2 general questions

[dbrown007]

Hi,

I've just started working on CA1 for the first time in order to sit the exam in September and I have 2 questions about how it is marked.

1) I've just finished working through the majority of the questions in the bank and thought I'd done rather well, coming up with lots of good points and using a bit of common sense, business knowledge and problem solveing, only to discover that many of the points I raised in my answers were not on the solution. Are the solutions exhastive or for example if this was a real exam, would the marker award points to other relevant answers given?

2) Some questions ask to list things and by looking at the marking scheme it you can tell how many items are required for full marks. So lets say for example the question requires 10 points for 5 marks and instead of 10, I suggest 15 points with maybe 2 or 3 incorrect. Do I get penalised for giving all 10 points required, but also giving some wrong answers (though they may not be wrong dependant upon the answer to 1!!!)?

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

D

 

[Anna Bishop]

Hello

Thanks for your questions.

Question 1

The CA1 marking schedule is very tight and there is very little scope for markers to award bonus marks.

Having said this, all markers mark an initial sample of scripts and then get together to discuss marking queries and to raise solutions that weren't on the original schedule. So the marking schedule will get amended at this stage to take into account sensible alternative solutions.

After this, the schedule is pretty fixed, I think this is a positive thing, since it helps ensure consistency in marking.

The scope for bonus marks is much more restricted than for the ST and SA subjects.

So, the lesson to learn for this is to use the examiners' reports to mark your practice papers and don't assume that you would get marks for points that you have made that aren't in the report. Unless, of course, the report says something like "any suitable example would have been fine".

Question 2

There is never any negative marking in Subject CA1. So if you put 15 things down instead of 10 and some of them are wrong or a bit silly then you don't lose marks.

However, many students are borderline pass/fail, in which case their scripts get marked or looked at a 3rd time. Therefore, you need to be creating the impression that you do know what you are talking about and not just listing everything blindly. For example, try and put the most important point first, try and use headings in your answer, try and use examples, try and use the words in the question (eg small implies lack of diversification, lack of capital, lack of data, vulnerable to volatility etc). This way you are more likely to create the right impression and get into the pass bucket.

Hope this helps!
Anna