acca f5 exam tips june 2017（bpp&kaplan）
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.
bpp
section a（30%）objective test question:
15 questions worth 2 marks each.this will examine all areas of the syllabus.
section b（30%）objective test case question:
3 scenarios,each with 5 sub requirements worth 2 marks each.each requirement will be independent and can therefore be answered in any order.this will examine all area of the syllabus.
section c（40%）constructed response question:
2 questions worth 20 marks each–these can be further broken down into multiple parts of varying length this will examine syllabus areas b-d only.
as any syllabus area could be tested in sections a&b the best advice is to study all areas of the syllabus.
section c:areas expected to be tested in section c include（but are not limited to）planning and operational variances,mix and yield variances and evaluation of the company performance（either as a whole,or on a divisional basis）。
f5 has the following syllabus areas:
a:specialist cost and management accounting techniques
b:decision making techniques
c:budgeting and control
d:performance measurement and control
general advice:
there is no longer any formal reading and planning time at the start of the exam.however,you are strongly advised to plan answers to section c questions before starting to write.ensure that you make reference to the scenario in your answer.finally the examiner has repeatedly stated that she expects students to study broadly for all of the syllabus areas meaning that question spotting is not a good idea,instead students should expect the unexpected.since the introduction of multiple choice questions this advice is even more critical because more topics can be tested.the exam will be approximately 40�lculation and 60%discussion,meaning that it is not sufficient to be able to perform all of the calculations.interpretation and application are crucial,especially in section c.
•sections a and b:costing methods（abc,throughput and lifecycle）and decision making（relevant costing,linear programming and uncertainty）。
section c:transfer pricing,budgeting and advanced variances.