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Please help - nervous ACA student

4 replies

Freepizzaforall · 19/08/2018 17:48

I’ve seen these threads crop up every few months and people are always so helpful!

I have my BPT exam in 3.5 weeks and the thought is scaring me a lot! Got 4 days of college for exam prep but it’s actually a retake so I need all the help I can get. I have just started going through the workbook and can remember nothing - as in literally started today... plan is to race through while doing study manual questions, then hit QB as soon as possible.

I don’t think I failed the original exam cos of lack of understanding, it was more lack of time to go through the topics as was doing three at once, and poor time management.

If anyone has any advice with the above, I’m all ears! Is 3.5 weeks enough for me to smash it?!? I am taking another one also (BS) but hoping that should be a little easier. Huge thanks in advance

OP posts:
Freepizzaforall · 19/08/2018 20:51

Bump

OP posts:
Lockheart · 19/08/2018 21:05

Hey me too! Are you sitting on the 11 Sept?

I’m afraid I don’t have much advice as this is my first sitting, but I think you’re right to highlight time management as the main problem. That’s certainly my experience from the mocks.

Because it’s completely open book, I’d focus on learning your workbook (Kaplan?) thoroughly- not the technical content, but where everything is. Spend a couple of days drawing up a useful index and tabbing up key pages. Then question practice, question practice, question practice. That seems to be the key to passing. It trains you in technical content as well as time management. That’s my plan anyway! :)

Lockheart · 19/08/2018 21:07

I’m also doing BS at the same time by the way - we’re in this together :)

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Logistria · 19/08/2018 21:56

The study manual questions aren't exam standard, they're there to make sure you understand the theory in that section. Don't waste your time on them if this is a retake and you're only going through the study manual as a refresh.

Doing the study manual questions will give you a false confidence that will immediately be knocked once you hit the exam standard questions - and you don't need your confidence being swept away with so little time til the exam. Passing these exams is as much mental as anything else.

You remember nothing? When did you originally sit the exam?

PP are right. If you don't have exam technique down, it doesn't matter how hot you are on technical knowledge.

Unless your first sitting was a very long time ago, and you genuinely have no idea how to begin answering questions, I think you'd be better off going straight into exam standard question practice, and "researching" the technical knowledge as you go.

You'll find that for the first day of questions you'll feel like you're looking up almost everything, but by the second day it will be vastly reduced, and on and on until you've got as much knowledge as you can hope to retain. If I were you my weekends would be dedicated to question practice until the exam. Which isn't that big of a burden.

The knowledge will embed better that way. Otherwise you run the risk of refreshing your way through the study manual, then coming to do proper question practice and still not really remembering any of it. For most people the knowledge doesn't start to really stick until they're into question practice.

If your exam technique let you down, then also plan time for working on that. So doing practice papers and planning which order to answer to tackle the questions in, timing yourself, moving on, setting your answers out with double line spacing, writing in the correct style, keeping short points, not getting bogged down in getting a perfect answer if it's only a few marks, remembering these are professional exams not academic ones so your answer style should reflect that.

If you get stuck on a question never, ever look at the model answer before you've attempted yours. You'll nod away to yourself, "oh yes I would have done that, of course". Except if you would have done that why did you need to look at it? Research it, go back to the study manual, figure it out, make an attempt, do as much as you possibly can, and then, only then look at the model answer. That way it will stick in your mind and develop your skills. Otherwise you'll overestimate how prepared you are and won't be building your knowledge up.

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