Breadth of Answers

[Lauren Culligan]

Hi,

Does anyone have any tips on how best to structure your answer to get the most breadth of answers? When doing exam questions I keep answering the question directly and then feeling stumped on what else to say. For example, in April 2021 Paper 1 Question 8:

A large benefit scheme invests in a wide range of assets. The current property portfolio held by the benefit scheme consists of direct investment in offices, shops and warehouses but not in residential property.
(i) Discuss how the scheme managers could gain exposure to residential property, without making a direct investment.

My immediate answer was pooled property funds, and then I wasn't sure what else could be said. But the marking scheme talks about how marketable, liquid these funds are, lack of control, whether they're open or closed ended, management fees to be paid, etc.

I would never have thought to go into detail on aspects of the funds as the question only asks how can they gain exposure to residential property and not what the characteristics of the suggestion would be.

Is there any particular way I should be thinking about answering questions to ensure I don't lose out on marks for these answers, or is the best solution just to write all info that relates to the initial answer, even if it doesn't feel like you're answering the question?

Thanks!

 

[Lindsay Smitherman]

Hi - make sure to pay close attention to the command verb of the question. It doesn't actually ask 'How can they gain exposure?', it says 'Discuss how ...'

A 'Discuss' question will normally be looking for a range of viewpoints and ideas, which would sometimes include pros and cons. This particular question isn't asking us to suggest how to gain exposure, but to 'discuss' it. So we can think about what might be good or not so good about the potential options, to help expand the answer according to the mark availability (for 4 marks, best to aim for 8 distinct ideas).

This particular question is about investment, so SYSTEM T should be a fairly obvious starting point to help with idea generation. This would give us 'M' for marketability (and the closely related idea of liquidity), and 'E' for expenses / expertise, for example. There is also opportunity to use understanding about pooled funds (collective investment schemes) from the Core Reading to help expand the ideas - what we do know that might make these attractive (eg diversification) or not so attractive (eg lack of control).

 

[Lauren Culligan]

That's really helpful! Thanks so much

 

[Bill SD]

Hi - make sure to pay close attention to the command verb of the question. It doesn't actually ask 'How can they gain exposure?', it says 'Discuss how ...'

A 'Discuss' question will normally be looking for a range of viewpoints and ideas, which would sometimes include pros and cons. This particular question isn't asking us to suggest how to gain exposure, but to 'discuss' it.

Thanks very much, Lindsay. Any idea why April 2022 Paper Two Q1(i) asks: "Discuss why TT may have decided to only offer this single product." yet the Examiners Report treats it like a 'Suggest with reasons' question -ie. there are no differing points of view such as disadvantages of only offering this single product.

 

[Bill SD]

and Q1viii (Suggest how TT could raise additional capital if needed) would arguably better suit a 'Discuss' command verb since the mark scheme expected detail (like the likelihood, timing) for each suggested capital source.
I'm just wondering whether different examiners interpret the command verbs in differing ways (which reduces the usefulness of us paying attention to command verbs).

 

[Lindsay Smitherman]

Yes, command verb choice is perhaps something of an art rather than a science! However, it is still worth acknowledging which verb has been used and understanding what that is defined as looking for, whilst also paying attention to the number of (half) marks available when deciding the amount of depth and detail required.

Be careful not to interpret a 'Discuss' question as necessarily asking for pros and cons. You need to answer what is being asked. The question that you refer to [ie A22 P2 Q1(i)] hasn't asked for the disadvantages, only for possible reasons why the single product has been offered. If the question said 'Discuss the decision to only offer a single product', that would indicate the need to cover both the good things and bad things about that decision - but that's not how the question is worded. The solution does include lots of different viewpoints and angles: maybe it is because of this, maybe it is because of that, etc etc. 'Discuss' can simply be looking for more detail on each idea: don't just suggest a possible reason briefly and then move on to the next one, provide a little more detail on each - whilst (as always) ensuring that there is sufficient breadth, ie covering as many possible reasons as you can. [The 10 marks available is also an indication that there is opportunity to explore some of the ideas in a little more detail.]

In terms of Q1(viii) on that same paper, if you look at our ASET product for that exam you will see that we have set the answer out as a 'Suggest' solution, demonstrating that it was possible to follow the command verb and score fully.