The ACCA releases its global pass rates every six months following the release of exam results. There is a breakdown by exam paper, but no further disaggregation. Should the ACCA give students more information about the numbers behind the pass rates? My answer is an emphatic yes.
For instance, pass rate per paper by geographic location. ACCA exams are all written in English, so it is reasonable to assume that pass rates for the more discursive papers (e.g. F8, P3, P5, P7) are on average lower in countries in which English is not a common native language. If this is indeed the case, shouldn't students be aware of this when they are selecting their exams? Rightly or wrongly, many students may opt not to sit an optional paper (say, the largely discursive P5) due to a low pass rate. It should be up to the ACCA to make sure that these students are aware what is driving the trends behind the pass rates (e.g. language skills) so that decisions can be made in an informed manner.
A second proposal is that salient facts about the pass rates as they relate to other papers should be released. What I mean by this is that the ACCA ought to provide statistics about which exam combinations lead to success, and which to failure. Surely the ACCA has the resources to let students know that, say, candidates who sat F8 with F7 were more likely to pass F8 statistically than those who sat F8 with F5. Similarly, the ACCA can indicate the variance in student success between students who sit 1, 2, 3, or 4 papers during an exam sitting. Offering students the statistics on the best paper combinations and presenting the realities of how much taking an additional paper on affects the chances of success is surely in students' best interests. So why not provide it?
A third proposal is that note only should pass rates be released, but averages should be published (and perhaps quintiles) so students have a better idea of where they measure relative to their peers. Pass rates are a black and white measure and can mask the true realities behind how challenging or simple a particular exam diet was. Especially if there is not a lognormal distribution of results, then class averages might be very informative.
The ACCA files away the results of thousands of students every six months, ignoring that they sit on a treasure trove of data in those results. It is about time they analyse and present the results to provide the insights that will help ACCA students become ACCA members sooner.
For instance, pass rate per paper by geographic location. ACCA exams are all written in English, so it is reasonable to assume that pass rates for the more discursive papers (e.g. F8, P3, P5, P7) are on average lower in countries in which English is not a common native language. If this is indeed the case, shouldn't students be aware of this when they are selecting their exams? Rightly or wrongly, many students may opt not to sit an optional paper (say, the largely discursive P5) due to a low pass rate. It should be up to the ACCA to make sure that these students are aware what is driving the trends behind the pass rates (e.g. language skills) so that decisions can be made in an informed manner.
A second proposal is that salient facts about the pass rates as they relate to other papers should be released. What I mean by this is that the ACCA ought to provide statistics about which exam combinations lead to success, and which to failure. Surely the ACCA has the resources to let students know that, say, candidates who sat F8 with F7 were more likely to pass F8 statistically than those who sat F8 with F5. Similarly, the ACCA can indicate the variance in student success between students who sit 1, 2, 3, or 4 papers during an exam sitting. Offering students the statistics on the best paper combinations and presenting the realities of how much taking an additional paper on affects the chances of success is surely in students' best interests. So why not provide it?
A third proposal is that note only should pass rates be released, but averages should be published (and perhaps quintiles) so students have a better idea of where they measure relative to their peers. Pass rates are a black and white measure and can mask the true realities behind how challenging or simple a particular exam diet was. Especially if there is not a lognormal distribution of results, then class averages might be very informative.
The ACCA files away the results of thousands of students every six months, ignoring that they sit on a treasure trove of data in those results. It is about time they analyse and present the results to provide the insights that will help ACCA students become ACCA members sooner.
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