STANDARD OF THE PAPER The quality and standard of the paper was generally good and covered both quantitative and theory or essay related questions to test candidates’ knowledge in both areas. The distribution of the questions was in line with the syllabus in terms of coverage but shifted more towards quantitative related questions. The quantitative aspect covered 78% whilst the theory or essay aspect covered only 22%. This was a shift from the last two sittings where it was quantitative (64%) and theory (36%) for November 2019 and quantitative (57%) and theory (43%) for May 2019 paper. The trend will have to be relooked at in subsequent papers where at least the essay or theory should cover not less than 30%. The questions were generally clear and easy to understand and apply by candidates who prepared well and had knowledge of the subject but posed difficulties to ill prepared candidates. No sub-standard questions were noted in the paper except over concentrated question in one area of the syllabus and the quality of questions were considered appropriate for this level. Marks allocations were also considered good with exception of low number of theory questions and marks. In terms of marking scheme, it was reviewed and aligned to the question paper. Alternative solutions were also provided where necessary to accommodate various approaches to answering the questions.

PERFORMANCE OF CANDIDATES Looking at level of difficulty of the questions candidates were expected to have performed very poor but that was not the case. It appeared some candidates did take their time to understand the requirements of the questions. Questions were practically oriented which is excellent. This time candidates did not stray with the columns reserved for examiners and moderators in the answer booklets. However some candidates continue to put page numbers in the space for question numbers which confused examiners. The practical nature of the questions resulted in higher performance by candidates. Performance this session was better than the performance in the previous sessions. This is evident from the percentage passes achieved in the three sessions – November 2018 pass rate was 37%, May 2019 pass rate was 42%, whilst the current pass rate for November 2019 was 67%. It was evident that many candidates have the knowledge but lack the ability or skill to apply the knowledge to solve problems.