thirds of sitters (70%) this December’s exam was either hard or a disaster. That’s according to well over 600 sitters who voted in the Open Tuition instant poll anyway.
It was called a ‘disaster’ by some and ‘refreshing’ by others! There was too much on intangibles for many, which meant it wasn’t a balanced paper.
That all said, one PQ said they found the emission grant question ‘very interesting’!
FM: Some sitters admitted to finding section C of the December exam ‘super easy’. However, section A &B were deemed difficult, tricky, and too theoretical.
Section C was a WACC calculation, NPV and some capital rationing and theory about capital structure and WACC relationship.
Resitters said December’s test was much easier than the September sitting.
AFM: The Open Tuition instant poll came back that 38% of sitters found this AFM exam hard, and another 37% said it was a disaster.
As one PQ said: “It was ridiculously hard, so far away from any the practice questions/mock exams… also how you can finish that exam in the time provided I do not know?” A fellow student agreed: “Nothing like anything in study books or mocks – and the volume of information to take note of on small screens is so far removed from real life – bizarre, disheartening and frustration all rolled into one.”
A tough test all-around. Another worry is because of the time pressure students are under they don’t have a chance to go back and review what they did and they feel they have to make quick decisions, which are often wrong!
Check out Sunil Bhandari’s video on his YouTube channel that summaries what his cohort of students told him about the AFM exam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzVY34ktO_A.
