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technicalpage 57

The other reason for introducing objectivequestions in the Advanced level papers is to helpstudents in terms of time management. In thefeedback ACCA receives from students followingeach exam session, many are of the opinion thatcompleting the Advanced level exams in the timeallowed, particularly for Paper 5, Managing People

and Systems – being a two-hour paper – is verychallenging. Therefore, examining a proportionof the marks available in each exam throughshort-form questions should ease time pressure oncandidates taking these exams.

ra a pa ma k c aACCA has decided to increase the pass mark for theAdvanced level papers for two main reasons. Thefirst reason is to bring the pass mark for Advancedlevel papers into line with the pass mark set for allpapers in the ACCA Qualification – in particular theFundamentals level Knowledge module papers –from which those who have successfully completedthe CAT qualification are exempt.

The other major reason for standardising thepass mark between the Advanced level of theCAT qualification and the ACCA Qualification is toimprove educational validity. By this we mean thatthe pass mark adjustment is likely to increase the

reliability of the pass standard to ensure that thosegaining exemptions from the ACCA QualificationFundamentals level Knowledge module papershave adequate underpinning knowledge of theAdvanced level subjects before they progress tothe Fundamentals level Skills module papers of theACCA Qualification. The change is also intended togive greater assurance to employers that CertifiedAccounting Technicians are sufficiently capable,over the breadth of subject areas examined at theAdvanced level, to undertake their work-basedresponsibilities with the necessary competence.

In addition, as a consequence of introducing an

element of objective testing at the Advanced level,each exam will have an inevitable upward drift inthe pass mark as there is an inherent ‘guess factor’of 25% available within objective testing where onecorrect option from four is to be selected. For thisreason, and because time pressure on candidates isreduced due to a reduction in reading, and becauseless assimilation of information will be necessary,the pass mark of these papers is being increased tohelp compensate for this effect.

ra a a ca y a a aAgain, in response to feedback received fromstudents and tuition providers, many were of the

opinion that the Paper 7 syllabus was very wideas compared with Paper 10, with which there aresome functional links.

Currently, tuition providers and students areindicating that they are finding it more difficult toadequately prepare for Paper 7 than is the casefor Paper 10, and the relative global pass rate forthese two papers have reflected this. Therefore,as a response to this feedback, and to helpdelineate and balance the relative difficulty of thesyllabuses more appropriately, the more advancedareas on short-term financial decision making andcost-volume-profit techniques are being taken out

of the Paper 7 syllabus and being added to thePaper 10 syllabus.

The rationale for reallocating short-termfinancial decision making and cost-volume-profittechniques to Paper 10 from Paper 7 is also justifiedfrom considering the titles of the two papers.Essentially, Paper 7 is about planning and controllingperformance, and therefore it is reasonable thatthese economics-based decision tools fit better in themanaging finances syllabus. Such techniques serveto optimise the use of organisational resources, forthe purpose of maximising shareholder value, whicharguably has more relevance to a finance rather thana performance management syllabus.



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student accountantJaNUaRY 2009

struCturAl ChAnges toinDiviDuAl PAPers

Pap 5From June 2009, CAT Paper 5 will have thefollowing structure:

Section A12 multiple-choice questions worth two markseach. These will include three questions from eachof the first four sections of the syllabus.

Total marks for Section A = 24

Section BThere will be a total of five questions in Section B,including four longer-form questions of 14 markseach, examining each of the first four syllabussections, and also a 20-mark question on health,safety and security, the fifth section of the syllabus.

Total marks for Section B = 76

Note that in overall terms, this new structure stillmakes available 20 marks for each of the fivesyllabus areas, but because there are an additionalthree multiple-choice questions set in Section A forthe first four syllabus sections, knowledge of thesewider sections of the syllabus can be assessed moreextensively by the examiner at each exam session.

Pap 6 (a )From June 2009, the paper will have thefollowing structure:

Section A10 multiple-choice questions of two marks each.


Section BThere are a total of three questions in this section.All of these will be longer-form questions. Question1 will be worth between 30 and 40 marks, andQuestions 2 and 3 will be worth between 20 and25 marks each.


Pap 7From June 2009, the paper will have thefollowing structure:

Section A10 multiple-choice questions worth two marks each. Total marks for Section A = 20

Section BThis section has four questions in total – alllonger-form questions worth 20 marks each.



Section A10 multiple-choice questions worth two marks each.


Section BThere are four questions in this section.Questions 1 and 2 will be both worth 25 markseach. Questions 3 and 4 will be worth 15marks each.



Section A10 multiple-choice questions worth two marks each.


Section BQuestion 1 will be worth between 23 and 27marks. Questions 2 and 3 will be worth between18 and 22 marks each, and Question 4 will beworth between 13 and18 marks.

Total marks for Section B

= 80

Pap 10From June 2009, the paper willhave the following structure:

Section A10 multiple-choice questions worthtwo marks each.


Section BThis section has four questions in total.These will all be longer-form questions,

each worth 20 marks.


ConClusionThe changes planned for the CATqualification with effect from June2009 are intended to helpmanage the transition from thecurrent qualification to thenew qualification,scheduled to belaunched in2011.

The transitional changes to the CATqualification will only affect students sitting theAdvanced level exams. There will be no changeto the structure of the Advanced level as therewill still be five papers that candidates mustpass – three compulsory papers and two fromthree option papers. In addition, there will be noadditional assessment hours for the Advancedlevel, and all syllabuses will remain as they arecurrently, except for some minor changes to bemade to the syllabuses of Paper 7 and Paper 10.

The key changes are therefore that the passmark at the Advanced level papers will increasefrom 40% to 50% to standardise the pass markof this level with the pass mark of the ACCAQualification Fundamentals level Knowledgemodule exams, from which CAT passed finalistsare eligible for exemption.

Second, ACCA will introduce a smallproportion of objective testing to the Advancedlevel exams within Section A of each syllabus, toallow a wider examination of the syllabus at eachexam session and to ease the time pressure oncandidates taking exams at this level.

Finally, in order to better balance thebreadth and depth of the Paper 7 and Paper 10syllabuses respectively, two subject areas dealingwith short-term financial decision making andcost-volume-profit analysis will be moved from thePaper 7 syllabus to the Paper 10 syllabus.

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