AQA A-LEVEL ACCOUNTING 7127/2: Paper 2 Accounting for Analysis and Decision-making Report on the Examination

AQA A-LEVEL ACCOUNTING 7127/2: Paper 2 Accounting for Analysis and Decision-making Report on the Examination Overall This paper was generally done well by students. This is especially encouraging given that it is the first sitting of the new reformed A-level specification which includes both new topic areas and different skills expectations. There was a wide spread of outcomes with a good proportion of students achieving 50 raw marks or more out of the maximum 120 marks available. With it being the first sitting of a new specification, there was the inclusion of some new elements including the ethical framework in question 09 and investment ratios in question 17. Most other questions contained themes previously tested in the legacy paper ACCN4 and so pertained to management and cost accounting components. However, centres are to be reminded that there are some parts of the specification that can be tested in either paper and so this examination contained some more financial accounting themes previously seen only in ACCN3 at A2 level. Calculation tasks were broadly well attempted, with workings clearly shown in many instances. Students were also able to articulate the longer prose questions well, which is encouraging given that accounting students quite often favour the numerical and computational tasks. There was no evidence that students were overly time constrained with a majority of students appearing to have completed all tasks set. Questions 01 to 10 inclusive Multiple choice questions have been used to a lesser extent previously, but now form an integral part to the assessments for this specification. They are designed to test students’ very precise knowledge and understanding combined with some application of the content. Many of these questions were answered correctly by a high proportion of students. The best response rates were for question 09 on the fundamental principles of ethical behaviour and question 10 on the calculation of break-even quantity. The questions answered least well were 07 on cost classifications and 04 on break-even chart interpretation.