If you know how the Case Study is marked, you know where to spend your four hours. Every mark is a grade in a skills box, and every box rewards evidence of a skill, not the length of an answer. This topic explains the competency-based key, the 25 boxes, the four grades and how grades become marks.
In 30 seconds
The paper is marked by competency-based assessment (CBA). Examiners build a marking key of 25 skills boxes: five for the executive summary, eight for each of the two requirements, two for the report as a whole and two for the appendices. In each box you earn a grade from void to superior achievement, worth 0 to 4 marks. Show at least four relevant points in a box for the top grade.
Twenty-five boxes at four marks give 100 marks, and the pass mark is 50.
Competency-based assessment
In a competency-based assessment, the thing being marked is your evidence of professional skill, or competence. Examiners start from the generic skills listed for the paper and tailor them to the requirements of the case. The result is a specific marking key for each paper, which lets them assess candidates objectively.
The 25 skills boxes
Each key has two main requirements, plus marks for skills that apply to the report as a whole, including financial and non-financial appendices.
| Part of the paper | Boxes |
|---|---|
| Executive summary | 5 |
| Requirement 1 | 8 |
| Requirement 2 | 8 |
| Overall paper: report (structure, style and language) | 2 |
| Overall paper: appendices | 2 |
| Total | 25 |
Within a box the examiners list between four and eight assessment criteria. Not every criterion is used in every case. The examiners choose those that fit the case, so that the marking of different cases stays comparable. You need to show only four of the criteria to earn the maximum for a box and to show adequate competence in it.
How grades are awarded
Each box is graded at one of five levels.
| Grade | What you must show | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Superior achievement (SA) | You understood the requirement and gave relevant evidence for most of the criteria, at least four items | 4 |
| Competent achievement (CA) | You understood the requirement and gave enough relevant evidence, usually at least three items | 3 |
| Below competent achievement (BC) | Only partial understanding, or less than enough evidence, at least two items | 2 |
| Not competent (NC) | An attempt, but sparse evidence, only one item | 1 |
| Void (V) | Nothing relevant to the box | 0 |
With 25 boxes at a maximum of four marks, the top score is 100. The pass mark is 50. Marks for numbers can come from any box, because calculations are rewarded in the appendices and again when you carry the results into the report.
Papers set before the current format list 20 boxes, 8 for each requirement and 4 overall, with no executive summary box. The grading levels are the same.
How the marks are spread
The instructions on recent papers give the broad split. Four skills are worth 20% each and are applied across the parts of your report. Two more apply to the report as a whole.
| Skill | Share of the marks |
|---|---|
| Assimilating and using information | 20% |
| Structuring problems and solutions | 20% |
| Applying judgement | 20% |
| Drawing conclusions and making recommendations | 20% |
| Demonstrating integrative and multidisciplinary skills | 10% |
| Presenting appropriate appendices | 10% |
Of the total marks, 20% are for the executive summary and about 10% for relevant discussion of ethical issues within your answers, even though ethics is not a requirement of its own. Failing to answer a requirement, or to submit an executive summary, harms your chances.
Why the skills depend on one another
The skills are linked, so a weak start spoils what follows.
- Weak use of the data leads to poor analysis.
- Poor analysis leaves no basis for sound evaluation and judgement.
- Weak judgement leaves your conclusions unsupported.
- Without clear conclusions you cannot state reservations or make recommendations.
Writing for your audience
The overall boxes assess how well you join your skills together and communicate. Know who you are writing to and keep that reader in mind. Whoever the reader is, you should:
- avoid jargon and slang and use simple language;
- be professional, because you address a client, a partner or your boss;
- avoid casual or careless remarks, as if you had to read the report aloud to the reader;
- be brief and avoid long, convoluted explanations;
- be relevant and deal only with the work you were asked to do; and
- be tactful, as if you had to read the report aloud to anyone it mentions.
Your report must answer the requirements that were set, not the ones you would like to have answered.
Common mistakes
- Thinking more pages mean more marks. Marks follow evidence in boxes.
- Putting all the effort into one requirement and leaving the other with a void box.
- Ignoring the executive summary boxes, which are worth as much as many of the other boxes together.
- Forgetting that numbers are rewarded twice, in the appendix and in the report.
- Using jargon, or blunt comments about people named in the case.
Quick revision
- CBA: marks for evidence of professional skill.
- 25 boxes: 5 summary, 8 and 8 requirements, 2 report, 2 appendices.
- Grades: SA 4 (four or more points), CA 3, BC 2, NC 1, V 0.
- Maximum 100, pass mark 50. Executive summary 20%, ethics about 10%.
- Skills chain: data, analysis, judgement, conclusions, recommendations.
Practice questions
These are original questions in the style of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria exam. Try each one before you open the answer.
Question 1. How many skills boxes does the current marking key contain?
- 16
- 20
- 25
- 30
Show the answer
C. Five summary boxes, sixteen requirement boxes and four overall boxes make 25.
Question 2. In one box you give relevant evidence on three criteria. The likely grade is:
- Superior achievement
- Competent achievement
- Below competent achievement
- Void
Show the answer
B. Competent achievement usually needs at least three items. It earns three marks.
Question 3. A candidate earns superior achievement in every box. The mark is:
- 50
- 75
- 100
- 125
Show the answer
C. Twenty-five boxes at four marks each give 100.
Question 4 (8 marks). Explain how the Case Study marking key is organised and how the grade in a box is decided.
Model answer
Show the model answer to Question 4
Organisation (4 marks). The key is built from the skills for the paper, tailored to the requirements of the case. (1) It has 25 skills boxes: five for the executive summary, eight for each of the two requirements, two for the report as a whole and two for the appendices. (2) Each box lists four to eight criteria, and the examiners select those that fit the case. (1)
Grading (4 marks). In each box a candidate earns a grade from void to superior achievement. (1) The grade depends on how many criteria are met with relevant evidence: at least four for superior, three for competent, two for below competent and one for not competent. (2) The grades are worth four, three, two, one and zero marks, so the paper totals 100 and the pass mark is 50. (1)
The next topic covers reading a marking key box by box, with a worked example.
Pathfinder on How the Case Study marking key works: boxes, grades and marks
These are the ICAN Pathfinder questions that test this topic. ICAN owns the questions and the suggested solutions, so we point you to them and do not copy them. Open your Pathfinder, attempt each question under exam conditions, then check your answer against the notes above.
Both keys show eight boxes for each requirement and four overall, each graded V, NC, BC, CA or SA. Those papers have no executive summary box, unlike the current key.
Revise first: The 25 skills boxes
Each box lists the points that earn a grade. Count how many you would have made in your own practice answer to see which grade you would receive.
Revise first: How grades are awarded
Source: ICAN Pathfinder, Case Study. Diets covered: May 2015 and November 2015.
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