Copyright©Monash University. NOT FOR RESALE. All materials produced for this course of study are reproduced under Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968, or with permission of the copyright owner or under terms of database agreements. These materials are protected by copyright. Monash students are permitted to use these materials for personal study and research only. Use of these materials for any other purposes, including copying or resale, without express permission of the copyright owner, may infringe copyright. The copyright owner may take action against you for infringement. M O N A S H U N I V E R S I T Y Faculty of Business and Economics Department of Banking and Finance BFF3121: INVESTMENTS AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT Semester 1, 2017 UNIT: INVESTMENTSANDPORTFOLIOMANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT: GROUPWRITTEN ASSIGNMENT (Counts for 30% of total assessment in BFF3121) DUE DATE: Friday, teaching week 9 by 5.00pm. PENALTIES: MARKS WILL BE DEDUCTED FOR LATE SUBMISSION OF THIS ASSIGNMENT. Late submission of assignment will be subjected penalty marks at the rate of two marks (out of the mark allocated for the assignment as part of BFF3121 total assessment) for each day late including weekends and Monash University public holidays if any. See section on Late Submission for further details. LENGTH: Maximum of 3000 words. Assignments in excess of 3000 words will not be marked. Include a computer word count on the cover page and at end of your assignment. GRADING: Marking of the assignment will follow the marking schedule and grading scheme described on the last three pages of this assignment (as far as they apply). GROUPWRITTENASSIGNMENT (i) This group assignment contributes 30% to total assessment for this subject. BFF3121 students should prepare the assignment report in close consultation with the unit leader/lecturer since the relevant i s s u e s require clarifications and help from the lecturer. Such close consultations are required to ensure that all BFF3121 students getsuitable advice so as to achieve a consistent outcome on the assignment across all tutorial classes. BFF3121 students should be aware that the tutorial staff may be re-directing students’ queries on the assignment to the unit leader/lecturer.2 (ii) The written assignment must be completed by groups of no more than THREE students. BFF3121 students from the same group will be allocated equal marks. As soon as this assignment is made available to students, it is their responsibility to sign 'Declaration on Designation of Group Members', which is attached to this assignment. Preferably the group members should come from the same tutorial class in order to facilitate the coordination of group work. Formation of groups is the students’ responsibility and BFF3121 teaching staff (in particular the tutorial staff) will not be responsible for group formation and related issues under any circumstances. You can use Moodle Students’ Discussion Forum in the formation of assignment groups. Once the above Declaration is signed, students will NOT be allowed to change assignment groups. Notification and resolution of group disputes As a last resort, chief examiner/lecturer may be notified of group disputes where the group itself has failed to resolve any disputes. In resolving any disputes, chief examiner/lecturer will be calling for email evidence from group members. It is important that BFF3121 students hand over to their unit leader/lecturer on or before Friday, 5.00pm in teaching week five (5) the 'Declaration on Designation of Group Members'. BFF3121 students should note that a penalty of one (1) mark will be deducted from the final mark given for the group assignment if the above (signed) Declaration is not submitted by the specified deadline. Students can do this assignment in groups of TWO or ALONE also. But they will NOT be entitled to any special considerations/treatments as compared to a group of THREE students. Still they need to sign the Declaration on Designation of Group Members and submit to the unitleader/lecturer. Any e-mailed declarations will be subjected to penalty mark. (iii) A statement (Statement of Participation of Group Assignment attached to this assignment) that all students in the group (with names and ID numbers) have contributed equally or unequally to the group assignment is required to be submitted together with the assignment. It is the responsibility of students to form and coordinate the group work. Any particular group should sign only ONE Statement of Participation of Group Assignment. If any student in a group fails to sign this Statement, it may result in adversely affecting the group assignment mark for that particular student (further elaborated later). (iv) Those students repeating BFF3121 in this semester should also do the following group assignment. ASSIGNMENT ISSUE: The following assignment assumes that all BFF3121 students are familiar with Excel software. A session on the use of Excel Solver (involving advanced features of Excel software) will be conducted in due course. Students can read Australian textbooks given in the reference list included in the unit outline (see below) - available in Caulfield Library - to understand the concept of managed funds introduced in this assignment. Brailsford, T., Heaney, R. and Bilson, C. (2006), Investments: Concepts and Applications, 3rd Edition, South Melbourne, Australia: Thomson Learning. Later editions are also OK. Gitman, L.J., Joehnk, M.D., Juchau, R.H., Wheldon, B.J. and Wright, S.J., (2004), Fundamentals of Investing, 2nd Australian Edition, French Forrest, NSW, Pearson Education. Later editions are also OK. Jones, C.P., Shamsuddin, A. and Naumann, K. (2007), Investments: Analysis and Management, 2nd Australian Edition. Milton, Queensland: John Wiley and Sons Australia Ltd. Later editions are also OK.3 You have been appointed as a superannuation fund manager trainee in QMN Investments (QMN) recently. In order to get confirmed as a professional superannuation fund manager, your supervisor in fund management department of QMN has asked you to set up a small superannuation investment fund and then manage it. It is a balanced fund. Assume that you have received $100 million from QMN investment. Basically you are in a portfolio management environment. You need to be aware that Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has prudential supervision of your fund. The following web links have some important information. https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/superannuation-and-retirement/how-super-works/super-investment-options https://www.unisuper.com.au/investments/investment-options-and-performance/super-performance-and-option-holdings/balanced Historical weekly (sourced from http://au.finance.yahoo.com ) trading data for selected securities (assets) from different asset classes such as government securities, property, domestic shares, assets with an international bias, listed investment company securities and also S&P/ASX200 share market index are available through the MOODLE now. The data given in the MOODLE web site are in the form an Excel spread sheet. You need to download this data from the MOODLE. Your portfolio should only consist of those securities included in the Excel spread sheet. You should NOT include S&P/ASX200 Share Index in your portfolio. Students should read their product disclosure statements (PDS) for superannuation funds to formulate the investment policy statement listed in 1) below. Those product disclosure statements can guide students in generating suitable asset weights [see item 2)] below for Growth or Balanced or Index investment strategies (see also Gitman et al 2004, pp.479-487). (Any later edition of this textbook will have the required information). You are required to do the following in this group assignment: 1) Construction of an investment policy statement: a) Broad investment objectives b) Target return for your proposed portfolio (annualised) – what is the bench mark (expected inflation, risk free return and return on S&P/ASX200 share market index)? You can evaluate different target returns and comment on your target return comparing it to expected inflation. c) Level of risk in the proposed portfolio and its risk management d) Investmentconstraints e) Investment guidelines (investment mandate) f) What is the investment strategy (active or passive): Growth or Balanced or Growth-and- Income or Index? (Please see Gitman et al 2004, pp.479-487 and any later editions of this textbook will also have the required information). Are the investment strategy and asset allocation method suitable in current capital market conditions to achieve the target return and the level of risk specified in b) and c) above respectively? g) Portfolio monitoring and review process: based on benchmark return and level of risk. (40 marks)4 2) MethodologicalIssues: (a) First calculate the arithmetic mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation and beta for each asset included in the Excel spread sheet available through the MOODLE. You may also want to calculate geometric mean (along with its standard deviation and coefficient of variation) and compare it with arithmetic mean, its standard deviation and coefficient of variation. (b) Based on the investment policy statement prepared in 1) above form an opinion on assets that you think are suitable for your investment strategy. (c) Selection of securities (or assets) – how and in what proportions and why you select those particular assets: cash, government securities, property, domestic shares, international shares and demonstrate how and why you arrive at these decisions. Correlation matrix is important here. You can ignore transaction costs involved in the purchase and sale of assets. How do you construct a portfolio that consists of different asset classes such as cash, government securities, property, domestic shares, international shares and derivatives (if any) that are in line with your investment policy statement? You should NOT include S&P/ASX200 Share Index in your portfolio. In this process short-selling of securities (negative weights for some securities in your portfolio) can be there but be aware of the risks!!! Therefore it is recommended that you DO not generate negative weights when you run the Excel Solver. (d) How do you manage this portfolio in the next few weeks? Assume that you are buying securities into your portfolio on a date to be specified by the BFF3121 unit leader/lecturer. Would you be a Growth or Balanced or Growth-and-Income or Index manager? (Please see Gitman et al 2004, pp.479- 487) (e) For this assignment you are allowed to buy and sell securities in your portfolio. You are allowed to switch asset classes to accomplish your investment objectives, but it must be consistent with the investment policy statement. That is you can buy assets such as shares that are likely to improve returns and sell shares that have no potential to improve the performance. Or you can use funds realized from selling shares to buy property given in the Excel spread sheet. But students need to be aware that the word length is restricted to 3000 words, which may not allow them to discuss all the issues in portfolio changes. Hence a buy and hold strategy (passive fund manager’s strategy) is generally recommended. (f) Advise QMN on the portfolio construction (weights, variances and dollar amounts) required to satisfy investment objective contained in the investment policy statement contained in 1) above. Your discussion should include: i) Details of the portfolio (mean return, risk, CV, beta (latter also for the portfolio and not for individual securities) and also include dollar amount based on weekly returns) you have constructed. ii) The annualised return of the portfolio. Board of Directors of Emerald Investments (through your supervisor) have asked you to provide them with one A4 page of the Dollar value and range of weights (for asset categories) of your investment portfolio so they can monitor your progress. As indicated above you need to provide your lecturer with one A4 page showing your security selection and investment policy objective choice by 5.00pm, teaching week 8. If the A4 page showing security selection is not submitted to the BFF3121 unit leader/lecturer by 5.00pm, teaching week eight (8) group assignment mark will be subjected to a penalty of one (1) mark. Any e-mailed declarations will be subjected to the penalty mark. (35 marks)5 3) Performance Evaluation: (a) How did the portfolio perform in terms of the return (weekly or annualised) and risk (only weekly basis) against the benchmark return and risk (calculated as mentioned just before)? (b) Evaluate your performance in a) above and explain why some or all of your strategies have not met the investment objectives given in 1) above. (c) You should calculate your return and risk of your portfolio and tabulate these results and attach them to your report. You are required to attach an Appendix in your assignment showing closing prices of securities included in your portfolio available in newspapers Friday, Teaching Week 8 (note that these will be closing prices of Thursday). Students should ignore any relevant data available in newspapers after Friday, Teaching Week 8. The idea is that students should use closing values of assets on Thursday, Teaching Week 8. Students can also use the web sites mentioned in the Explanatory Note to this assignment to extract the closing prices of securities on Thursday, Teaching Week 8. In doing so, students will have to visit web sites of UBS and relevant cash management trust in order to indicate relevant closing values and rates in the report (see item 37 (I) in the Explanatory Note). (30 marks) Work submitted for group assessment must be consistent with the guidelines set down in the Q Manual, which is the faculty's student guide for producing quality work on time. The assignment must be wordprocessed on A4 paper and presented in business report format. It should include in the following order: a letter (or a memo) of transmittal (addressed to the lecturer stating that the group assignment report is being submitted and also briefly describing in one or two sentences the significance of the issue/s addressed in the report), executive summary, table of contents, footnotes (or American Psychological Association (APA) style of reference citation in text), appendices and bibliography or list of references. Copies of this manual can be purchased at the bookshop or accessed online at URL: http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/publications/qmanual/qmanual.pdf. Marks may be deducted where in-text citations and/or the reference list is not consistent with the American Psychological Association (APA) style, which is illustrated in the Q Manual. The number of words used in the letter of transmittal, the executive summary, the table of contents, footnotes, appendices and bibliography or list of references are excluded from maximum word limit of 3000 words. Students need not have an introduction and conclusion in the report and words can be saved by merely following MAIN headings given in the assignment as shown above. All assignment reports should have the enclosed assignment declaration sheet (duly filled up and signed by all members of the group) as required by the Faculty of Business and Economics. Non-compliance with this requirement will result in loss of marks. Note that this assignment declaration sheet is in addition to the Statement of Participation of Group Assignment mentioned earlier. All BFF3121 students (each group member) must retain a copy of the assignment for their future reference Plagiarism: In order to ensure the academic integrity of your submission and to deter others from copying your work, your submission may be processed by text matching software such as TURNITIN. For additional information, the University’s Student Academic Integrity Policy can be found at URL: http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/conduct/student-academic-integritypolicy.html6 Submission details: You are required to submit both a hard copy and a soft copy of your assignment by 5pm Friday Teaching Week 9. a. Hard copy submission: A hard copy of your assignment should be submitted via the department assignment box located on Level 3, Building H, Caulfield campus. Work submitted for assessment must be accompanied by a completed and signed assignment coversheet. Please do not forget to write your tutor’s name on the cover sheet as your assignment will be returned during your tutorial class. b. Online submission: You are required to submit a .docx file via the submission link which has been created on Moodle under the “Assignment” topic. You are required to submit a .docx file via the submission link which has been created on Moodle. The name of your group assignment (GA) file should conform to the following format please: Monash ID number of the group member who is submitting the group assignment to TURNITIN– First name/s (initial/s only) – Last name –Tutorial day and time – GA For example your file name can look like this: 1234567_J_Smith_MON_4PM_GA LATESUBMISSION As stated earlier, all assignments received after the deadline will be subjected penalty marks at the rate of two marks (out of the mark allocated for the assignment as part of BFF3121 total assessment) for each day late including weekends and Monash University public holidays if any. BFF3121 students should be aware that the H Building, Level 3 (where the assignments are to be lodged) may be closed after office hours on teaching days and closed during the weekend. Normally assignments received later than two weeks after the due date will not be accepted. Students need to follow very closely the instructions of their unit leader/lecturer in handing the assignment on the due date. Substantial penalty marks will be imposed on those assignments lodged in mailboxes of the BFF3121 unit leader/lecturer/s. Any assignment placed in a wrong assignment box or mailboxes of the BFF3121 unit leader/lecturer/s/tutor/s (and found there later after the deadline) will be subjected to the same penalty marks as detailed above. Under NO circumstances, the assignment should be mailed, faxed or emailed directly to the BFF3121 unit leader/lecturers/tutors. Any assignment submitted directly to the BFF3121 unit leader/lecturers/tutors as indicated above will incur loss of marks substantially. Extensions to deadlines are not normally given. It is the students' responsibility to structure their study program around assignment deadlines, family, work and other commitments. Factors such as normal work pressures, vacations, etc. are seldom regarded as appropriate reasons for seeking extensions. Applications for an extension of time allocated to an in-semester assessment task must be made by completing the application form found at URL: http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/student/exams/speccon.html. The application form must be submitted to the Chief Examiner for consideration no later than two University working days after the due date. Special mention needs to be made of unexpected computer crashes, which might prevent students from7 meeting the deadline. To avoid such unexpected computer problems, students need to save their on-going word processing of assignment on hard disc as well as a USB. Where it is not possible to save on hard disc of a computer, students need to save their work on two USBs. Thus computer problems will NOT be considered as a valid reason for granting extensions. Should you anticipate difficulties in meeting the scheduled submission dates due to illness, accident or some exceptional circumstances, and then contact the unit Leader/ before the due date. Requests will need to be in writing with supporting documentation. This policy is so strict because comments or guidance will be given on assignments as they are marked and returned, and it is believed that all students value this feedback. Solutions/comments may also be published and distributed as required, after assignment marking or possibly with the returned assignments. It is therefore impractical to accept work submitted later than two weeks after the due date because the solutions/comments will become known and some students will submit our own solutions/comments back to us. IMPORTANTNOTES All BFF3121 students are required to hand in ONLY ONE group (written) assignment (carrying a maximum of 30% of assessment). Any students who hand in more than one copy of their group assignment to two tutors (through the assignment boxes) and later found to have two group assignment marks will be treated as having obtained a zero mark for the BFF3121 group assignment. Similarly any multiple submission of the same group assignment to [email protected] will attract penalty marks. BFF3121 tutors will be handing back the marked assignments in the last tutorial in teaching week 12. From the respective tutors, students need to seek clarifications (if there are any) on their marked assignments before the end of last teaching week of the semester to enable the unit Leader/ to finalize marks for BFF3121 students in time. Students should be aware that it is impractical to seek such clarifications on the marked assignments once the tutorials are completed for the semester. It is the responsibility of all BFF3121 students to collect their assignments (after marking) from the tutors and retain them until the final results of this unit are released. This is important because the unit Leader/ may request the marked assignments from the students for further review close to the release of final results of BFF3121. If the marked assignment is not made available when requested, the final grade of the students concerned might be affected. BFF3121 students should be aware that relevant details shown in BFF3121 unit guide are also applicable to this group assignment.8 This form (once duly filled and properly signed) should be handed to BFF3121 lecturer by 5.00 pm, Friday Teaching Week 5 irrespective of whether you are doing the assignment as a group or alone. This form should not be emailed to: [email protected] or to BFF3121 teaching staff. BFF3121 - GROUP ASSIGNMENT DECLARATION ON DESIGNATION OF GROUP MEMBERS 1. We, the undersigned, have decided to be members of the group for BFF3121 group assignment. We are aware that a change in group members is NOT allowed once this declaration is signed. 2. We/I have decided to do the above group assignment in a group of THREE or TWO or ALONE. We/I are/am aware that we/I am NOT entitled to any special considerations/treatments as compared to a group of THREE. We/I are/am aware that our/my decision CANNOT be changed once this declaration is signed. (Please delete 1. or 2. above as appropriate and sign). Member 1: Name: Student ID: Signature: Date: Member 2: Name: Student ID: Signature: Date: Member 3: Name: Student ID: Signature: Date:This form (once duly filled and properly signed by ALL STUDENTS) should be handed to BFF3121 lecturer by 5.00 pm, Friday Teaching Week 8 BFF3121 - GROUP ASSIGNMENT Security Selection Based on Correlation Matrix of SecuritiesData Provided through BFF3121 Moodle site We the undersigned are of the opinion that the following priority order of selection (from 1 through to eight (8) in last empty column) is suitable based on the correlation matrix as follows. But we also note that in Excel Solver work, all the risky company securities (for Markowitz Frontier) and risky company securities along with the risk-free asset need to be included in the creation of and the Capital Market Line (CML). Name or Code of company stocks Name or Code of company stocks Name or Code of company stocks Name or Code of company stocks Name or Code of company stocks Name or Code of company stocks Name or Code of company stocks . Risk free government bond In our investment policy statement our investment objective is: 1. Capital preservation 2. Capital appreciation 3. Current income 4. Total return. (Please delete any THREE of options 1. to 4. above as appropriate and sign). Member 1: Student ID: Name: Signature: Date: Member 2: Student ID: Name: Signature: Date: Member 3: Student ID: Name: Signature: Date: 9This form (once duly filled and properly signed) should be attached as front cover sheet of the assignment. A soft copy of your group assignment should be emailed to: [email protected] using your Monash University email address. The receipt that you get for your e-submission to: [email protected] must be attached to hard copy of your assignment as its third page. Please note the following: 1. Those assignments without the above-mentioned receipt will not be marked and will be returned to the respective assignment groups. 2. Any particular assignment groups, which submit their assignments more than once to the above BFF3121 unit email address will have a zero mark for their assignments. 3. The maximum file size for any single submission to the about unit email address is 25 mbs. Those students, who do not sign this declaration, will miss out on the assignment mark. BFF3121 - INVESTMENTS AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT STATEMENT OF PARTICIPATION IN GROUP ASSIGNMENT The names and signatures appearing below serve to verify that all group members have contributed equally (33 1/3%) or unequally (as specified in percentage terms below). Further we have contributed meaningfully on the above basis to the preparation of this assignment and are satisfied with one another's contribution. Member 1: Name: Student ID: % of your Contribution to the group assignment: Signature: Date: Member 2: Name: Student ID: % of your contribution to the group assignment: Signature: Date: Member 3: Name: Student ID: % of your contribution to the group assignment: Signature: Date: 9DECL Please attach this declaration immediately following the assignment cover sheet (see next page) BFF3121 GROUP ASSIGNMENT Tutorial Day/Time of Submitting Group Member: Tutor’s First Name*: * Can be found in BFF3121 Teaching Staff Consultation Hours document in Unit Information and Introduction folder in Moodle. We have used the TURNITIN text matching software through Moodle before submitting this assignment.ASSESSMENT COVER SHEET Student’s name (Surname) (Given names) ID number Phone Unit name Unit code t Note: If this is a group assignment, please include the names of all other group members. Title of assignment Lecturer/tutor Is this an authorised group assignment? Yes No Has any part of this assignment been previously submitted as part of another unit/course? Yes No Tutorial/laboratory day & time Due date Date submitted All work must be submitted by the due date. If an extension of work is granted this must be specified with the signature of the lecturer/tutor. Extension granted until (date) ................................ Signature of lecturer/tutor ................................................. Please note that it is your responsibility to retain copies of your assessments. 11 Intentional plagiarism or collusion amounts to cheating under Monash University Statute 4.1 – Student Discipline. Plagiarism: Plagiarism means to take and use another person’s ideas and or manner of expressing them and to pass these off as one’s own by failing to give appropriate acknowledgement, including the use of material from any source, staff, students or the internet, published and unpublished works. Collusion: Collusion means unauthorised collaboration on assessable written, oral or practical work with another person. Where there are reasonable grounds for believing that intentional plagiarism or collusion has occurred, this will be reported to the Associate Dean (Education) or nominee, who may disallow the work concerned by prohibiting assessment or refer the matter to the Faculty Discipline Panel for a hearing. Student Statement: I have read the university’s Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures. I understand the consequences of engaging in plagiarism and collusion as described in University Statute 4.1 – Student Discipline,Part2 Misconducthttp://adm.monash.edu/legal/legislation/statutes/statute4-1-student-discipline.pdf. I have taken proper care to safeguard this work and made all reasonable efforts to ensure it could not be copied. No part of this assignment has been previously submitted as part of another unit/course. I acknowledge and agree that the assessor of this assignment may for the purposes of assessment, reproduce the assignment and: provide to another member of faculty and any external marker; and/or submit it to a text matching software; and/or submit it to a text matching software which may then retain a copy of the assignment on its database for the purpose of future plagiarism checking. I certify that I have not plagiarised the work of others or participated in unauthorised collaboration when preparing this assignment. Signature ..................................................... Date…………………………………… * delete (iii) if not applicable Privacy Statement The information on this form is collected for the primary purpose of assessing your assignment and ensuring the academic integrity requirements of the University are met. Other purposes of collection include recording your plagiarism and collusion declaration, attending to course and administrative matters and statistical analyses. If you choose not to complete all the questions on this form it may not be possible for Monash University to assess your assignment. You have a right to access personal information that Monash University holds about you, subject to any exceptions in relevant legislation. If you wish to seek access to your personal information or inquire about the handling of your personal information, please contact the University Privacy Officer: [email protected] -MARKING SCHEME NAMES/IDs: TOTAL AVAILABLE MARK: /115 ASSIGNMENTREPORT ITEMS/ISSUES ALLOCATEDMARKS FAIL PASS CREDIT DIST. HIGH DIST. PRELIMINARIES (statement of participation in group assignment, assignment cover sheet, letter of transmittal, table of contents and receipt for submission of soft copy of assignment to email: [email protected]) Professional standard (5) as reflected in preliminaries ≤ 50% 50% ≤ 59% 60% ≤ 69% 70% ≤ 79% ≥ 80% EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (2) Logical, informative and suitable length (2) INVESTMENTPOLICY STATEMENT (35) Broad investment objectives including level of return and risk tolerance are identified (6) Investment constraints: time horizon, liquidity, taxes and unique circumstances (if any) (8) Strategic asset allocation – allocation ranges for asset classes are shown in line with the level of return and risk (4) Suitability of proposed assets based on the current investment environment and also being consistent with investment committee-approved investment list (10) Investment management strategy and why it is to be used (5) Monitoring and review process – benchmarks identified (pre- or post-tax return of your portfolio to be used) (2) METHODOLOGY (35) Preliminary data analysis (any errors in assignment data detected) and portfolio construction – discussed (8) Asset weights – Excel Solver (15) – Solver work sheet/s attached in Appendix? Excel work file should have been submitted to subject email address Asset (securities) allocation – discussed (6) Portfolio management and limitations due to assignment time period (6) PERFORMANCE EVALUATION (30) Portfolio performance - Quantitative (20) Portfolio performance - Qualitative (10) REFERENCES: MONASH QMANUAL (4) Reference citations in text (2) References in reference list (bibliography) (2) OVERALL - ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS AND PRESENTATION (4) Writing style (2) Clarity/organisation(1) Presentation and length of the assignment report (word count given?) (1) 12GRADING SCHEME FOR BFF3121 GROUP ASSIGNMENT HD HIGH DISTINCTION (80 marks and upward) The student demonstrates the competencies in distinction standard, and in addition, she or he:  Demonstrates originality and initiative;  Demonstrates an awareness of limitations D DISTINCTION (70 - 79 marks) The student:  Provides evidence of analysis and critical thinking;  Demonstrates an ability to evaluate;  Demonstrates a progressive, convincing and clear argument throughout the work;  Demonstrates selectivity and judgement in determining the importance of readings and ideas;  Shows evidence of wide reading and synthesis of ideas;  Utilises additional material to supplement information provided. C CREDIT (60 - 69 marks) The student:  Demonstrates an understanding of concepts, theories and issues;  Is able to identify strengths and weaknesses in theories/readings; and use these as a basis for evaluation;  Is able to apply information to practices/situation;  Develops a clear recommendation with rationale for assumptions;  Integrates writing and demonstrates links between components;  Will rarely, if ever, show evidence of original work;  Provides a structured, sourced and referenced work;  Expresses himself/herself concisely and clearly, and exhibits relatively error free writing;  May rely heavily on the text and assigned readings; and  May sometimes lapse into description rather than providing analysis and evaluation; 13P PASS (50 - 59 marks) The student  Essentially demonstrates an understanding of concepts, theories and issues but will tend to restate rather than evaluate;  Does not transform data in terms of structure, synthesis or application;  Relies heavily on text, or text and limited readings;  May demonstrate Declaration age, which is sparse in places;  Provides little or no evidence of critical analysis;  Provides little or no evidence of research;  Tends to use one limited approach, possibly with a narrow focus; and  Provides an acceptably sourced and referenced work but improvement may be necessary in structure and grammar. N FAIL (Less than 50 marks) - Specific problems, which the student may demonstrate as follows: The student  Misunderstands the question;  Fails to demonstrate understanding of theory and concepts;  Fails to identify the problems or issues;  Does not provide any evidence of completion of minimum readings; and  Does not write to an acceptable academic and professional standard. BFF3121 Group Assignment Marker’s Comments 14