Reading and planning time
| by Gareth Owen 03 Aug 2007 Diploma in Financial Management Relevant to all DipFM papers |
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Reading and planning time (RAPT) is an additional 15-minute time allowance given to all DipFM students taking exam papers from December 2007 onwards.
WHAT CAN YOU DO IN RAPT?
This additional time, to be spent at the beginning of each exam allows you to familiarise yourself with, and to navigate around, the exam paper. During RAPT you can read and understand the questions on the paper and begin to plan your answers before you start writing in your answer books. You can also use calculators to make some preliminary numerical calculations.
RAPT begins when instruction is received from your centre supervisor. You must not open your question paper until advised to do so, and during RAPT you may only write or make notes on your question paper. You must not write anything in your answer booklets until advised to do so by the supervisor.
HOW CAN YOU MAKE THE BEST USE OF RAPT?
RAPT gives you the opportunity to make sure you are clear about what the examiner is assessing. It also allows you valuable extra time for thinking and planning. To use this additional 15 minutes most effectively:
- carefully read and understand all question requirements, making an informed choice about which optional questions to attempt where applicable
- read through and highlight relevant information and financial data, noting why it is included
- take note of the marks awarded for each question and the allocation of marks between different requirements within a question
- start to plan your answers, particularly for discursive questions
- think about the order in which to attempt questions
- make preliminary calculations.
Reading the question requirements
You should use some of the RAPT to carefully read through the main requirements in each question. This is particularly important in exams where you need to decide which questions to answer.
It is particularly important that your choice of questions enables you to give your best performance in the exam. When making your question choices you need to be aware of the mark allocation. A question could look very attractive if you see one or two requirements in areas you have studied and revised. However, if these requirements only attract a few marks - and the main requirement, which attracts the most marks, is one which you feel unprepared for - it may be advisable to attempt another question.
Even where there is no choice, it is still important to read the question carefully so that you understand what the examiner is asking you to do. All too often, examiners’ reports contain references to students who have answered questions they wanted to answer rather than the ones the examiner was asking. The best way to avoid this is to use the RAPT to ensure that you fully understand the verbs used by examiners. For example, if the examiner has asked you to compare and contrast two theories or techniques, they are not looking for a full description or explanation of each, but an explanation of the similarities or differences.
Read through and highlight relevant information and financial data, noting why it is included
RAPT allows you to have a first read through of all the information contained in each question. Having already carefully read the question requirements, you can now highlight any relevant information or data which you feel are of most relevance with reference to each question requirement. You can use calculators during RAPT, which allows you to make quick calculations of key financial or quantitative data contained within the exam paper.
Reading through the paper will allow you to familiarise yourself with, and find your way around, the exam paper. As a result, when you come to writing in your answer book, you will already have a good idea what is relevant information, where it is located, and possibly how to use it.
In case study or scenario questions, RAPT is a particularly good opportunity to familiarise yourself with the facts and data contained within the case study and to decide what information may be the most relevant. RAPT also allows you to gain an initial understanding of the main facts of a case study. This means that when you come to read it again during the exam, things will become much clearer, and more points will become apparent, as happens when watching a film or reading a book for the second time.
As would be expected, most ACCA exam questions contain financial data and information which must be considered and analysed. During RAPT it is useful to think about why such information is included, with reference to the question requirements, and to consider which of this information or data is of particular relevance and how it might be needed to answer the questions.
Take note of the mark allocation between different requirements within questions
You should also use RAPT to help you plan your approach to answering the questions. When you are first reading the question requirements, you should undertake a personal exam SWOT analysis - matching your own strengths and weaknesses to the opportunities available and thereby identify any potential threats to your performance within the exam paper.
Where you have a choice, you should identify those question requirements (and their specific parts) which offer you the best opportunity to earn marks. This involves relating these requirements, and the marks they attract, to your own personal strengths and weaknesses in these subject areas.
By doing this you will make a more informed choice of question, where choice exists. Even where there is no choice it is still important to assess which parts of which question requirements attract most marks and where you need to focus your attention.
Start to plan answers - particularly for discursive questions
If time allows, after reading the paper, it is worth planning answers to certain questions, particularly to longer-form discursive questions. Start by trying to identify the relevant main themes within a question; normally relevant points can be classified under a few broad headings. There is usually insufficient time to identify specific points, but it is very useful to identify the main headings under which to put these points. Identifying these headings or themes also acts as a way for you to structure your answers logically. It will also help to remind you about the types of points you should be making under each heading so that you can maximise the marks you can earn.
Think about the order in which you should attempt the questions
You can answer questions in the order they are presented in the exam paper, but there may be good reasons why you shouldn’t do this. For example:
- There is a question you believe you can answer well, that you have revised for thoroughly and therefore, by answering it first, you get yourself off to a good, confident start.
- There is a question which, if you don’t answer it first, could worry and distract you during the exam, and may be more difficult to answer later on when you become more tired.
- You want to tackle the question with the highest mark allocation, such as a case study question, while you are at your freshest and most disciplined, both to ensure that you perform well and so you leave enough time to attempt all other questions.
- You prefer to start with a shorter question and leave a longer case study question until you have settled into the exam.
There may be other reasons why you might want to tackle a paper in a particular order, so RAPT is the ideal time to make that decision and to decide on your exam strategy.
It is important that you always answer every part of a question before moving on to the next question - clearly labelling all parts of your answer. Ideally, you should answer all parts of a question in order, and there are two main reasons for this. First, there may well be a logical and progressive structure to the requirements of a question, and so answering these in the wrong order could put you at a disadvantage. Second, if your mind is engaged with the particular information contained within a particular question, and you leave it part way through to move on to another, you will need time to get to grips with that information again when you return to that question later. This is not a good idea.
CONCLUSION
ACCA has introduced RAPT in the DipFM exams to help you fulfil your potential. It should not be thought of as an extra 15 minutes of exam time, but rather an opportunity to familiarise yourself with the paper, understand the requirements, make informed choices, and plan ahead.
Making the best use of RAPT, rather than rushing ahead to write down as much as you can in the time allowed, will help you develop a better and more effective exam strategy. It will also help you develop a more relaxed, positive, and controlled approach.