September 2013

Discussion in 'SA6' started by majestics, Oct 8, 2013.

  1. majestics

    majestics Member

    Views from anyone?
    I got a little confused on the Q1, attempted it last. What were the five instruments that the question 1 asked?
     
  2. *2014*

    *2014* Member

    I thought it was confusing too but looking at the examiners' report, the answer wasn't really tailored to the odd situation in the question & just describes the main types of hedging instruments.

    The answers to Q2 seem even stranger - the CFO has suggested the trustees consider assets such as commercial property, private equity & absolute return funds (fairly distinct asset classes in my view). Part (ii) asks for a specific policy on the selection, mgt & review of such investments but the examiners report has a huge list of factors with little clarity as to what they're intending to address while part (iii) which asks for the merits of passive mgt again particularly for the new asset classes hardly mentions the specific issues for those asset classes but includes the well known generic points including issues with passive management of bonds!? Property has a fleeting mention in the examiners report but absolute return doesn't come up at all!

    Are there any plans to introduce ASET for SA6 or, in the meantime, does anyone have any tips on how to figure out what might generate marks?

    Thanks!
     
  3. Gresham Arnold

    Gresham Arnold ActEd Tutor Staff Member

    Hi *2014*, I can't get access to the paper at present for some reason. I'm not aware of any plans to introduce ASET for SA6 I'm afraid - sorry.

    Gresham
     
  4. Colin McKee

    Colin McKee ActEd Tutor Staff Member

    Hi
    I agree that the solution to this question was extremely long and had loads of stuff that seemed high level and not tailored to the (very specific) question. This is unusual for SA6, and the examiner do usually deal with the specifics of the question in great detail. I have no real explanation of why this question is so different, except that the examiners wanted to leave the report open so that they could award marks for any sensible comment that a student made. This is commendable, but as you say it doesnt help future students to identify the best line of attack for a past paper question and to learn from the examiners report.
    Due to the low numbers of SA6 students there are no plans for an ASET at the moment.

    (I also agree that the ER solution for Q1 was a strange too as it did not deal with the complex environment that the question seemed to set before presenting the instruction words. Again I have no explanation, but I can confirm that this is unusual in SA6 exams in general.)
     

Share This Page