Information Systems- Exam Tips

Information Systems BPP Exam Tips June 2007 ACCA Paper 2.1 The key issue about the exam format is that each section will have just one question on each major section of the syllabus. The three key areas are: 1. Managing information systems 2. Designing information systems 3. Evaluating information systems. Overall there will therefore be 2 questions on each key area; one compulsory (section A) and one chosen (section B). The section A questions are often in two parts, with the marks split evenly across the two parts: Part 1 - State the theory Part 2 - Apply the theory to the scenario It therefore follows that unless students learn the scenario approach of extracting information from the scenario and applying this to their answers they will have difficulty in gaining a pass mark from section A. • • • • • • • •

Managing information systems Business Strategy and IS/IT alignment (Q1 and Q73) Delivering information systems – accounting issues (Q10 and Q88) Project planning – Gantt charts (Q5 and Q78 ) Organising IS – End user computing Designing information systems The information systems development process – Waterfall and Spiral models (Q25, Q26 and Q27 ) Modelling user requirements – data flow diagrams (Q82) Developing solutions – Bespoke systems (Q80) Evaluating information systems Implementing security – physical security (Q56) Implementation issues – training (Q!04) Computer Misuse Act (Q59 & ) Time/Cost/Quality Triangle (Q101)

Practice questions Practice questions listed above can be found in the Practice & Revision Kit for exams in June 2007. Where possible both section A and B questions have been identified.

Health Warning! The examiners deliberately try to avoid question spotting; just because a question featured last time doesn’t mean that it won’t feature this time. Use the tips as areas to have a good look at, but remember no one knows what is in the exam, apart from the examiner. Your safest bet is to achieve good syllabus coverage in your revision, as the examiner aims to do in the exam. Latest most Relevant Articles IT development methodologies Ruth Court Student Accountant August 2005 The V model Steve Skidmore Student Accountant January 2006 (Students should review all the relevant articles in the Appendix to the Revision Notes and on the accaglobal website – in the last exam the examiner examined a 2002 article AGAIN!)