ACCA SBL December 2025 Examiners Report: 5 Takeaways

The findings are usually always the same: students who apply their knowledge practically and justify their points directly linked to the scenario do well. Those who copy information, merely describe their point or write generic responses, don't.

SBL isn't about memorising models and frameworks for the sake of them,  or writing everything you know about the syllabus.
It’s about showing that you can do the following:

Understand a business situation
Interpret information
Make justified decisions
Communicate clearly and professionally.

If you focus on answering the requirement, applying your knowledge to the scenario, and explaining your thinking, you are doing exactly what the examiner is looking for.

Answer the Question on the Paper

One of the most common problems in the December exam was not answering the requirement fully.
For example, when candidates were asked how to manage or mitigate issues, many just described the issues instead.

The examiner knows the theory! Here's what they want to award marks for:

1. Actions

2. Recommendations

3. Explanations of HOW something should be done

In Task 1(b), candidates were asked how risks relating to the integration of the two hotel businesses following an acquisition could be mitigated.
However, many candidates simply identified or described the risks (for example, cultural differences or operational disruption), but failed to explain what Levwell should actually do to manage or reduce those risks.
Because the requirement was about mitigation, not risk identification, these answers missed the focus of the task and therefore gained few, if any marks.

In Task 2(b), a similar issue was seen. 
Candidates were asked to evaluate the power and interest of different stakeholder groups in relation to Levwell’s potential acquisition. 
Instead, many answers discussed stakeholders’ general roles in the business, or focused on their involvement in routine hotel operations, rather than analysing who could influence the acquisition decision and how interested they would be in it.

The verb in the question is key.

The examiners message is actually really simple.
SBL is all about demonstrating your understanding of what management should do next, how they should do it and why.

Make sure to familiarise yourself with the ACCA SBL Preseen material when it's released 2 weeks before the exam. 
We'll be adding analysis tools and helpful resources to the SBL Classroom with some super useful practice questions for you, so you can feel confident heading into exam day.

All the best, 
Richard and the Team.