Top 10 Ways: How to Pass Exams?

- Warning: Do not try this at home, for the actors and participants below are either professionals or desperate last-minute people. Viewers are advised to use discretion, if they want to maintain sanity.

Desperate times, students take desperate measures. They will do anything to get that magical certificate, professional degree in ACCA. Well, its worth the investments. In fact, many take a progressive step in their career by obtaining a University BSc (Honours) degree with Oxford Brookes. Many Oxford Brookes-ACCA Degree Holders said their career and salaries have increased dramatically, between 20% to 80% upon qualification. No wonder, many want to pass the exams.

Career Advancement Opportunity: Finish F-Level, then do a research Degree with Oxford Br.

Exams are a time of great stress. Especially in East Asia, where the pressure is on to achieve sky-high results.Whatever the cultural differences, all students have their own rituals and superstitions, whether it is playing a lucky song, eating special food or even wearing a pair of lucky pants.

Here are some of the ways that exam-crazy students from across Asia ensure they pass with flying colours.

And there is a comment form at the end to let us know your favourite exam rituals and special ways of preparing.


  1. How KitKat got lucky.

Pic 01 KitKat in Japanese sounds like "surely winning" and has become a good omen for exams

Traditionally, Japanese students would eat Katsudon before or on the day of an exam, comprising a warm bowl of rice topped with egg and a deep-fried pork cutlet.

The dish name's likeness to the word "katsu", meaning "winning" is thought to bring students luck.
But KitKat in Japan has also been marketing itself as a bringer of good luck.

Pronounced as "kitto katto", the chocolate's name is similar to the phrase "kitto katsu", meaning "surely winning", making it a good candidate for a good luck charm.

2. An apple a day.

 

Pic 02:  Image caption Fruit of learning: Hong Kong students eat apples before exams

Canteens across Hong Kong University campuses serve apples, and a variety of apple dishes, in the run-up to the exam period.

"The pronunciation of apple in Chinese is "ping guo", which also means "safety". So it's considered that you will safely pass the exam," says Chong Wang, from Nanjing in China.

3. Avoid washing your hair.

Pic 03: Bad hair day: Rinsing away any chance of success

In your vicious cycle of all-night revision, microwave food and highlighter pens, you may have forgotten to have a shower.

But not to worry - in South Korea, it's thought that washing your hair could wash all the knowledge out.

"There was one boy in our class who didn't wash hair before exams. The rest of the time he was very clean, but once you came to know his exam ritual, you didn't want to go near him," said one student about a classmate. 

 
4. Eat Cashew nuts before the exams.

Pic 04: For Chinese students, the name for cashew nuts is like "wish to pass"

Around a month before exams start in Hong Kong, students in clubs, societies and residential halls, will gather for "superpass", or ging guo.

"Superpass" is a series of activities aimed at helping you pass your exams with a top score. The first part is the superpass dinner, which is usually held at a Chinese restaurant.

It's important that students eat pork cubes with cashews, one of the signature superpass dishes. The Chinese word for "cashews" sounds like the word for "wish to pass", and "pork cubes" sounds like "desire for a distinction".
Homophones, or homonyms, play a big part in ritual and superstition in many East Asian languages.

5. A slice of luck

Pic 05: Cutting a roast pig is a part of many ceremonies in Hong Kong, including "superpass"

Returning to the hall, it's time for everyone to have a turn at slicing through a giant roast pig, considered to be an important sacred offering in China.

Each participant is given one try at cutting the pig into two halves.

Those who succeed are thought to go on to pass all their exams the first time round, and those who fail, will have to re-sit some.

This is followed by eating kiwis, as the Chinese word for the fruit sounds like "easy to pass exams." 
 
6. Praying for success - I believe this is quite popular among KL/PJ Students

Pic 06: Parents in South Korea praying for their children as they take exams

Many students in East Asia have the attentive support of their parents, whether they want it or not.
"Some parents wait for their children outside the exam hall praying for them to pass," says South Korean teacher Ji-Youn Jung, "My mum did, but my test results turned out to be awful."
Ultra-keen parents will go as far as praying at Buddhist temples every day for the 100 days leading up to the exam.

7. Lucky watch versus a slippery soup.

Pic 07: Slippery customer: Seaweed soup could mean exam disaster

In South Korea, the slipperiness of the widely-eaten seaweed soup is thought to mean you will lose all the knowledge from the notes you've been revising like mad.

"I try not to have seaweed soup before important plans like exams or interviews. But if I happen to eat it without consciousness, I don't worry too much," Ji-Youn says.

But Chong Wang from China says: "My personal tradition is to have noodles for breakfast on exam day, as noodles mean "everything goes smooth" in Chinese. But I also take my lucky watch."

8. Chicken power.

Pic 08: Could chickens help boost your brain power?

A bit of sugar might give you an energy boost, but South Koreans also believe that this sugary snack could have exam-passing powers.

Yeot, a traditional sticky food, is eaten before important exams, especially university entrance exams.
Ji-Youn explains: "Yeot is a sticky sweet, and the Korean words for "sticky" and "pass entrance exam" sound the same."

Or else drink some chicken juice, which is thought to give your brain a boost.
Students in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and China tend to drink this while revising for exams, and on the morning of the exam itself.

"It's nothing superstitious," says Dylan Lee Soon Yoong, a Singaporean student at University College London.

"I drink chicken essence on the morning of the exam... you down it like a shot after heating it up. It's supposed to help your concentration and is marketed pretty heavily to students in Singapore."

9. Wear red underwear. 

Pic 09: Well read: All you need to remember for exam success, lucky red pants

Red is widely believed to be a lucky colour in China. So many believe that it's a good idea to wear some red clothing, or more specifically red underwear, during an exam.

When a person is particularly successful, there is a Chinese saying, "Are you wearing red underwear?"

But Chong Wang warns: "Some people may avoid wearing red during exams because in China, fail scores are written in red on score sheets."

Image copyright NUS

Image caption 

10. Singaporean students style: Pray for mercy from the "Bell Curve God"

Pic 10: Singaporean students can pray electronically to the "Bell Curve God"

The Bell Curve God is an embodiment of university students' fears of the bell curve grading system used in Asia's top universities, such as the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

Bell curve grading means not just measuring how well you did in an exam, but rather how you did in relation to everyone else in your class. In an already high-achieving country, that pushes competitiveness to the max.

Shrines to the Bell Curve God have been set up at both universities, where food and candles are left as offerings to the "God".

The National University of Singapore has gone as far as setting up a website, Facebook and Twitter account for the Bell Curve God, so that students can pray electronically.

"As students, we are subject to the omnipotent, inscrutable force that is the Bell Curve God. He is the arbitrary being that decides our grades," Dylan Lee Soon Yoong explains.


CONCLUSION 
 

Hmmm... On P2 (Corporate Reporting), 
I remember one ACCA Lecturer told me, 
"If it is not Debit, it must be Credit. This is easier than I thought."

You can do lots of hard work and ritualistically observe all the above ten ways. Remember to buy the red underwear from UNIQLO, heard it is better fabric and pricing. Or, you can try the old and tested way, pore over Past Years Questions, attend classes, do your tests and graduate like the rest of us. It never fails.


Source: Jody-Lan Castle, 2016, BBC News, http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35614030, Date: 3rd March

 

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Hot Exam Topic: P3 (BA) - Supply Chain Management Restructuring

 

Note: Supply chain management, value chain, e-marketing are Examiner Steve Skidmore’s favourite examinable topics. You definitely want to focus on how to provide solutions for a specific case scenario. 

Special Note: Steve Skidmore is known for inserting "new knowledge" on Exam Answers, so you won't find the information below in your textbooks. 

 

What is Supply chain management?

Supply chain management involves the coordination of all supply activities of an organization from its suppliers and delivery of products to its customers.

Supply chain management includes not only supplier and buyer, but also the intermediaries such as the supplier’s suppliers and the customer’s customers.

To illustrate the Food Supply Chain, see the pictures below. 

 

Farm : Cow Herds as the Upstream Supply chain

Processing Meat Factory

Logistics to deliver to Restaurants, Outlet, Retail/Hyper marts.

Final Product a Platter

Ummm... Do I need to explain this?

What are the Six Challenges in Supply chain management? 

According to Dave Chaffey, there following are: 

1.    Pressure to reduce costs of manufacturing and distributing products in order to remain competitive

2.    Demand forecasting

3.    Failure to deliver products on time consistently or lack of items on shelf in retailer

4.    Failure to deliver or ship correct product

5.    High inventory costs

6.    Time for new product development

Question: How can Genting Hotel and Casino restructure its supply chain? Recommend any hardware infrastructure and software solutions applicable to your restructuring solutions. [15 marks] 

Suggested Answer:
Assume we apply Genting Hotel supply chain that requires restructuring supply chain.  

 

$9.99 to travel to Genting Casino Hotel?! What are we waiting for?

Link to Airline Supply Chain

Link to Land transport Supply Chain

Add value to Value System Stream - Restaurant for guests

1.     Cooperation relationship with linkage to upstream supply chain with airlines like Air Asia, Ryan Air to determine how many tourists are arriving. This will assist in planning the forecasting of demand based on seasonal needs.

2.     On linkage with upstream air line companies, install SAP’s Enterprise Resource Planning allowing tourist-marketing offices to have access real time on Genting Hotel’s booking records for the year. The information flow seamlessly between the suppliers and company itself.

3.     Collaboration relationship with exchange of expertise such as market research knowledge. Genting can do market research to determine which countries are most likely to visit Malaysia only casino. They use internet connection to linked with different government offices around the world to determine the countries most likely to have large tourists number.

4.     On exchanging market research, install Technological Interface Management (TIM) that allows suppliers, intermediaries and customers to focus on collection, collation, interpretation and dissemination of vast amount of information. B2B relationship that will allow Genting management to know surplus idle room capacity that will influence tactical pricing and promotion.

5.     Power based relationship to reduce the cost of services. Genting can invite tenders for its food supply, linen laundry and cleaning contracts. Potential bidders need to submit online to Genting group and then selection based on best specification and pricing are made.

6.     On attracting suppliers, install Website with extranet to approved suppliers that could submit e-tender. There is time savings and thus the supply chain could quickly select suitable suppliers that it selects online.

7.     Arms Length relationship where Genting Hotel can link with neutral platform hotel bookings website like Agoda.com. This way, there is a meeting between suppliers of hotel rooms and demand generating secured sales.

8.     On marketing on neutral platform for travel/hotel trading website that basically allow Genting to compete with other hotel suppliers. The website will attract a large pool of customers who in turn can choose the wide hotels selection.

9.     Collaborate with transport sector and airline company to offer a one package tourist package. This saves time and add value to customers with ease of choosing tour destinations.

10. Cooperative relationship in having real time linkage with tourism companies accessing number of hotels still available for booking during the year.

11. Strategic intelligence in analyzing the demand patterns of its linked up partners such as airline to determine the estimated number of tourist arrivals. Data analytics software is required to ascertain number of website visitors on Genting website.

12. Cooperative relationship with airline and transport sector to know real time and determine the estimated arrival time. Each bus couch should be equipped with a GPS system in order to determine the arrival time.

13. On Buses tracking system, install Global Positioning System (GPS) is more suitable than Trace Chip Tracking devices as the bus movements are relevant to the tourism industry.

14. Cooperative relationship linking food suppliers with its restaurants food requirement so that Just In Time inventory can be installed. Assuming that hotels would have restaurant services too.

15. On Restaurants, install Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) and Just In Time (JIT) systems enable suppliers to determine real time the re-order levels to replenish food, laundries and replacements for toiletries. This avoid risks of no stocks within Genting Hotel.

Conclusion

Genting supply chain should focus downstream marketing and devices by adopt Information technology infrastructure such as cloud computing, e-mobile and e-tablet browsing capabilities to widen its market appeal.

Risks Management : Prepare for a Better Career

Dear ACCA Candidates,

Results are around the corner. My best wishes on the results outcome. NEVER GIVE UP! If 160,000 ACCA Graduates can succeed, so can you! It all boils down to determination, discipline and above all HUNGRY for success. The stronger the hunger pang, the more it will move you to the path to success.

Best regards,
Marcus Ong : Specialist Mentor for Research project submission for Oxford Brookes (UK) University's BSc (Honours - [this is higher quality qualification than a basic degree] ) degree in Applied Accounting.

Venezuela : Hit by Oil Prices

Amid sky-high inflation, an absent president, snaking queues outside supermarkets, and plummeting oil prices, Henrique Capriles said this week that the time was ripe to try to force a change.
“We are in a state of emergency,” he said on Monday. “This is the time to mobilise in the streets.”
The call to protest was significant because Capriles, a state governor, disavowed last year’s violent protests demanding the resignation of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president. Instead, Capriles had advocated regime change through the ballot box.

But the situation on the ground has changed since then. Venezuela’s economy is estimated to have shrunk by 4% in 2014, with inflation hitting 64%. The price of oil, which accounts for more than 95% of Venezuela’s hard-currency income, continues to fall. According to the latest opinion poll, Maduro enjoys the support of just 22% of the population, and he has come under fire on social media and editorial pages for spending nearly two weeks outside the country – with his extended family in tow – while the crisis deepens.

Venezuelean mass protests - most dressed in white. Looks familiar?

Most worrying for Venezuelans are food shortages. Standing in line for hours to buy basic subsidised goods such as milk, soap and diapers has become an exhausting reality of everyday life, but tensions have grown since stocks are running lower than usual after the holidays and police began enforcing a policy that limits patrons to two shopping days a week at government-run supermarkets. In three states, authorities have banned overnight queues.

Capriles, who narrowly lost the presidency to Maduro in 2013, met with other opposition leaders throughout the week to define their protest strategy.

The Venezuelan opposition leader Enrique Capriles gives a press conference in Caracas on Wednesday.

But in the western city of San Cristóbal, the flashpoint of last year’s protests, a small group of students have already begun to set up roadblocks and burn tyres, according to Reuters. Flashes of protest at supermarkets in Caracas have landed a handful of people in jail.

“Venezuela is living in a state of perpetual crisis,” says Carlos Romero, a Caracas-based political analyst. “But it’s been a stable crisis,” he says, adding that despite rumours of a possible coup or an impending debt default, Maduro still holds the political reins.

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In December, Maduro confirmed that the country was in recession, but blamed an “economic war” orchestrated by political foes.
“The strategy that they are carrying out aims to disrupt civilians and cause extreme situations, that is the key part of their efforts to destabilise the country,” Maduro told reporters. “An economic coup is also under way in Venezuela,” he said.
The president, who succeeded the father of Venezuela’s socialist revolution, Hugo Chávez, two years ago, set off on 4 January on a whirlwind tour of China, Russia and several Opec nations to seek fresh money to shore up the Venezuelan economy and try to convince other oil producers to curtail production.


_______________ end of Article ________________

Oil Dependent Countries are badly hit with earnings shrunk significantly resulting in incompetent (also read as corrupt) government cutting necessary expenses such as food and utilities services.

The low oil price will continue to worsen the fiscal finance position for such nations. A case of poor risk management in failing to anticipate that oil prices can fall.

Lesson for all to learn to plan for the future. Don't wait for events to unfold and then to react too late and too little approach. Can it happen to Malaysia? Brunei? Nigeria? Its a rhetorical question.

Pre-IRC P7AAA message

Dear ACCA FINALIST, 

Be Industrious - I will graduate soon.

We worked very hard the past 4 months with classes on practicing questions, covering complex issues and systematically interpreting questions. Now IRC is coming.

I must commend you WORKING STUDENTS in doing the assignments, attending classes, doing mock exams while balancing with your other responsibilities as Professionals, family commitments and extended matters.

You may review the Tests as attached. You may also read the latest P7AAA Article on Latest Ethical Issues dated 23rd Sept, 2014.

An important emphasis in IRC is to use the same concepts and apply them in different case studies context. P7AAA is very practical as in real-life Auditors facing real issues. I would also show that not all marks are created equal. How to get the low hanging fruits and not overspend time on tough issues. The overall theme is PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE! 

NEVER GIVE UP! 

Marcus 

PS: Please see your email for more P7 AAA review. 

Oxford Brookes - ACCA Intake for Aug/Sept 2014

UPGRADE YOUR QUALIFICATION WITH A BRITISH UNIVERSITY DEGREE!

WHY ALWAYS RESPECT WOMEN?

10 Countries Where Women Are More Educated Than Men

Yep, it is official. Women being more disciplined, focused are outperforming men in tertiary education. In Substance, they have knowledge and in form, they have that too. 

Respect women for what they have achieved. Male chauvinists should stop thinking that women place is in kitchen.  More women joining the workforce, this means somebody has to stay in kitchen. If too relaxed, it could mean men as the home-maker while women as the bread winner status.

ACCA RESULTS

Results are out. Look, cry/laugh, and move to next step. Never Give Up! Many succeeded as ACCA Graduates but it comes with tears, lots of determination and time. 

Invest in your future and do your best. Women worldwide have done it, now that is a respectable example to imitate. 

The value of education is boundless and for many it grants the opportunity to have a fighting chance in the competitive and increasingly selective arena of the professional world. The rise in female university attendees and graduates is now a growing global trend; educated women outnumber educated men in many parts of the world.

According to a Yale University study, women in the US account for 60 percent of the annual university graduates and hold 60 percent of master’s degrees and 52 percent of doctorate degrees. Far from the antiquated mould of uneducated female homemaker, it’s evident that a woman’s passion and dedication to succeed in academia can be just as zealous as – and apparently now even more so than – a man’s. And since women make up half of the world’s total population, it’s fair to say that to place less emphasis on women’s participation in higher education and the subsequent greater career opportunities that it abounds overall hinders a country’s prosperity — economically and otherwise.

As no great achievement can exist without its challenges, we must note the threat that exists to women’s education in countries where misogynistic or extremist ideals maintain the counter-progressive outlook that women must remain subservient to men. This is a reality which has proven all too horrifying in the case of over 200 young girls who have been recently abducted in Nigeria for attending school. Their oppressors, the Boko Haram (a name which means, disturbingly, Western Education is a Sin) exist as a mournful reminder that education — that which breeds and nurtures individualism, global consciousness, and personal fruition — can prove a dangerous thing to despotic reigns of power as it counters their stratagems of control.

But despite obstructions, the rise in women pursuing higher education is a pivotal achievement of our era. It’s especially noteworthy when we consider that women in the US were granted the right to vote just less than a hundred years ago, or that in Saudi Arabia, for instance, that right wasn’t introduced until 2005.

The rapid advancement of women’s rights signifies the import of female leadership in a world hitherto strictly governed by men. Women are now empowering themselves through education, taking hold of all its limitless advantages and keeping a firm grip.
While there’s always more to be done in the pursuit of equal rights, the following list features countries in which women now surpass men in university attendance and graduation rates while also drawing attention to the disparity that still exists for women in the labor force around the world.

10. Saudi Arabia

 

The Saudi Embassy reports that there are currently 1 million students enrolled in universities in Saudi Arabia and of that number, over half of attendees are women. A Yale University study reports that women make up 51 percent of those enrolled in university—a highly progressive achievement, considering the fact that Saudi women aren’t even allowed to operate a vehicle alone. Despite the fact that a higher percentage of Saudi women are educated compared to Saudi men, women in this country still constitute a very slim minority of the labor force.

9. Argentina

Since the 1990s, the percentage of female university attendees and graduates in Argentina has hovered above 50 percent. Despite this steady achievement, 74 percent of Argentine men participate in the workforce compared to 47 percent of women.

8. United States of America

In the US, women make up 57.4 percent of all university attendees. Since 2008, the rate of master’s degrees awarded to women has increased by 54 percent. In 2010, the US department of education noted that women now surpass men in “enrollments at higher-education institutions at every degree level.” Yet, women only hold about 3 percent of the highest positions in corporate America and are still paid less for the same work – an average of 77 cents to every dollar earned by men. The employment rate for women in the US is just above 60 percent.

7. Brazil

 

In 2009, women made up 60 percent of university graduates and postgraduates in Brazil according to a report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international think-tank that works toward advancing economic growth and employment rates globally within 34 countries constituting its members. The employment rate for women in Brazil is slightly over 50 percent but despite the fact that there are more female university graduates than men, women still earn 30 percent less than men for the same work. Of the 594 seats in the Brazilian Congress women occupy only 56.

6. Spain

In Spain, women made up 60 percent of all university graduates and postgraduates in 2009 according to the OECD’s report. In Spain, 65 percent of working-age men are employed and only 51 percent of women.

5. Estonia

In Estonia, a Northern European country, more than two-thirds of university graduates are women. This marks the country as having the highest percentage of female graduates of the 34 countries that are members of the OECD. Estonia also has a comparatively high female employment rate of slightly over 60 percent.

4. Chile

In 2009, women made up almost 60 percent of female graduates and postgraduates in Chile. The female employment rate in Chile is at slightly over 40 percent and this is attributable to a number of factors. A notable contributing cultural factor to women’s absence from the labor force is that in Chile, women must often choose between working or raising a family. The notorious ‘machista’ or male perspective that women should remain at home common in Latin American countries tends to discourage women from joining the labor force, despite their level of education.

3. Iran

In 2003, more than 60 percent of all college attendees in Iran were women. That year, every 6 out of 10 college graduates were women as well. A graduate degree increases an Iranian woman’s chance of joining the labor force by 28 percent but only a quarter of female graduates actually participate in the workforce. This is due to the fact that the country’s strict traditional and religious values continue to stifle women’s independence and often deter their participation in the workforce by offering poor compensation, exhibiting workplace abuse and exploitation, or simply not hiring women.

2. Canada

In Canada, 64.8 percent of women have higher education compared to 63.4 percent of Canadian men. In 2006 and 2007, women made up 57 percent of all college enrollments and were also 62 percent of all university graduates in Canada. The female employment rate in Canada is relatively high at 70 percent.

1. Finland

In Finland, 80 percent of women are enrolled at a higher education institution. Finnish women also make up over 60 percent of all university graduates and postgraduates in the country. The female employment rate in OECD countries averages at 55 percent and in Finland it’s 66 percent, the highest of all OECD countries.

Source:

Melina Pérez, 2014, 10 Countries Where Women Are More Educated Than Men, http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/10-countries-where-women-are-more-educated-than-men/?view=all, May 17