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ACCA QUALIFICATION CHANGES FOR 2014

- Guide -

There are a number of changes happening to the ACCA Qualification from 2014 and at BPP we want to ensure you are aware of what is changing and how it will impact your studies.

What has already changed?

New format exams for the Knowledge module papers (F1 – F3) were introduced at the end of February 2014. All our materials were updated, and they will continue to be valid until August 2015.

What is going to change?

There are a number of different things that are going to be happening:
 
 

     1. A change in the exam year for all papers

     2. A change in the exam format of the F4 (Law) exam

     3. A change in the exam format of the other Skills module papers

     4. An increase in the number of sittings

     5. An increase in the use of e-assessment within the qualification

 
 
 
You can find more information on each of these areas below.
A change to the exam year
ACCA are changing the exam year of the papers which means the period of time a syllabus is valid for will be different. The previous syllabus covered the June 2013, December 2013 and June 2014 exams (excluding Tax) meaning the study materials provided were valid for 18 months.
However changes to the syllabus and legislative updates (excluding Tax) will now be made for the December 2014 sitting and will remain valid until the June 2015 exams.
Tax papers

Tax papers will continue to be updated in line with Fiscal Code therefore legislative updates made for the June 2014 exam will remain valid for the December 2014 exams. These will be updated for the June 2015 sitting.

Knowledge Module
The Knowledge Module (F1-F3) papers will continue to have the same syllabus content until August 2015.
F4 (Corporate and Business Law) changes
Post the June 2014 sitting the F4 (Corporate and Business Law) exam will be changing. These changes include:
     • Different question types
     • Length of exam (to a two hour exam)
     • On demand Computer Based Exams (CBE) available from November 2014 (English and Global variants)
The pass mark for the exam will remain at 50%.
Exam format
The new exam format will be split into 2 parts, Section A and Section B.
Section A
Section A will comprise of 25 objective test questions worth 1 and 2 marks (totalling 70 marks), and students must select the correct answer from a list of alternatives:
     • 1 mark questions = 3 alternatives to choose from (20 questions)
     • 2 mark questions = 4 alternatives to choose from (25 questions)
The Computer Based Exam will also include multiple response and multiple response matching questions.
Section B
Section B comprises of 5 longer 6 mark questions and the marks awarded will also reflect the amount of time it takes to complete each question. The exam format will differ depending on whether you sit a Paper Based or Computer Based Exam:
     • Paper Based = short written answers
     • Computer Based Exam = multiple options 1 and 2 mark questions which will allow students to expand their application and analysis
All variants of F4 will see the change in exam format from the December 2014 Paper Based Exam sitting.
Availability of Computer Based Exam (CBE)

In addition to the above, the English (Eng) and Global (Glo) variants of F4 will be available as a CBE from mid-November 2014 and can be sat on demand at the BPP CBE centre. It will continue to be available as a Paper Based Exam at the December 2014 and June 2015 sittings.
Changing exam format for the Skills module
From December 2014 the exam format for other Skills papers will also be changing. Papers F5, F7, F8 and F9 will have two sections to the exams, section A and section B. Section A will include Objective Test (OT) questions, which include Multiple Choice Questions, as well as different question styles in the second part of the exam. F6 will also change format from June 2015 when the new finance legislation is updated.
The exam formats will change as follows:
Paper Old Format New Format
F5 5 x 20 mark questions

Section A has 20 objective test questions worth two marks each.

Section B has three ten mark questions and two fifteen mark questions.
F6

1 x 25 mark question

1 x 30 mark question

3 x 15 mark questions

Section A consisting of 15 multiple-choice questions each worth two marks.

Section B consists of four 10-mark questions, and two longer 15-mark questions.
F7

3 x 25 mark questions

1 x 15 mark question

1 x 10 mark question

20 multiple choice questions in Section A which carry two marks each.

Section B will have three questions, the first two carry 15 marks each and then the final question is a long 30 mark question.
F8

1 x 30 mark question

1 x 10 mark question

3 x 20 mark questions

Section A of the exam comprises eight two mark questions and four one mark multiple choice questions giving a total of 20 marks for that section. Section B contains written questions; there are four 10 mark questions and two longer 20 mark questions.
F9 4 x 25 mark questions

Section A contains 20 multiple-choice questions worth two marks each, (total of 40 marks).

Section B contains five questions: three questions worth 10 marks each and two questions worth 15 marks each, (total of 60 marks).
 
There will be no change in the length of the F5-F9 exams and they will continue to be 3 hours long with 15 minutes of reading time.
Increase in exam sittings
To increase flexibility for both students and employers, ACCA will be introducing 4 sittings per year (September, December, March and June).
There will be a pilot in September 2015 in some markets (yet to be confirmed) and then the first worldwide additional sitting will be from March 2016. There will still be limits on the number of papers that can be sat at a particular sitting, and in a year. More details will follow in 2015, but for now this shouldn’t impact the way that you study for your exams.
Increased use of e-assessment
To increase flexibility and to remain relevant to the skills used in the business world, ACCA are moving towards the use of e-assessment. This means that from 2016, the other Skills papers (F5-F9) will be available as Computer Based Exams however, they will continue to run alongside the Paper Based Exams and will not be available on demand. Further details will follow in 2015. The exam format will not change.
What is BPP doing about the changes?
In order to fully prepare you we are updating all our study materials to reflect the syllabus and legislative changes. In addition we are further developing our comprehensive range of online resources to ensure no matter which exam mode you choose, you can be assured to get the best possible resources and support for exam success.
Have more questions?

We will be running webinars giving an overview of the skills module changes and how to prepare for the new format exams in August and September. For more information, available dates and to register, visit our webpage: www.bpp.com/events

 
 
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