Level 3 - Cost & Revenues Exam

Trigger

I sat the C & R exan last night and was not deemed competent. I just wanted to see if anyone else thought the same as me:

- The practice papers on the website and escpecially some of section 2 of the exam bare little resembence to the actual assessment. I know this is something I am going to have to get used to.

- The breakeven question, I think either 2.2 or 2.3 seemed to contradict itself in its wording when asking for th answer in £ and in miles. Did this confuse anyone else or just me..??

Joe Barraclough

doesnt sound that confusing, it sounds like they wanted you to find the breakeven in £ then how much distance must be travelled to meet this £ in miles

SandyHood

The Cost and Revenue CBE has been criticised here and elsewhere for the same reason you have given.

I have not been sympathetic because I do not think the sample exams should be expected to do any more than give you an idea of the level of complexity the examiner has interpreted from the standards, an opportunity to learn about the need to scroll up and down in exams and the topics that will be tested on each task.

I have defended this AAT examiner before, and will do here as well. If the AAT qualification was given to candidates who can pass an exam where all the questions are the same but with different numbers from one exam to another, what would that tell a prospective employer?

The topics don't change, but the questions themselves must change from exam to exam. That proves you understand the subject. It is a higher level of knowledge than being able to answer questions that have been asked time and again, that only demands technique.

I think any issue of wording that prevents you demonstrating your knowledge is an issue worth drawing attention to. Even with thorough checks, rogue questions can get through. I am not sure about the channels to feedback to AAT exams, but can suggest that you tell your college tutor. He or she may well know the right person to tell, if not he or she could ask Clare Cooper who has always been most helpful and informative.

Finally, break even. This exam has regularly tested break even both in the computer based exam and in the paper based predecessor. Typically the question has asked for break even units. If you run a cab company or bus company miles travelled might be a good equivalent to units produced.
Break even in money has been under tested in this exam, more often than not limited to questions where the candidate has to find the number of units needed to break even, and then multiply by the price. There have been rare questions where the break even revenue has needed its own calculation using the contribution to sales (or PV ratio), and I would not be surprised if more of these questions were to appear in the question bank. Few businesses have single products, so it makes a lot more sense to use break even sales revenue to see the point at which sales revenue has covered all the fixed costs.

Trigger, best wishes with your further studies and I am sure that if you can master the subject mater within the Costs and Revenues standards, this will work well with your experience of an exam to help you pass next time.

MarkT

As Sandy says, the CBE is not the same, but quite rightly so, it should not be relied upon to aid passing another exam. I certainly was shocked a little at how the exam was laid out when starting it. But, knew how to do my calculations and apply them to the scenarios.

Admittedly, I did get a D for break even and was slightly annoyed that I quite possibly misread the question and gave the wrong answer, even though my tutor was surprised as she knew I was capable with applying the concept to a variety of scenarios.

Basically put, Sandy's assertion regarding the view employers would take is correct - if we all just remembered parrot fashion layouts and answers, we'd just as well go and find jobs as highly skilled tape recorders.

JennaLou

Trigger wrote: »

I sat the C & R exan last night and was not deemed competent. I just wanted to see if anyone else thought the same as me:

- The practice papers on the website and escpecially some of section 2 of the exam bare little resembence to the actual assessment. I know this is something I am going to have to get used to.

- The breakeven question, I think either 2.2 or 2.3 seemed to contradict itself in its wording when asking for th answer in £ and in miles. Did this confuse anyone else or just me..??

I sat the CRS exam on Monday and passed. The exam questions were in a different format to all the revision material but as others have said as long as you understand the topics and read the question thoroughly you should be OK.

I recall the question you mention and agree it was confusing, it was the only one I struggled on and I thought I was pretty good with breakeven. Did you have the one with fixed costs of £15,000.00 + 50p per mile? I did not get what the question was asking at all. Did it want you to work out the costs for 25000 miles or the number of miles required for the target profit...No idea...