AAT Level 4 Synoptic Exam

AlisonSwanson

Just a reminder - you are not allowed to discuss live assessment content.

AAT_Team

As @AlisonSwanson has rightly pointed out - you are forbidden to share or discuss live assessment content. Further contributions of this nature will be removed and authors may be investigated. Do not do it.

gagan

Sorry for the messages @AAT_Team

Multiplicator

yes I thought censorship might suddenly be used to cover up expressed and reasoned dissatisfaction over level 4 - the course content and the exam which doesnt seem to test course content but tests something completely new – undeclared, untested and unpiloted

so ..... investigation ?- yes please
we have been asking for one for a few months

specifically - 1.on the decisions to institute a final exam - 2.the lack of assessment in its content or standard before its introduction. 3.the marking standards for the new exam compared to previously 4. the lack of ensuring that the computers could actually do what was asked of them without crashing. 5. the failure to ensure continuity with previous exams 6.the failure to warn candidates that the exam was new and untested - and whether this lack of information, constitutes a valid claim under the Misrepresentation Act 1967 to reclaim costs. 7 The fact that the candidates were taken thro three or four years of a course and expense and then failed without warning at the last hurdle having been encouraged thro the modules by high marks

so yeah roll on the investigation ! Oliver Dearlove

oh goodness me - you havent lost your sudden love of investigation have you ?

Lindi

It does seem a little unfair. But I understand that the exam is live and users can't give exact information.

I do wish they paid this much attention to our qualms though, as it really does feel like we're fighting a losing battle sometimes.

My two bug bears are hardly any study support available on Level 4 and exam does not allow enough reading time. If we were prepared better for this exam then naturally there would have been better results. Even tutors didn't know what they should be teaching as no-one knows what to expect.

And on the time, I only had 10 minutes to check through 6 extensive writing tasks when I re-sat my exam the other night, I made sure as I was going through that I read and understood each question as well as possible under pressurised conditions but still did not have the time to check through my answers.

So.... if the AAT Team is reading this, please could you log it as constructive as it really is unfair, expensive and emotionally destroying.

AAT_Team

Multiplicator said:

yes I thought censorship might suddenly be used to cover up expressed and reasoned dissatisfaction over level 4 - the course content and the exam which doesnt seem to test course content but tests something completely new – undeclared, untested and unpiloted

so ..... investigation ?- yes please
we have been asking for one for a few months

specifically - 1.on the decisions to institute a final exam - 2.the lack of assessment in its content or standard before its introduction. 3.the marking standards for the new exam compared to previously 4. the lack of ensuring that the computers could actually do what was asked of them without crashing. 5. the failure to ensure continuity with previous exams 6.the failure to warn candidates that the exam was new and untested - and whether this lack of information, constitutes a valid claim under the Misrepresentation Act 1967 to reclaim costs. 7 The fact that the candidates were taken thro three or four years of a course and expense and then failed without warning at the last hurdle having been encouraged thro the modules by high marks

so yeah roll on the investigation ! Oliver Dearlove

oh goodness me - you havent lost your sudden love of investigation have you ?

Hi Oliver,

You are welcome to voice your dissatisfaction and feedback both positive and negative on your experience with AAT. As we have said many times and communicated via official channels, we absolutely take all feedback very seriously.

However, you are not permitted to share or discuss content from live assessments. Thank you.

CSan89

Censorship seems to have only been used on live assessment information as most of the thread is still readable, so I don't believe that this has been used to cover up the resentment that some students have towards the synoptic assessments.

I failed my first sitting for the level 4 synoptic and passed on my second sitting with 79%. I do believe that the main reason that people struggle with this exam is due to it being 4 written questions out of the 6. Written questions have always been the worst for overall marks in all of the level 4 exams but tend to be worth around 20-30% of the overall marks available. This exam is more around 70% and with only 100 marks available dropped marks are quite costly.

From looking at the examiners report and the new mark scheme, it seems to be that the higher marking brackets for the written questions are only available if you reference your answer with the company in the pre release material.
This is what I did and increased my mark from 64% to 79%.

One reason for the change is due to the governments change in the way they want courses to be run. (This is why there aren't AS levels anymore and GCSE & A-levels now have exams rather than coursework.)
Personally I think that coursework was too open to cheating anyway, as tutors were able to look at work multiple times to help with 'guidance' before the final report was handed to AAT.

It would have been nice not to have been a guinea pig for the first year of the synoptic but i do now believe that there is enough information and guidance to be able to study for this exam and pass.

Good Luck to those of you taking the exam this week.

AAT_Team

Lindi said:

So.... if the AAT Team is reading this, please could you log it as constructive as it really is unfair, expensive and emotionally destroying.

Hi Lindi,

We read everything on this forum. All feedback regarding live assessments should be sent to our dedicated support team (customersupport@aat.org.uk) so it can be handled. If you have done so already then thank you, if not then please forward your messages on with your membership ID.

Kind regards.

nicolaolearyX

Does anyone know how to stop getting emails for this thread

AAT_Team

nicolaolearyX said:

Does anyone know how to stop getting emails for this thread

Top right corner > cog icon > edit profile > notification settings

Multiplicator

Lindi - they read it but they dont read it
You must have realised this by now - this is AAT !

//It would have been nice not to have been a guinea pig for the first year of the synoptic but I do now believe that there is enough information and guidance to be able to study for this exam and pass.// - yes it would have been nice - as I could have made an informed choice about whether to spend £2,000 being experimented on

// I do now believe that there is enough information and guidance to be able to study for this exam and pass.// Have you read what you have just written ? - that there wasnt before hand - enough information and guidance to be able to pass the exam. Incredible.

As for - no one has ever designed a final exam before and that accounts for what happened - really what rubbish ! All my A levels were final exams - There have been final exams for at least 200 years

CSan89

For the first couple of sittings I don't think that the marking structure of the questions were explained well enough, however since late aug/early sept, since they showed us how each tier of marks is allocated for the two mock exams, I believe that it has helped show how to achieve the higher marks and thus pass the exam.

Not sure where your last statement about "no one has ever designed a final exam before" has come from as I only explained one reason why it went from a project to a synoptic exam.

I can understand the frustration of not passing the exam, especially when all the other exams I passed first time and in level 4 all but one of my exams were above 80% like many others on this thread.

I spent about £2500 for level 4 (including resit costs), but with the opportunities that AAT has given me, failing one exam won't stop me from achieving my dream goal.

Multiplicator

// Not sure where your last statement about "no one has ever designed a final exam before" has come from as I only explained one reason why it went from a project to a synoptic exam.//

why - from the very mouth of one Mark Farrar CEO of this shower who told me that the final exam could not be piloted as no one had ever done one before. - but he did add that the examiners said they could do the exam !

I had asked Mark in a previous email - why variability of results from one exam to a later one had not been minimised. The results from one year were markedlly different to a later on - and he said it was not possible to do that or pilot the final because it hadnt been done before.

Incredible. thank you for asking where it came from
This led me to reasonably conclude that candidates had been misled because as you have spotted - final exams have been held before, lots of times in lots of other subjects as well as accountancy.

In this same email to Mark Farrar I pointed out an exam should have content validity - that for an example an insurance law exam should test insurance law and not family. - that results from one year should roughly corrspond to the previous as the candidates were likely to be the same quality. - and that if one examiner thought a script good then another one should ( minimise inter observer variability) -and that if a candidate passed one exam one year he should generally pass the exam a year later.

Mark replied my email was a bit of a hard read.

San thank you for asking me what the recognised and agreed qualities of an exam should be and how AAT's new exam has signally failed in important characteristics.

at my home base my colleagues agree that if for example you had a theatre and sterilisation course that only 10% passed first time that there would anxious questions about whether there was something wrong with the course or wrong with the exam or both. There would be no bleating - just action to ensure that people were trained properly

Oliver Dearlove

tinkerbell0406

Hi all resat mine today, fingers crossed. I felt that the questions were a little less misleading. But i might not say that on the 19th Jan.
I think i got all the bones ti the answers but i don't think i put enough meat on them....if you know what i mean.
Good luck to all and happy hols

hangawi74

Just wondered if it was similar to the practice test on line and the sams I have mine tomorrow :'(fingers crossed and best of luck to everyone

rabbia

Hello all I read all of comments. I m also in a same boat like others. I pass all of my exam in first go with 80% or above but this exam I failed 3 time.in two attempt got 60% but in third and final which was in sept and which was I think went very well got 44%. Really shocked to see my result and then decided enough is enough so I quit and decided not to study any more. I will not recommend to any one to do aat. I don't know who design this exam which is totally baseless. I m not sitting first time in exam. I m 30 year mother of 3. Graduate in economics. I passed toughest exam in my life but this one really totally no sense at all.even my teachers were shocked as I was fail because I was only one in my class( full time study) who pass and completed successfully all of exam. Aat should do some thing they should realise their mistake how they play with people future. I only jumped in aat because of my kids and better future but ended with depression and tension. I will not recommend to my kids to do aat in their future life.

gagan

@rabbia It's all because of poor planning. Aat didn't expect failure rate, demotivated students before planning

Charley1995

I've got mine this afternoon, its my first time sitting this exam! Is it similar to the mocks? Anyone got any last minute study tips?
Best of luck to everyone!

CSan89

@Charley1995

In the written questions, try to back up your answer to the company in the pre release material and try not to 'waffle on' when writting. Try to stay on point as the time limit can creep up on you.

Good Luck

Lindi

@Multiplicator your last paragraph is well said. But unfortunately, as AAT are a registered charity they have a lot more boxes to tick to keep their reputation in the green. I think we've all expressed our dissatisfaction on numerous occasions, but it does not look like they're listening. To those students who have passed with better results the second or third time around, I fully believe you do understand more, the more you review the material.

The real issue here was that when I, for instance, had the chance to get this training in college, the tutors did not know what to teach us, they couldn't even give us examples or materials and there was little lesson prep done for this module. Internal controls weren't even on there. And I felt that for a massive exam, so heavily weighted for Level 4, this should have been the level which had the most resources available.

Needless to say nearly everyone who failed recently got 80+ in all their other exams, so if AAT expected them to know the subject matter and felt there was no further resources required they should have reviewed the exam content and marking strategy as we all achieved a big fat fail with percentages in their 50's and 60's.

How do you justify that? How will they respond? Oh, sorry the response was that they are sorry we failed but best of luck next time....

sharpy92

I failed the synoptic earlier this year with 64% (my first ever fail and all other exams sat passed with over 80%). Obviously this upset me and did cause me to lose faith, however, my tutor at college has been amazing.

I begrudgingly re-sat the exam yesterday and can confirm that it felt a lot better than the first time. I believe the writing questions are worded better than previously and as I really struggled in the first exam going back over the same questions helped.

My main advice would be to really focus on Budgets, the affects of amending a budget and positive and negatives regarding certain types of budgets. I also found looking into SWOT analysis regarding strengths and weaknesses of a company helped massively as on the practice papers it focuses a lot on identifying weaknesses.

Fingers crossed for a pass result in January!

Multiplicator

Rabbia - you have got so far - the final one in L4 - I wouldnt give up. All you need to do is get the final synoptic and then you need never post on this AAT thread again !

I dont know if you have done this in costing - you have spent the major part of the cost of the project and they are irrecoverable. This happened historically inn the cancelling of the TSR2 project in 1964 ( they scrapped a flying proto-type).

Lindi - I understand your dissatisfaction. It is obvious that the team censoring this thread - listen very carefully to anything about the exam and delete it, threaten the student with condign punishment and do nothing else. They listen but they dont listen.

There are plenty of complaints here which have been ignored and I think on independent review will be deemed not to have been adequately dealt with but that is in the future and meanwhile we both have an exam to pass !

student

I have sat this exam 3 time and every time failed, the longer it goes by the more little I can remember, as well I have been detached from the academical environment(college) for 8 month now. so I have completely left it and I am not decided to do any more attempt, since I do not know what to do.I have passed my all other exams first time with the mark 82% with two of them more than 90%

Multiplicator

Both Rabbia and Student - have paid, done the course, failed two or three times and stopped, and made posts that show they are demotivated and demoralised

I think therefore it is a valid conclusion to say that undergoing level 4 AAT has damaged them.

You may well wonder if that is the function of an educational course. ("I did A level French and the effect is that I never want to say 'Bonjour' ever again in my life") - I say it is not.

(The course team will of course read this feedback and do absolutely nothing about it)

Multiplicator

Have a good Christmas everyone
Those who have failed and are retaking ( er sorry, 'are not yet competent' oops! ) should swig more gluhwein and dundee cake. It wont help you to pass but at least it is money well spent and you'll feel better about it all.

Chrissie Joke ?
AAT - roll up for the last AAT weekly 2017 - in your email box as we speak. And what do we read?

"It's leadership that causes issues within sales industries not targets. Poor leadership and a target will lead to unethical behaviours and customers that are poorly treated and
ill-advised"

Surely not ! Surely AAT havent got an insight into what they are doing to their own Level 3 and 4 students ?

Toodle pip!

Lindi

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you have a happy cheery time and don't stress about things too much, for many of us the exam is a done deal and we can't do anything until results day :-)

Sarahs152

Does anybody know if there will be a delay in receiving the results due to the Christmas break?

Mcalpin

Mcalpin

Hi. I am taking my synoptic assessment in February. Does anyone know if per-released material will get changed or can I familiarize myself with the current one on the website?

sharpy92

Just had my results from my second sitting on the synoptic. Failed first time with 64% which I expected as I felt rubbish coming out of it, this time felt 100 times more confident and only got 65%, has anyone actually passed this? I genuinely feel like giving up now, I am not re-sitting it.