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The CAT Examination Review Board met on 23 December 2004 to give immediate feedback on the December 2004 CAT examinations.

The terms of reference of the Board are:

1. To review the questions, answers and marking schemes after each exam session to ensure that the papers are a fair and reasonable test.
2. To recommend changes to the syllabus and format of the papers.

Members of the CAT Exam Review Board are:
David Collingridge FTC London
David Currington Lancaster & Morecambe College
Mike Nardone AT Emile Woolf Manchester
Peter Stewart BPP London
Patrick Yan Chun Po Jeff Wooller College

Comments on the Papers Overall

Overall, the December 2004 CAT papers were seen as a fair test. It was generally agreed that most papers were fair and covered the syllabus adequately.

Comments on Specific Papers

Paper T3 was praised for being in line with the pilot and June 2004 papers. The reference to periodic weighted average method in question 5 of paper T4 was questioned. However, an ACCA representative confirmed that this is covered in the syllabus.

It was commented that the model answers to paper T5 are brief, and may lead candidates into a false sense of security. It was confirmed by an ACCA representative that, due to a printing problem, the terminology in the profit and loss account in question 2 of paper T6 should have read "dividends" instead of "dividends and dividends receivable". This will be taken into account during the marking process. Paper T7 was generally perceived to be a good paper covering mainstream syllabus areas. It was agreed that Paper T8 was fair and challenging. One board member felt that part (a) of question 4 was vague in comparison to parts (b) and (c). Paper T9 was well received, and it was commented that the breaking down of questions into small steps was welcome and consistent with the style of previous papers. It was suggested that question 1 of paper T10, which was based on a Keynesian economics issue, was very unusual in a managing finance paper despite being part of the syllabus.

All comments were passed to the Examiners for consideration in the marking process. ACCA should like to thank the Board for their helpful and constructive comments.

Your feedback on the December 2004 CAT exam papers was collected via Exam Feedback Forms posted in the Examination Resources section of ACCA's website.

Following on from the success of the June 2004 survey, we had a huge response to the December 2004 session, with over 1000 candidates providing feedback. Your feedback was presented to the CAT Examination Review Board by the Education Liaison Manager and passed to the examiners for consideration during the marking process.

Nine of the 21 candidates who chose to comment on Paper T2 had positive feedback, and 59% felt that the questions were clear. Only 50% of respondents felt that the time allocated for paper T3 was adequate, and 18 out of the 36 candidates who added comments complained about time pressure. There were very mixed opinions regarding Paper T5, with one candidate commenting that the paper was "irrelevant and unpredictable" while another felt that "it was very fair especially if one studied adequately". Nearly 100 candidates commented on paper T7, and 56% of respondents felt that the paper was too difficult. 68% of students with comments regarding paper T9 felt that it could be completed in the time allocated. One candidate commented "easiest of all previous sittings, love the examiner very much". Many candidates commenting on paper T10 felt that questions were not entirely clear. However, 57% felt that the difficulty level of the paper was about right.

Although not every comment can be acted upon, your views are carefully considered and valued by ACCA.

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