PGDA Stellenbosch Helper

Tools for Stellenbosch PGDA students

Welcome to PGDA Stellenbosch Helper

Tools that help you stay on top of the PGDA workload — track your marks, work out where you stand for exam entrance, and revise from past papers grouped by topic. Pick a tool below or use the tabs at the top.

How the PGDA marks system works

Source: 2026 PGDA / BAccHons Programme Framework, School of Accountancy. Click each section to expand or collapse.

1. Getting into the final exam

You are admitted to the November final examination only if your Class Mark per Module (CMpM) satisfies both conditions:

  • The weighted CMpM across all four subject modules is at least 40%.
  • The CMpM for each individual module is at least 30%.

The CMpM for each module is built up as follows:

  • Saturday tests, assignments & other assessments — 30% (minimum 25% from class tests, up to 5% from assignments)
  • March test — 20%
  • Mid-year test — 30%
  • September test — 20%

The weighted CMpM is calculated using each module's credit value:

  • Financial Accounting — 40 credits — 33.33%
  • Management Accounting and Finance — 32 credits — 26.67%
  • Auditing, Governance and Information Systems — 24 credits — 20.00%
  • Taxation — 24 credits — 20.00%
Fail either of the two thresholds (overall 40% or any module 30%) and you do not gain entrance to the final exam.
2. How the class mark and final exam combine

The final examination is written over three days in October, with one paper per module. After the exam, two marks are calculated for each subject module:

  • Examination Mark per Module (EMpM) — the mathematical average of all questions about the module in the examination.
  • Final Mark per Module (FMpM) — the mathematical average of the CMpM and the EMpM. In other words, the class mark and the exam each contribute 50% to the final module mark.

For example, if your CMpM is 60% and your EMpM is 50%, then:

FMpM = (60 + 50) ÷ 2 = 55%

This 50/50 weighting is the same for every subject module.

3. Passing a module

To pass a module after the final examination, both of the following must be true:

  • FMpM ≥ 50% or EMpM ≥ 50% — at least one of the two must reach 50%.
  • AND EMpM ≥ 40% — the exam alone must clear a 40% subminimum.

In plain English:

If you have exam access and you score 50% or more on the final exam, you have passed the module. The exam alone is enough — both conditions are automatically met (50 ≥ 50, and 50 ≥ 40).
  • If your EMpM is between 40% and 50%, you can still pass — provided the FMpM (class mark + exam averaged) reaches 50%. A strong class mark can pull a borderline exam up.
  • If your EMpM is below 40%, you cannot pass on the regular exam regardless of your class mark — you would need to write the supplementary exam.

BAccHons students must additionally achieve a Final Mark of at least 50% for the research module.

4. Supplementary exam (if you don't pass)

If you do not meet all pass requirements after the regular exam, you may be admitted to the supplementary exam in one or more modules.

To qualify for the supp in a specific module, your EMpM or FMpM must be at least 40% in that module.

The pass requirements after the supp are the same: FMpM or EMpM ≥ 50%, AND EMpM ≥ 40%.

Important caveats:

  • If you sat both the exam and the supp in a module, the supp's EMpM replaces the exam's EMpM — unless the supp mark is lower, in which case the exam mark is kept.
  • The FMpM is capped at 50% for any module where the supp was written, no matter how well you did.
  • If you fail to sit the supp for any reason, you forfeit further examination opportunities (except possibly the DCE).
5. Director's Concession Exam (DCE) — last resort

The DCE is a final concession exam, written in January of the following year before lectures resume. You only qualify if all of the following hold:

  • It is the only outstanding module needed to graduate (and not more than 48 credits).
  • Your FMpM is at least 35% in the relevant module.
  • AND your EMpM in the supplementary exam was at least 30%.

Pass requirements after the DCE are again the same: FMpM or EMpM ≥ 50%, AND EMpM ≥ 40%. The FMpM is capped at 50% for any module where the DCE was written.

Overall summary

Weighted overall — accumulated
—
No marks yet
Weighted overall — projected
—
If current pace holds
Completed weight
0%
Across all modules
Modules with data
0/4
At least one mark each

Exam Entrance Status

Not yet determinable Overall ≥ 40: — All modules ≥ 30: —

Enter some marks to see your exam entrance status.

Rule: a student qualifies for the examination only if the weighted class mark across all four modules is at least 40 and the class mark for each individual module is at least 30.

How this calculator behaves

  • Blank marks: assessments left blank are excluded from current performance calculations and are not treated as zero.
  • Projections: projected final class marks assume you will continue performing at your current completed-average level on remaining assessments.
  • Accumulated class mark: running sum of (mark × component weight) across assessments already written, scaled to be out of 100 for a fully complete module.
  • Scope: this calculator only models the Class Mark (CMpM) and exam-entrance thresholds. The final exam, FMpM, supp and DCE rules are explained at the top of the page but are not yet calculated here.
Built for PGDA Stellenbosch students. Calculations are estimates — always confirm with your faculty.

Past Paper Section Finder

Click a section to see every past-paper question that covers it. Each match has been validated against the corresponding memo. Tick off sections as you finish revising — your progress is saved in this browser.

Filters
Year
Paper type
Match strength
Completion

Plan Configuration

Sections & Understanding

— h total

Rate your understanding of each topic (1 = need to start from scratch, 10 = very confident). Sections with lower understanding get more study time. Uncheck any section you are skipping.

Question Coach — minimum useful questions per section

This page helps you find the smallest sensible set of questions to do for each section so that you:

  • get exposure to the main types of questions that can be asked,
  • build an overall understanding of the section,
  • see which question types come up most often,
  • know what you need to master first.

How Question Coach now works

1. Section understanding first

We first read the lecture slides for the section to understand the content, scope and main concepts. The slides are used for understanding only — not as a source of recommended questions.

2. Strict, questions-only extraction from non-slide teaching files

We then go through all non-slide teaching files for that section — question packs, tutorials, revision questions, and similar. Examples are not recommended. Class examples, worked examples, "Examples/Voorbeelde" files, "Notes and examples" files and "Cover page and examples" files are excluded by default. They are only used when a clearly separable real question (one with an explicit "Required:" instruction) is embedded inside them — in which case the chip on the card says "Embedded question" and identifies the file it came from.

3. Question types are grouped

All valid questions are grouped into question types for that section. For each type we count how many questions appear in the non-slide teaching files so you can see which types are common within the teaching material.

4. Two ranking views, side by side

We don't pick one number to call "importance". Each section card shows you two separate ranking views for the same set of question types:

  • Most common in packs — how often that type appears across the section's non-slide question packs, tutorials and revision material. Treat this as what to practise the most because the teaching material puts the most weight on it.
  • Most tested in past papers — how often that type has appeared in real past-paper questions for this section. Treat this as what to prioritise for exam readiness because the examiner has returned to it repeatedly.

Both rankings always appear. Neither is hidden behind the other, and a valid type is never removed just because it didn't top a ranking. When a type ranks high on one signal but not the other, the Coverage gaps block flags the mismatch so you can decide how to handle it.

5. Coverage minimum, then two reinforcement rankings

Each section card shows, in this order:

  1. A short section overview.
  2. The full list of question types found anywhere in this section — nothing is hidden because it is rare.
  3. The Coverage minimum — the smallest sensible set of questions that exposes you to every type at least once. If one question covers several types cleanly, we use that efficiency. Items in this block are marked Coverage essential.
  4. The Most common in packs ranking, with one extra reinforcement question per top type for a second rep on what the teaching files emphasise.
  5. The Most tested in past papers ranking, with the same reinforcement option for what the examiner has returned to.
  6. A Coverage gaps block listing rare types, types found in packs but not past papers, types found in past papers but weak in packs, and any types in scope that don't yet have a verified question.

How to use this page

  1. Read the section overview so you know what the section is about.
  2. Scan the full type list so no type catches you off guard.
  3. Work through the Coverage minimum first. Doing this set should expose you to every kind of question the section can ask.
  4. Decide how to spend extra study time, depending on what you need:
    • To feel fluent in what the teaching files emphasise, reinforce the Most common in packs types.
    • To feel ready for what the examiner does, reinforce the Most tested in past papers types.
  5. Check the Coverage gaps block for any imbalance between the two rankings — that's where extra attention pays off.
  6. Tick a section off when the Coverage minimum is done.

Important note. Recommendations are questions only. Slides are used to understand the section, never as a recommendation source. Examples (class examples, worked examples, "Examples/Voorbeelde" files, "Notes and examples" files, "Cover page and examples" files) are not recommended in themselves — they are only used when a clearly separable real question is embedded inside, in which case the card chip will say so. Both ranking views are computed and shown for every section; neither is treated as the master signal. Sections where the non-slide teaching files do not yet yield enough verified questions are flagged with an Insufficient verified coverage badge so we don't pretend to confidence we don't have.