Chartered Institute of

Management Accountants

EXAMINERS QUESTION TIME: P2

Following our CIMAsphere campaign to put students in touch with their examiners,
we can now offer the answers to your burning questions for the P2 examiner...

1
Linear programming seems to be such an outdated method
especially the requirement to draw graphs which is rarely
expected in a real life situation. Why does the examiner continue
to question this topic in detail? 13 marks to draw a graph seems
excessive for this topic!
Linear programming is contained within section A Pricing and
Product Decisions of the P2 Performance Management syllabus.
Linear programming is a mathematical technique that can be used
to allocate scarce resources to derive optimal benefit. The technique
may be applied to constructing a production plan to maximise profit,
selecting a portfolio of investments, selecting a mix of ingredients to
minimise costs or many other situations where constraints on activity
are present. These are problems faced by almost all organisations and
where the management accountants skill and insight is required.
Linear programming can be applied where there is more than one
scare resource. Where there are two products, graphical linear
programming may be used. Where there are more than two products
the simplex method may be used. Both techniques are included
within the P2 Performance Management syllabus.
The allocation of scarce resources in the real world is usually a
complex issue; often dealt with using computer models. There
is a danger with these computer models that the management
accountant can develop a black box mentality. This is where the
management accountant provides the input to the model but then
uncritically receives (and acts upon) the output generated from it. It
is vitally important that the management accountant understands
what is going on in the black box. Practical examination questions
using graphical linear programming provide one of the ways that
CIMA ensures that management accountants have this ability.
Students may not be required to draw graphs by hand in their
professional lives; this does not mean however that the graph is
outdated. As management accountants you will be required to use
your knowledge and expertise to provide support to the key decision
makers in an organisation, this is likely to include both accounting
and non-accounting professionals. The provision of this information
needs to be in a format that is most effective for your audience
and that may be numerical, graphical or pictorial, depending on the
preference of the person(s) for whom it is intended.

2
Why do examiners continue to ask questions containing topics
from P1? You cannot remember all the knowledge from P1,
especially if it is a few exam diets since you sat it.
Due to the progressive nature of the Performance Pillar, candidates
sitting the P2 examination are advised to closely examine the syllabi
of the Certificate Level subjects, particularly C01, and the P1 paper to
ensure they have a thorough understanding of all the topics covered
in those papers. Any identified knowledge gap must be addressed.
The principle focus of the P2 Performance Management examination
paper is on the application of information in the management

processes of decision-making and control, so as to optimise

performance. The knowledge and understanding you acquire at the
lower levels of CIMAs qualification is assumed knowledge at the
higher levels therefore the exams at the higher levels require a good
understanding of the preceding knowledge, so that you are able to
apply it in the context of the higher level learning.

3
How important are workings, descriptions, headings etc? The
examiner seemed to be very pedantic about this in the May PEG.
And why are all questions in dollars and not in GBP. If I use
instead of $ will I be penalised?
Workings, descriptions and headings are extremely important,
essentially for two reasons:
Firstly, as student accountants and ultimately professionally qualified
accountants, the insight and decision making support you provide
must be fit for purpose. This means the analyses you provide must be
able to be understood by your intended audience; these will include
descriptions of any assumptions you have made and details
of workings that underlie your conclusions.
Secondly, the examination marker must be able to mark your paper.
It is very difficult for a marker faced with an indecipherable page of
workings or a single unrecognisable number, to award any marks for
the undoubted effort made. Working quickly through a computational
question without clear workings or only writing the answer is a highrisk strategy. In exam conditions, its very easy to make an error when
entering a number into your calculator or read a part of the scenario
in the question incorrectly. If this happens and you have only written
down the final answer, which is incorrect, the marker is left with no
option other than to award zero marks. However, if workings are
set out clearly and descriptions given where appropriate, it is much
easier for your marker to follow your thought process. Adopting this
approach will mean that a single error will only be penalised once
and the marker is able to award the majority of the marks.
CIMA is a global body and candidates from around the world sit
the CIMA examinations. Therefore the $ is used to represent a
generic currency as this is the most recognisable currency symbol
to students. The P2 Performance Management syllabus does not
contain any components relating to foreign exchange computations
and therefore the currency used will not impact the answers to the
questions. As such, a candidate mistakenly stating an answer in
rather than in $ in an exam situation is very unlikely to be penalised.

4
How would the examiner describe good exam day technique?
It is very difficult to have neat handwriting when writing under
time pressure.
Good exam day technique is much more than neat handwriting.
As I outlined in my answer to the previous question, adopting a
clear layout that your marker can follow may only take an additional

minute to prepare but is a much safer strategy than presenting a

single number answer that could be awarded zero marks if wrong.
I would offer three pieces of guidance for good exam day technique:
Use the 20 minutes reading time effectively. In this time you can plan
your approach to the requirements and start to plan your answers on
the question paper.
Answer the question stated in the requirement. It is very easy in exam
conditions to misread a requirement or simply reproduce all your
knowledge on a particular syllabus area. Marks are only available for
answers that address the requirement. Read the question carefully,
pay close attention to the verb used in the requirement and relate
your answer to the scenario.
Finally, you should be aware of timing. You have three hours of writing
time in the P2 exam; that is an average of 1.8 minutes per mark
available. Spending 60 minutes on a question in section A may bring
eight or nine marks but you would not then have enough time left to
produce a good answer to the longer 25 mark questions in section B;
this would lead to you missing out on marks and potentially failing
the paper. Plan the time you will spend on each question and stick to
your plan.

5
How many past exam papers should you practice before the exam,
the PEGs mention it is imperative, but how many will bring me up
to exam standard? CIMA needs to give more guidance around this.
Having a good knowledge of the P2 Performance Management
syllabus is necessary for candidates to perform well in the
examination but in itself is unlikely to be sufficient to obtain a
pass. Due to the time pressures on exam day, you need good exam
technique , which only comes with practice, as well. I would advise
candidates to prepare well for what they will face on exam day, that
is three hours (plus twenty minutes reading time) to answer five ten
mark questions and two twenty five mark questions.

Attempting past exam questions and papers to time is imperative for

P2 candidates. Attempting past questions will make you more familiar
with examination style questions. Comparing your answers to the
examiners suggested answer will give you an insight into the depth
an answer should go into and the format for calculations. Practising
using past questions will also help you develop the discipline of
answering the question that has been set, as discussed above, a key
determinant in achieving a pass mark in the examination. The Post
Exam Guidance for each examination paper is a fantastic resource
that provides insight for students to hone their question answering
skills. Practising past exam papers will also develop the critical skill
of time management. Dont expect a ten mark question that took
you thirty five minutes during your revision period to only take 18
minutes to answer on the day.
As to the number of past papers to attempt, as many as possible
is a good guide! The more questions you attempt, review using the
Examiners Suggested Answers and reflect on using the Post Exam
Guidance, the more confident you will become.