F5 students wrote: 1. What is the format of F5 exam? 2. Will the change in exam format mean that there will be one question from each syllabus area in future? 3. How many marks will be given for calculations and how many for discussion? 4. How much content is expected for interpretation? 5. Will students be awarded marks for sound interpretation of incorrect figures? 6. No weightings are given to areas of the syllabus - is it likely though that some areas are not as examinable as others? For example, could you envisage a full 20 mark question on backflush accounting or would this feature for fewer marks? 7. Is there an overall theme to the paper? 8. There is a lot in the syllabus that does not seem to get examined, for example, return on investment vs residual income and transfer pricing. Is it better for students to concentrate on these topics? ACCA wrote:1.From December 2007 to December 2008 exam, the paper had 4 compulsory questions of 25 marks each. This is changing with effect from June 09 exam. From June 09 onwards, the paper will have 5 compulsory questions of 20 marks each. The change aims to keep individual questions slightly shorter and less complex therefore more manageable for students. However the style of the exam remains the same with a mix of computations and discussions Students will still be expected to know the implications of the calculations they have made. 2.It is expected that with the change in the format, there will be at least a question from each syllabus area 3.Most exams will have approximately 50% of the marks for calculations and 50% for discussion. Whenever a student is studying this paper they would be well advised to carefully consider the meaning of the numbers that they have calculated as there will always be a substantial number of marks for discussion 4.Generally bullet points or short sentences suffice. Students should be guided by the number of marks available and not write two pages for four marks! 5.Yes, own figure interpretations will be given credit. 6.All areas of the syllabus are examinable. While in some cases it may be easy to come up with a 20 mark question in one syllabus area alone, in many other cases this may not be possible and therefore a single question may be drawn from different areas of the syllabus. For example back-flush may cover across 2 syllabus areas i.e. cost accounting techniques (numerical) and performance measurement (narrative) 7.The paper’s title is performance management and therefore this is its theme. Most questions will link to the performance management aspects. For example in the pilot paper, the ABC question asked for calculations but went on to ask what a switch to ABC would mean for pricing and profitability. Being able to assess the performance if a business, is a central skill in F5. 8.Yes. Some areas tend to be less frequently examined than others but that does not mean they should be ignored. Students are always advised to study the whole syllabus regardless of when a particular topic was examined.