July 2024
Intro: How were the latest set of exams? We have the feedback from those who know – the sitters!
AA
Some sitters found section A tougher than they expected. As one sitter said: “Harder than previous past papers with a lot of tricky catch- you-out type questions.” The good news for many was the fact that the 30 marker and 2 x 20 markers were very similar to past papers. According to the Open Tuition Instant Poll, one in 10 found the exam a ‘disaster’ and another 23% said it was ‘hard’. That left 60% saying the exam was ‘OK’ and 7% found it ‘easy’.
PM
Overall, it was described as an OK exam – even good for some. However, sitters said they found the regression analysis question in section C ‘brutal’, one even said all they wanted to do was scream! There was someone sitting in front of one of those struggling “dancing in his chair” – he obviously had been revising the right topic. In the Open Tuition Instant Poll, one in four (24%) said the exam was a ‘disaster’, and another 36% said it was a ‘hard’ test this time around. Another third said the exam was ‘OK’.
TX
Sitters struggled with the wording of some of the questions. “It was like Google translate had been used,” one ventured. Others just said they hated TX! In the Open Tuition Poll, 53% ticked the ‘OK’ box, with 29% finding it a ‘hard’ paper, and 11% had a ‘disaster’.
FR
Students really didn’t seem to mind this session, and there were very few comments. Section B was where most students had problems. Some 55% voted the exam ‘OK’ on the Open Tuition Instant Poll. Another 24% ticked the ‘hard’ box, and 15% ‘disaster’.
FM
The June exam was described as “savage, there is no other word for it!” Another sitter said it was “an absolute disaster”. What upset sitters was the fact that the exam looked and felt nothing like the ones in any exam kit. Had anyone heard of the pecking order theory? It is in the syllabus! One in five (21%) voting on the Open Tuition Instant Poll said the exam for them was ‘a disaster’. Another 41% said it was ‘hard’ and just one in three (33.33%) felt the exam was ‘OK’.
SBR
Not a favourite exam this session, according to the poll. That said, many found Q1 ‘fairly easy’, even ‘a bit easy’. That was a worry in itself, as one sitter explained: “I found the paper easy going and this is strange and at the same time very scary, because I think that in this kind of papers you fail more easily because maybe there were a lot of traps.” Others found the question that asked them to apply various IFRS for the treatment of costs related to films tough. Some 41% said they found the exam ‘hard’ on the Open Tuition Instant Poll. Another 17% felt the exam was ‘a disaster’, and just 38% said the exam was ‘OK’.
SBL
One sitter summed up what many thought, and liked the fact that the paper was “very common sense, rather than models, etc.”. For them that made it a good paper. Another said: “Overall the questions were nice, the 7Ps threw me but managed to remember five of them at least.” This all added up to the fact that June’s paper was ‘a disaster’ for just over 8% of sitters, according to the Open Tuition Instant Poll. Another 27% found it ‘hard’, but for nearly 60% the exam was ‘OK’.
AAA
Time management was a big problem for sitters. Spending too long on the first question just meant many ended up rushing the rest of the paper. As one PQ explained: “There were so many requirements in Q1 that confused me and took up too much of my time. Feeling so disappointed.” Nearly one in three (31%) of voters in the Open Tuition Instant Poll said the exam was ‘hard’, and another 14% had ‘a disaster’. That left 53% saying the exam was OK, and just 2% found it easy.
APM
“A very difficult exam” and “I did not enjoy that exam” were two comments we picked up from APM sitters. Too many students talked about rushing through the exam, knowing they were ‘messing up’. As one PQ said, it just made them feel miserable at the prospect of sitting APM again. The examiner also expects you to know your PM stuff, which can be difficult to recall if you sat the paper some time ago. That said, in the Open Tuition Instant Poll 41% of sitters felt the exam was ‘OK’. Another 36% said the exam was ‘hard’ and 19% had ‘a disaster’.
ATX
This June’s sitting was described as a “very tricky exam”, others just said they found it very difficult. This is backed up by the Open Tuition Instant Poll where a whopping 40% of sitters said they found the exam ‘hard’. Another 19% had ‘a disaster’.
AFM
An OK exam! Sitters liked the foreign NPV (section A, 50 marker). It was a ‘biggie’, but there were no funny adjustments and was just like previous questions. The Open Tuition Instant Poll bears out the comments, with 57% of voters ticking the ‘OK’ box. Some 24% found the exam ‘hard’ and another 16% had ‘a disaster’.
