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Paper-specific guidance for reading and planning time

Need for a strategy Much can be said about the principles of how to use reading and planning time (RAPT). When I ask students if they think that RAPT 'is a good thing to have', they invariably answer yes. When I ask why, the most common answer from students whose first language is not English is that it gives them additional time that they need because English is not their first language. The other common answer is that it gives them time to plan that they would not otherwise have. From this I like to make two important points about RAPT: 1. All candidates sitting three-hour exams have this additional time, so there is no relative advantage to be gained which favours some candidates more than others. 2. For most papers, RAPT provides only a fraction of the total time that the examiner expects you to need to spend in reading and planning. This draws me to the conclusion that students need to have a strategy about how they are going to use their RAPT as part of the total reading and planning time they will need and practise it, at every opportunity, before the ACCA exam. By the time you sit a mock exam your strategy should be so well-rehearsed that you do not need to think about it. The mock will provide you with the opportunity to refine your approach for optimal efficiency.

Which strategy?

Written papers Even if all questions have the same mark allocation you should not expect to divide RAPT equally between each question because they have different requirements and demand different approaches. Paper F4, Corporate and Business Law provides a good illustration of this:

Seven of the 10 questions are knowledge-based and without scenario; three require application of the law to scenarios. Looking at an analysis of any recent past exams (which either you, a content provider or tuition provided has prepared), you should have a reasonable expectation of the order in which the knowledge-based exam questions will cover the syllabus. For example, starting with the legal system. With a highlighter pen highlight the syllabus area of each question starting 'In relation to ...' or 'In the context of ...'. For example, 'law of contract', 'non-contractual obligations (tort)', 'company dividends', 'duties of directors', 'contracts of employment'. Now read the requirements of each question and, maybe with different colours or underlining, highlight the instruction (verb) and content(s). The two most common instructions for the knowledge questions are 'describe' and 'explain'. The distinction is

important and should affect how you answer a question. The mark allocation is meant to guide you in determining the breadth and depth of your answer to each part. As you highlight each of these knowledge questions, quickly jot down what immediately occurs to you if nothing occurs to you in 10-15 seconds move on to the next question. For example, you might have (in relation to the English legal system):

(a) describe the structure of the main civil courts; (6 marks) Even if you cannot remember their ranking (structure) you might jot down the civil courts that occur to you Appeal, High, Magistrates, Supreme and you may realise that there should be more but do not spend time racking your brains trying to remember them. You will be expected to think further, before you write, after the RAPT is finished. At this later stage you will also need to decide on an order which describes the structure. Being able to describe the structure with fewer courts mentioned will earn more marks than detailed descriptions of the courts without reference to the structure. The question was not 'describe the main civil courts'.

With practice, reviewing the requirements of the knowledge questions and jotting down the ideas that spring to mind should not take more than seven minutes. This will leave you with half of the RAPT for the scenario-based questions which require a different approach. Try not to spend more time considering only the 'best' questions because this is likely to lead to poor time management (ie spending too long in answering some questions and not giving sufficient time to all). Turn your attention now to Questions 8, 9 and 10, which require legal analysis and application of the appropriate law. Since all are compulsory, you should give a similar amount of your RAPT time to each. Again, start with the requirements and not the detail in the scenario any scenario must be read in the context of the requirement, so it is vital that the requirement is clearly understood. The most common instructions for these questions are explain, discuss and advise. Reading the examiners comments will guide you on how best to approach these questions (eg stating the relevant law before applying it to the scenario). As you read the scenario take care to note if, for example, it is a partnership or a company and what type of partnership or company. (Clearly assuming a partnership to be a company will result in a significant loss of marks.) Remember that reading and planning, and most importantly thinking, do not stop when RAPT is finished. In particular, you might expect to spend a few more minutes planning your answers to each of the case study questions. The last thing you might want to do during RAPT is decide on the order in which you want to answer the questions. Although there is a lot to be said for starting with your 'best' questions, you should take great care that you do not over-run on the time-allocation for any one question. If you have no particular preference, then working through the questions in order is preferable.

Paper F8, Audit and Assurance is usually the only other wholly-written skills paper though a few marks may be available for calculations such as ratios:

Again, start by highlighting the instructions and contents. As questions have different mark allocations, it is worth jotting down how many minutes should be spent on each part.

Some questions, or parts thereof, will need little, if any planning, beyond highlighting. For example:

List the FIVE ethical threats to independence and objectivity and for EACH threat identify ONE example of a circumstance that may create the threat. (5 marks) The instructions 'list' and 'identify' call for brief answers half a mark for each written in an answer will be full marks.

As well as specifying a number of things wanted (eg FIVE and ONE in the requirement above), the current examiner is generally extremely helpful in providing guidance on how marks are to be allocated with notes such as 'The total marks will be split equally between each part'. Use such guidance to make sure that you do not over-plan. There are no additional marks for giving more answer points than is required only the maximum can be awarded for each part. You will simply put yourself under unnecessary time pressure to complete the exam. Something to think about in RAPT that is particularly, but not exclusively, relevant to Paper F8 is whether to set out a written answer in a columnar (tabular) format. By the time you sit the exam you should be so well-rehearsed in analysing question requirements that you can spot when tabulation is, and is not, appropriate.

Tabulation of written answers As a general rule you should tabulate if the question lends itself to being set out in a columnar format. However, if you use a tabular format inappropriately this tends to be a distractor and generally indicates insufficient planning of the question.

If you are asked to 'identify and explain' or 'identify and describe' something like audit risks or controls the identification can be done very quickly and neatly summarised in a sub-heading. Each heading should then be followed immediately with the explanation. You should avoid having what should be headings in one column and a huge explanation in another column. If when you write an answer what is in the left-hand column and what is in the right hand column is 'unbalanced', then chances are it was not appropriately tabulated. A good example of when tabulation may be appropriate is when there is clear linkage in the requirement. So, for example, 'explain how each of the business risk identified in (i) may be linked...' is a clear pointer that your answer to (ii) could be set out in a column against your answer to (i). An auditing question that calls for '(i) weaknesses (or deficiencies), (ii) effect (or implication), and (iii) recommendation' can be set out over three columns and yes, you can turn your paper sideways! Do not try to tabulate things merely because they are connected by the word 'and' such as 'list and explain', 'explain and calculate'.

Computational papers The most computational paper is Paper F6, Taxation for which the most common requirement

is 'calculate'. This paper calls for a completely different approach. How RAPT might be ideally spent will vary from tax variant to tax variant, but here are some suggestions:

You might start by highlighting all the instructions for parts of the questions that call for written answers 'state', 'list', 'advise', 'explain', etc. Note that although these parts may only carry two, three or four marks, taken together they can account for nearly 20% of the available marks. Jotting down the ideas that occur to you during RAPT should help ensure that answer these parts. As the examiners approach is usually quite standardised (ie which taxes will be examined in which question) and calculation requirements also tend to be very similar from exam to exam none of the calculation requirements should come as a surprise to you. In highlighting the requirements for the calculation elements pay particular attention to whether you are asked for the amount on which a tax will be charged (ie a profit or gain) or the amount of the liability (ie after applying the tax to the profit or gain). There is no point wasting time on making calculations of liabilities that are not asked for (and also the examiner wants to see that you read the requirement). What you should not do is start making detailed calculations since all workings must be shown in your answer, it is a waste of RAPT to do any workings that will need to be copied out. Do, however, think about the workings that you will need. For example, if you will need a working for capital allowances, highlight in different colours the different categories of assets (eg FYA, main pool, special rate pool) and think how many columns you are going to need for the working (ie one for each category plus another for the calculation of the allowances). Planning the layout of important workings should be time well spent as messy and ill-thought out workings are likely to waste time (and marks). When working through the scenario of each question use highlights to note important distinctions (eg net vs gross amounts, amounts paid vs accrued, allowable vs disallowable, etc). This is something constructive to do during RAPT while your mind is at its most fresh. You should not have to start rushing to write out answers the minute that RAPT is finished and you are told that you can start writing in the booklet so take a minute at this point to make a note on the question paper the order in which you plan to do each question and when you should start and finish it. For example, if you decide to start in the order Q3 (15 marks), Q2 (30 marks), Q1 (15 marks) and your exam started at 14.00, your timetable would be: Q3: 14.15 14.42 Q2: 14.42 15.36 Q1: 15.36 16.21

Not only do Questions 1 and 2 have the most marks, they tend also to be the most predictable. So, if you are well prepared, starting with these should provide you with the highest mark-earning opportunities for the most routine workings with some thinking time to spare for trickier bits.

Papers with computational and written elements Of the skills papers, Paper F5, Performance Management, Paper F7, Financial Reporting,

and Paper F9, Business Management have had some very low pass rates (less than 30%). What most students tend to like about these papers is that 'they are computational' but this is a fallacy! Candidates should expect a minimum of 35% of Paper F7 and as much as 50% of Papers F5 and F9 to be available for written answers. So the first point to note is that RAPT will not provide you with all the time you will need for reading and planning your answers.

Again, start by highlight the instructions and content. For example: Assess what?... financial performance... Suggest what?... two improvements... Determine what?... optimal production plan... Also, highlight context. For example: ...financial performance... of the divisional manager ...two improvements... to encourage a longer-term view ...optimal production plan... to maximise profit... (remember that this means maximising contribution) Failure to answer a question in context can result in a significant loss of marks.

There should be no surprises in the computational questions you should know exactly how to approach a computational question that calls for a consolidated financial statements (Paper F7), variances calculations (Paper F5), a net present value (Paper F9), etc. Apart from deciding the order in which you plan to answer the questions and making yourself a timetable (see Paper F6 above), the best thing you can do with your time is jot down ideas and highlight points for written elements. If, for example, in Paper F7 there is a ratios question, it will almost certainly call for some interpretation. Although you cannot do this until you have done the calculations (which you should not do during RAPT), you can read the scenario and highlight events or issues that you might expect to have an effect on ratios. Then, when you come to make your analysis you should expect to be able to link and back up your calculations to these events.

Summary Things to do in RAPT:

Relate the marks available to the time that should be spent on each question and part thereof. Plan the order for tackling questions and draw up a timetable. Highlight instructions, content and context in each requirement. Jot down ideas as mnemonics or other shorthand notations. Plan columnar layouts for workings and written answers (where appropriate).

Things not to do in RAPT:

Concentrate only on one question. Write out contents of proformas. Make calculations that you cannot do in your head. Obliterate information with excessive annotations.

Kim Smith, ACCA technical director, Becker Professional Education ATC International