FAE September 2012

kitten_k

TD101 wrote: »

I'm very surprised that there is not more frustration about the fact that we have no proper opportunity to appeal our marks.

Surely the least the Institute can do is stand over the marks awarded and if that comes at a financial cost to the student then so be it.

I feel it shows a complete lack of confidence the Institute has in their own system. Any thoughts?

As far as I know each paper is double marked and if there is a discrepancy it is checked a third time.

Therefore I don't think an appeal would be very successful as the same conclusion would probably be reached.

This is probably why there is no appeal option this year.

kitten_k

C1987 wrote: »

Fae 2012 board report now available on cai website

I can't find it, would you be able to post a link.

C1987

http://students.charteredaccountants.ie/Student-Information/Exams/Papers-Solutions-Reports/Solutions/FAE-New/

kitten_k

Thanks C1987

C1987

kitten_k wrote: »

As far as I know each paper is double marked and if there is a discrepancy it is checked a third time.

Therefore I don't think an appeal would be very successful as the same conclusion would probably be reached.

This is probably why there is no appeal option this year.

A person in my work sat his FAEs in 2010 and passed his Core but failed the audit elective, he got his elective remarked, took a few months but he ended up passing it - got his pay backdated and appeal fee refunded and booked to go to Oz (he was already time qualified)

kitten_k

Can't open that report for some reason!

C1987

here you go

kitten_k

Thanks

jamesgreenpark

not working!

C1987

jamesgreenpark wrote: »

not working!

You have to log in to look at it - I have attached it above but

jamesgreenpark

on page 13 it mentions 'candidates preparing for future diets of the FAE'

Should read 'candidates preparing for future torture of the FAE'

mydiscworld

I wish they'd break down the fail rates by the 6 indicators.

I'd expect BL and PM to have highest fail rates every year since 2010.

mydiscworld

Pass rates for Core, 2nd & more attempts, jumped from 59.6% in 2011 to 70% in 2012.

Kind of wish I'd attempted the Core for the 3rd time now...

TD101

I understand that the papers were marked in a similar manner for the 2011 sitting (i.e. at least double marked) and yet a number of people were successful with their appeals.

Regardless of how many times the papers were marked, the Institute should be confident enough in their marking to demonstrate to the individual the basis for their failure. Refusing to facilitate this evidences a considerable level of arrogance.

Noni Goggins

The Board report highlights the fact that the number of students taking APM almost tripled from 2011 to 2012 with the pass rate for the subject declining from 82% to 70%.

I heard on the grapevine that a lot of people in Big 4 audit departments decided to take APM this year because it was perceived as being the 'handy' elective. Looks like they're not as smart as they think they are because I'd wager there is a direct correlation between their increased participation in this subject and the declining pass rate.

It may be time for the auditors to go back to what they do best next year and leave APM to the pros in the advisory departments :P

reo49

Noni Goggins wrote: »

The Board report highlights the fact that the number of students taking APM almost tripled from 2011 to 2012 with the pass rate for the subject declining from 82% to 70%.

I heard on the grapevine that a lot of people in Big 4 audit departments decided to take APM this year because it was perceived as being the 'handy' elective. Looks like they're not as smart as they think they are because I'd wager there is a direct correlation between their increased participation in this subject and the declining pass rate.

It may be time for the auditors to go back to what they do best next year and leave APM to the pros in the advisory departments :P

I wasn't going to bother posting in this thread again as I really feel for the people who failed and I know some people didn't appreciate my posts in the past, including yourself "Noni"!

However, the above post has really antagonised me. I just wanted to let you know that I am in audit and I not only passed but placed. I am not bragging, I am just merely trying to shoot down your outrageous accusation above. I know a number of other people in audit who also passed APM.

I think that a lot of people from industry may have sat APM and due to the lack of study leave may have fell down which could have affected the pass rate! I am sure this is only one of the many reasons that the pass rate dropped.

notanocelot

reo49 wrote: »

I wasn't going to bother posting in this thread again as I really feel for the people who failed and I know some people didn't appreciate my posts in the past, including yourself "Noni"!

However, the above post has really antagonised me. I just wanted to let you know that I am in audit and I not only passed but placed. I am not bragging, I am just merely trying to shoot down your outrageous accusation above. I know a number of other people in audit who also passed APM.

I think that a lot of people from industry may have sat APM and due to the lack of study leave may have fell down which could have affected the pass rate! I am sure this is only one of the many reasons that the pass rate dropped.

Many congrats, reo! That's brilliant.
I do think it's possible that audit people switching to APM could have contributed, but definitely not because auditors are stupid - I passed audit myself.

BESman

notanocelot wrote: »

Many congrats, reo! That's brilliant.
I do think it's possible that audit people switching to APM could have contributed, but definitely not because auditors are stupid - I passed audit myself.

There was a definitely a perception out there that APM was easier than audit and tax. The simple maths suggest that the additional people switching over or choosing it for the first time have brought the pass rate down. The lesson to be learned is that nothing at FAE level is easy.

notanocelot

Reading through the report now I have no idea how I passed Business Leadership.

Nervous Nigel

I bet there are hundreds of posters on here who placed...

notanocelot

Nervous Nigel wrote: »

I bet there are hundreds of posters on here who placed...

Do you have any basis for that accusation?

hooch-85

notanocelot wrote: »

Many congrats, reo! That's brilliant.
I do think it's possible that audit people switching to APM could have contributed, but definitely not because auditors are stupid - I passed audit myself.

I failed audit twice, changed to APM this year and passed first go. A mate of mine did the same thing. I worked in audit in practice. I would believe that APM is easier than audit, mainly because the amount of material you need to know in APM is about 1/3 of what you need to know for audit.

Nervous Nigel

notanocelot wrote: »

Do you have any basis for that accusation?

That there's a greater propensity for anonymous people to spoof on websites?

It's fairly obvious that some people have thought "Jesus, APM's the easy one", switched, and dragged the pass rate down.

Noni Goggins

In fairness to Reo, he / she was the guy / gal on here that passed his / her mocks earlier in the year so I always thought that he / she would be in with a good chance of placing.

Speeking of which. Why wasn't the place list put up on the CAI website similar to that done for CAP2 this year?

At least that would give us a better idea who this Reo character is!

notanocelot

Nervous Nigel wrote: »

That there's a greater propensity for anonymous people to spoof on websites?

It's fairly obvious that some people have thought "Jesus, APM's the easy one", switched, and dragged the pass rate down.

You said that hundreds of people on the thread probably placed, insinuating that the only person who actually said they placed is a liar.

APM pass rates are irrelevant.

Nervous Nigel

notanocelot wrote: »

You said that hundreds of people on the thread probably placed, insinuating that the only person who actually said they placed is a liar.

APM pass rates are irrelevant.

Let me guess...reo's your mate?

Don't get your knickers in a twist...I'm entitled to my view and in my view reo's a windup merchant.

notanocelot

Nervous Nigel wrote: »

Let me guess...reo's your mate?

Don't get your knickers in a twist...I'm entitled to my view and in my view reo's a windup merchant.

I don't know anybody here IRL.

It's not good netiquette to assume someone's a liar without any basis for that.

jamesgreenpark

I read the 2012 Board report there over lunch, and I can say as someone who had to repeat core, the board report spells out how to pass this exam.

During the summer, I printed both the 2010 and 2011 reports and read them top to bottom, highlighting everything the examiner said, and assessing the pitfalls identified in the commentary.

When I read the 2011 report in the summer, I noticed that last year when the examiner commentary mentioned 'many weaker candidates failed to...', or 'most candidates didn't......' I was in that boat, making the common mistakes. I worked hard on trying to cut out these mistakes and common pitfalls that the examiner had identified by taking his advice, and this made me a much stronger FAE candidate.

Reading through the board report this year, I can see that my answers from this year were for the most part bang on the money, and I attribute that to focusing on the board report, i.e. by assessing what the examiner wants, and giving it straight back to him in the exam.

Nervous Nigel

jamesgreenpark wrote: »

I read the 2012 Board report there over lunch, and I can say as someone who had to repeat core, the board report spells out how to pass this exam.

During the summer, I printed both the 2010 and 2011 reports and read them top to bottom, highlighting everything the examiner said, and assessing the pitfalls identified in the commentary.

When I read the 2011 report in the summer, I noticed that last year when the examiner commentary mentioned 'many weaker candidates failed to...', or 'most candidates didn't......' I was in that boat, making the common mistakes. I worked hard on trying to cut out these mistakes and common pitfalls that the examiner had identified by taking his advice, and this made me a much stronger FAE candidate.

Reading through the board report this year, I can see that my answers from this year were for the most part bang on the money, and I attribute that to focusing on the board report, i.e. by assessing what the examiner wants, and giving it straight back to him in the exam.

This.

Take the KPI indicator. It said (basically) to comment on the KPIs provided and to suggest appropriate frequencies.

That's what I did.

As I left the hall, I could hear people saying how they wrote about the importance of KPIs and how they suggested alternative KPIs.

On day one when the case basically said "we do not want tax advice" I heard people saying how they'd written about tax anyway "because surely there has to be tax".

Avoiding doing mad stuff like the above is a big part.

Johnny_Fontane

Nervous Nigel wrote: »

I bet there are hundreds of posters on here who placed...

I know at least 7 people who came tied 11th.