How to Pass the ACCA Strategic Business Leader (SBL) Exam Part two
ACCA Director 
How to Pass the ACCA Strategic Business Leader (SBL) Exam Part two
More Tips for Passing the SBL Exam – Part 2
More tips are provided below to assist your preparation for the ACCA SBL as well. Let’s examine these further to see how they will help you to use your answers to gain more marks.
1. Keep Your Paragraphs Short and To the Point
Suggested top tip for SBL is to make sure your answer is structured with one small paragraph per point; that would be about 1.5 lines per point. Imagine the paragraphs of your answer being a few lines each, not a block. As examiners are looking for concise, clear answers, keep your paragraphs short, and don’t put all your points into one block. Also, make your point with your SBL syllabus knowledge – ie, your link to the unseen or pre-seen material is after the point has been set with theory.
2. Link to the Pre-Seen Only When Asked
Finally, when writing your answers, you should only refer back to the pre-seen material when asked to do so. (After all, the examiner wants to see what you have understood from the pre-seen material, and this will be made available to you around two weeks ahead of the exam.) For instance, the September 2024 BEAGO case required comments on additional KPIs and a Porter’s Diamond analysis for overseas development.
But you don’t need to write an overview of the pre-seen material or an introduction showing all the work you did on this material during the first hour. The examiner will not give you any marks for that, so don’t spend time on it. Instead, you should apply the pre-seen to the question at hand.
3. Professional Marks – Easier Than You Think
The 20 professional marks available on the SBL exam paper are fairly easy to achieve if you perform the following few steps. Step 1: Use the correct formatting. If the question is based on a report, your response should be written in the same format. This simple step alone will often earn you a few professional marks.
Third, professional marks reflect a holistic perspective, so show that you’ve thought beyond what went wrong. If you’re discussing a problem with internal controls, for example, talk about what it means for the company’s reputation, revenue and competitiveness. This demonstrates that you appreciate the issue from all angles, which is essential to obtain higher marks.
4. Don’t Over-Answer the Question
For example, in reading a requirement, you must be careful not to overwrite – watch out for ‘ands’ that split a question into two questions. If you spend 10 minutes answering only one of them, you’ll miss marks from the other. If you write something brilliant for one of them, you’ll only get half the marks if you ignore the other. All of this might sound obvious, but under time pressure, it’s easy to forget. So make sure you answer every part of the question.
Summary:
Remember: 1) Keeps the answers short; 2) Keeps the answers directly related to the question; 3) Keeps the answers appropriately formatted. 3) Thinks holistically; 4) Doesn’t get bogged down with over-answering one part of the question.If you do all of these things, you’ll be doing everything possible to put yourself in a good position to score well on the SBL.
Good luck, and keep practicing those techniques!
Categories: : Strategic Business Leader (SBL)