F5 Exam Tips December 2015

---

　　ACCA F5 Exam Tips:

 

　　Sources [Kaplan,BPP,LSBF,Beckers Professional,First Intuition,MM University]

 

　　ACCA F5 Paper Exam Tips for December 2015 Session are given below by famous tuition providers

 

　　Kaplan

 

　　MCQ’s can come up from any syllabus area so cover the breadth of every topic.

 

　　Section A:

 

　　ABC,Life Cycle costing,Target Costing and Throughput Costing are very commonly tested topics while Environmental costing is rarely tested.

 

　　Section B:

 

　　Usually there are two questions from this area.Commonly tested topics are

 

　　–Relevant Costing

 

　　–Pricing

 

　　–Cost Volume Profit Analysis

 

　　–Limiting Factor

 

　　–Make or Buy or Shutdown Decisions and other Short term decisions

 

　　–Dealing with Risk and Uncertainty

 

　　Section C:

 

　　There are two questions from this area.Variances analysis is more commonly tested topics while Budgeting is also tested off and on.Every exam has some variances in it and could be basic or advanced variances.

 

　　Section D:

 

　　Performance evaluations is another area where questions always come up–very hard to learn a set method as each one is different.The important thing is to read the question carefully and make sure you link your analysis to the scenario.Commonly tested areas are

 

　　●    Transfer Pricing

 

　　●    Balance scorecard

 

　　The examiner does not like students who simply quote from the textbook,writing information that is not relevant to the question.The examiner also likes you to have an opinion–has the company done well or not?Clearly state your opinion and reasons why it is so.

 

　　LSBF

 

　　Remember there are five core topics in the exam and there are also 5 questions in the exam paper therefore you can reasonably expect to have 1 question from each area.

 

　　When it comes to F5 paper there are very few areas that you can guarantee to come up in exam and variances are one of them.Therefore make sure you know the basics and you are able to deal with planning and operational variances,mix and yield variances and idle time variances

 

　　Make sure you answer the question in set format.When we look at F5 questions,they are highly specific as to what they do and do not want you to do.Don’t just write everything about subject instead interpret carefully the requirement before you even think of putting your pen on the paper.

 

　　Manage your time very carefully indeed.At the simple level it simply means 35 minutes per question but more than that break down the question into its components parts and make sure you spend appropriate amount of time on each part of the question.Utilize the reading time to slot time to every part of the question.

 

　　Make sure you have good subject coverage that means you have covered all core topics areas before going into exams.Question spotting is very foolish exercise.Remember there is no choice in the exam,if you don’t cover something before exam than you could suffer disappointment.

 

　　First Intuition

 

　　Lifecycle costing.

 

　　Environmental accounting.

 

　　Limiting factors.

 

　　Relevant costing.

 

　　Flexed budget and budgeting discussion.

 

　　Divisional performance.

 

　　Mix and yield variances.

 

　　Open Tuition

 

　　Section A–Multiple Choice Questions

 

　　●    Do not waste time doing neat workings for calculation questions–your workings will not be marked.Only the answer on the answer sheet is marked.You should not attempt to justify or explain any of your answers.

 

　　●    Look first for the short questions and those on topics you feel most happy with.All the questions carry 2 marks and so don’t waste time on a question that requires a lot of reading–come back to it later when you have finished the shorter questions.

 

　　●    If you come across a question that you know little about,you might be able to eliminate one or two answers as being obviously wrong and this will improve your odds at guessing the correct answer.If you know nothing about a question,then staring at it will not make any difference–guess an answer and move on.A guess is always worthwhile.

 

　　●    Watch your time.You should spend 72 minutes on Section A and no longer.You can always go back to it later if you find you have time left after completing Section B.

 

　　●    Keep your eye on the clock and when there is 5 minutes left before the end of the exam stop what you are doing,and guess any of the Section A questions that you have not answered.To maximise you marks be sure to answer all 20 questions even if it means guessing several of them.

 

　　Section B–long form questions

 

　　●    Make sure you write something for every part of every question.You are unlikely to be able to finish every part of every question–either because you run out of time or you get stuck–but you can always write something for each part.In the calculations,each part of the workings is marked separately,whether or not you have finished.In the written parts,each comment is marked separately.

 

　　Even if you can only think of one brief comment and get just one mark,that could turn a 49%fail into a 50%pass.

 

　　●    For calculation parts of questions,show your workings neatly.It is the workings that get the marks(whether the final answer is right or wrong)but the marker can only give you the marks if they can follow what you are doing.

 

　　●    For the written parts of questions,make sure that your writing is legible.(Before the exam day,ask someone if they can read your writing easily–if they can’t then consider printing the words!)

 

　　●    For the written parts of questions,write each separate point on a new line(with a line space between points).If you write one long paragraph containing several points,then there is a danger that the marker will miss some of the points.

 

　　●    Allocate your time.You should allow 18 minutes for each 10-mark question,and 27 minutes for each 15-mark question.There are 5 questions and submitting 5 questions all part finished will get you more marks than only submitting 4 questions and missing one question completely.

 

　　●    Start each part of each question on a new page in the answer booklet(if you run out of pages they will provide an extra booklet!).

 

　　That way you can always go back to questions and be able to add more to your answer neatly,if you have time left at the end of the exam.

 

　　You do not have to attempt the questions in order or even every part within a question in order,but do make sure you make it clear at the top of the page which part of which question you are answering.