To all my friends who are sitting for the core papers especially 3.7,
I found that this article is really useful.So i want to share with you by putting inside my blog.I wish this article at least give you some idea on how to handle this paper and also pass the paper.Finally please accept my best wishes and wish that all of you will do a great job and pass all of your papers.
Ching
LCA lecturer Steve Lumby gives you the inside track
The pass rate on this paper is very poor – particularly if you keep in mind that it is one of the final core papers. At this stage of professional exams you might expect two-third of candidates to pass. The reality is almost the opposite.
What can you do to put yourself in a better position for passing? Plenty – and the starting point is to understand why people fail. If you can understand why other candidates in the past have failed, you stand a chance of learning from their mistakes – and not go on to repeat them yourself.
In order to gain an insight into why candidates fail this exam, go and have a look at the examiner’s own feedback on past exam papers. The ‘Examiner’s Comments’ is a valuable resource published on the ACCA’s website, along with past exam questions and answers. (It can be also found in the Student Accountant -- the October edition for the previous June’s exam and the April edition for the previous December’s exam).
Unfortunately, although the ACCA leave a good historical record of past exam papers and answers on their website – going back five years or more – the examiner’s comments on each paper only have a six-month shelf life before they are deleted. (A rather thoughtless action by someone who has responsibility for the site). This means that if you want to have a look at the examiner’s comments for anything further back that the June 2004 exam, you’re going to have to do some asking around of lecturers, fellow students and libraries.
So what does the examiner say about why people fail? Here is a selection of his comments. They are in no particular order. However, each one has been repeated on numerous occasions, which suggests that an awful lot of candidates aren’t taking note of what the examiner says.
Common reasons for failure include:
• Very brief answers to discursive questions
• Not attempting all parts of a question
• Failure to read the question carefully
• Not answering the question asked
• General answers given in response to a specific question
• Irrelevant answers
• Poor time management
• Superficial knowledge
• Lack of attention paid to previous exam questions
• Undertaking unnecessary and inappropriate calculations
• Candidates tried to “question spot” and so are unprepared for a topic that had arisen in a recent past exam
• Lack of basic knowledge
• Failure to make use of information given in the question.
We could go on, but hopefully, you’ve got the picture by now. Things are pretty bad. The examiner’s standard opening comment tends to be: “The overall performance on this paper was rather disappointing.”Paper 3.7 may well be a really tough exam, with questions that sometimes can be rather unfair and other questions that are unnecessarily lengthy, or that require large amounts of repetitive calculations.
However, there is no escaping the fact that the average candidate doesn’t seem to be doing much to help themselves.So what really are the keys to being successful in this paper? I would suggest the following:
Firstly, concentrate on the basics. Nobody fails this exam because they don’t know the difficult parts of the syllabus. They fail because they don’t have a good enough grasp of the basics. What do I mean by the basics?
Let me give you some examples:
• Handling inflation correctly in an NPV analysis
• Finding the cost of debt of fixed interest redeemable debentures
• Being comfortable with annuity discounting
• Being able to correctly write down and use the 20 key formulas in the syllabus
• Being able to work through the four basic FX hedge techniques
• Knowing how to use the four basic techniques to value a company
• Being able to demonstrate an interest rate coupon swap
• Forecasting FX rates using PPPT
• Being able to thoughtfully calculate some simple ratios and make intelligent comments on the signals that they give.
Secondly, work smart. Recognise that not all areas of the syllabus are equally important. Focus on what the examiner calls the core topic areas – and only start to look at non-core topics once you feel that you have a good grasp of the core topics.
What are these core topic areas? I would suggest:
investment appraisal (NPV / FDI / APV); financing decision; FX and interest rate risk management; mergers and acquisitions; and financial forecasting and performance evaluation.
Thirdly, time management in the exam is vital.
• Section A: 40-mark questions: you have 65 minutes to pick up a minimum of 20 marks.
• 30-mark questions: you have 55 minutes to pick up a minimum of 15 marks.
• 35-mark questions: you’ve got 60 minutes.
Within these section A questions – with the theory / essay / discursive questions: allocate one minute for each mark available. Use the balance of the available time to attempt the numerical questions.
Section B: with each question you have 25 minutes to say and do everything that you can. This time allocation strategy leaves a spare 10 minutes at the end of the exam.
Fourthly ,look carefully at past examination questions. Look at what the examiner is asking of candidates; see what areas of knowledge he is particularly interested in testing. Look at how the questions are constructed.
Lastly, do not go through the answers to past exam questions with a fine tooth-comb and find yourself getting lost in the detail. Just make sure you understand the basic analysis used in the numerical questions and the main points being made in answer to the discursive questions. Remember, you don’t have to get 100% to pass the exam.
Good luck!
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