Accountancy exams (ICAEW ACA) & parenting

[AwkwardPaws27]

Has anyone trained as an accountant alongside raising a small child(ren), & do you have any tips for me?

I'm on mat leave, returning to work soon & will be going back 4 days per week (80% of full-time). I started my ICAEW ACA before I was pregnant but only did two exams (bit of a tricky pregnancy after 3 previous MCs, so with agreement of my manager I didn't do any exams during it so as not to add to stress levels).

I'm struggling to work out how I'm going to fit in study time (and make sure it is effective, quality time - not plagued by mum guilt or unable to focus due to lack of sleep!) with a 1yo.

I did my degree over 4 years in the evenings, while working full-time during the day, & that was hard but doable, but parenting is just so constant that I'm panicking a bit.

Work have been quite supportive (public sector) but have asked that I pass 7 exams within 12 months of returning from mat leave (4 certificate level & 3 professional level). DH also has some significant work-related exams to take in the next 6-12 months so can't drop everything to support me.

Any tips gratefully received!

It is possible but makes it even more difficult! One of my friends was doing her exams same time as me. I had no kids then but I was working full time and that's hard enough.

She used to go to her local library at wkends to study to get away from the house. Her dh didn't work weekends so he'd look after their daughter while she wld attending training/studying.

Does ur employer also give u study leave, I know this often isn't very much. I used to take annual leave too to give me some decent time off before an exam. Pretty rubbish using annual leave for it but u so what u have to to get through. Good luck with it all 🤞🏻

Doesn't sound like excuses to me, just someone trying to puzzle out a challenge.

I'm going to throw out some ideas - take anything that's useful and ditch the rest.

Have you plotted out your days and weeks - work time, chores, rest time, sleeping etc? So you can see when you have time to recuperate and study, but also see visually how you are using your time. Sometimes that can help to see what can be done differently and help prioritise.

Writing plans and timetables down on paper can also help to ease the volume of stuff you're trying to hold in mind and relieve some pressure. You might find that you're trying to remember all the things you need to worry about - and then becoming more stressed about trying to remember it all (I know I do this). Writing it down can instantly lift that part of the stress off your shoulders.

A worry diary can also help if you find you're going in loops in your mind - every time you start to worry or feel overwhelmed, write it down somewhere so you can forget it. Then come back once a day and cross off the things that don't really matter and make a plan for those that do.

How long are you trying to study for each time? If you're currently aiming for heavy sessions, maybe break it into smaller chunks instead and then add it into your routine. Eg 30 minutes before work, 30 minutes at lunch, 30 minutes in the evening - and then that's an hour and a half a day but without the same sinking sensation of trying to sit down for a long study session in one go.

Have you blocked study time in your calendar? That can also help you get into a habit with it, which means it starts to feel less of a battle to get going each time as it becomes instinctive.

Have you given yourself designated days off? This is as important as having a regular study routine. I would say you should ideally have one day a week with no studying and no expectation to study. It will help you decompress and make it feel less relentless.

Do you have any friends who are also studying? Are you on any forums from your study provider? A bit of solidarity can help.

Is your next exam booked yet? Having it visually plotted out as a countdown can be helpful to organise your time but also to remind you that this is temporary.

It might feel like you will be studying forever but before you know it this will all be a memory. Keep focused on the end goal and that this is a short term challenge.

Have you talked to your tutors for any advice?

On the mental health side specifically, caba provides support to ICAEW students so might be worth a look: https://www.caba.org.uk/

https://www.icaew.com/insights/student-insights/heres-how-to-make-a-plan-for-your-wellbeing

Also, if you talk to your tutor/study provider, they are also usually good about giving pointers on where to focus your efforts - both in terms of key content and also study/exam techniques.

Eg if you're spending hours re-reading notes that's unlikely to be as effective or useful as doing question practice.

If you have less time available you need to be even more tactical about how you use it.

I don't think you can learn without enough sleep though - nothing will stay in your brain
This is very relatable. I feel like I've lost half my braincells.

I think I would be tempted to try and blast through the certificate level papers by taking a day or so of annual leave on e.g. a monday, study Sunday and Monday and then just do the exam Tuesday morning
I tried this - I took a few days leave, the first day I managed one module & then needed a nap. One day was lost as DS was unwell so had to stay home from childcare. I managed 2.5 modules on the third day.

I need a lot more than 2 days for the certificate level content - this may be a reflection of being tired & therefore learning slowly, but I think there are about 13 modules for Law on Kaplan. The learning material for each one is suggested to take between 2-2.5 hours. There are around 50 practice questions per module in addition to this - interactive qs, self-test workbook qs, the questionbank & then a short online test for each module - to work through these, mark them, identify any areas I haven't grasped & revisit them takes about 1.5 hours per module.
Then throw in a few hours for the mock tests & revision of any final weak spots.
I can't see how I could cover it all in 2-3 days, even if I worked solidly (& at the moment I really do need regular breaks).

She used to go to her local library at wkends to study to get away from the house

I think I need to try this - DH took DS out for a couple of hours and I got far more done. Me getting out of the house would be even better as I wouldn't be tempted to just put a wash on or quickly tidy up...

Same here. I'm part through a CIMA qualification and I've had to withdraw. It's too much for me on top of FT work and family life. I've lost weekends to exam revision. I may continue in the future.

@folkjournals thank you, that's actually a really helpful list.

This especially resonates - "You might find that you're trying to remember all the things you need to worry about - and then becoming more stressed about trying to remember it all".

As soon as I sit down to study I am plagued by guilt about the housework, or remember that I need to also complete my ethics modules, prep for x meeting, need to declutter, etc etc.

I used to keep a notebook to brain-dump, time to bring that back I think.

I definitely need to ring-fence a specific time(s) to study - I think ideally that's 30-60 mins before work, another 30 mins after work, plus a couple of hours on Saturday morning. I'm trying to fit it in around the rest of my responsibilities rather than the other way around.

I think my technique is good - run through the Kaplan course material once, do all the practice qs, revisit if I've totally flunked but aim for "good enough" rather than perfect scores.
Once I've completed all modules, take mock exam once, spend between ½- 1 day revisiting any very weak areas and then take mock exam 2 to consolidate.

I guess it depends what the consequences are for failing an exam, vs if there will be a problem if you don't take 7 exams within 12 months. (Which does sound like a lot with a baby as well!)

If I have read it right, you still haven't taken any more exams since 10th April? If that's the case, then you have September and October to do 4 certificate exams if you want to spread your professional exams and not do all 3 in one go in March. (i.e. to give you 6 weeks to study for a professional one in Dec and then 3 months for 2 in March).

Your technique sounds really thorough, I am sure it will be really effective at making sure you pass first time and that you score really well in your exams. But if there aren't massive cons to if you happen to fail one I think I would be significantly cutting down the thoroughness with which you're studying, at least at certificate level. I used to get a text book from the ICAEW which I vaguely skim read, and then I would do a small chunk of each section of the question bank, see how I had done. If any were a catastrophe I would go back and read that chapter properly, but mainly they weren't.

I am a fairly speedy studier, and I really really recognise trying to do this while juggling work and children and not enough sleep must be a nightmare. But timewise, it looks to me like either you've got to come up with a method of getting through the material quicker, or agree a longer timeline with your work.

Having reread that I'm not sure if it's come across how I meant it to.

What I was aiming for: I wanted it to be supportive, recognising the level of challenge involved with trying to do a really in depth professional qualification, but also trying to say that I think in order to get through it I wonder if it's worth trying a less thorough approach. Every mark over the pass mark you get is time you could have spent Not Studying. If there aren't major consequences to failing it might be worth seeing what happens just for one exam if you just cram for it, take it and see.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/kaplan-29074459471

You might find the lunchtime webinar on the recording helpful on 27 Sept.

I used to get a text book from the ICAEW which I vaguely skim read, and then I would do a small chunk of each section of the question bank, see how I had done. If any were a catastrophe I would go back and read that chapter properly, but mainly they weren't.

I think it might be worth either trying this approach or answer the questions using the materials as a guide for "researching" your answers as you go.

This is not a criticism of you because I would say similar to anyone, but I'm not convinced that 3 hours of passive reading per module is necessarily a great investment of your limited time. Even people with photographic memories don't learn much from simply reading materials, so what is the purpose and benefit?

In my experience people learn much more from activities than passive reading - even if you're working through the question banks whilst consulting the written content to work out/research the correct answer, you are far more likely to retain the knowledge from using it in an active way and therefore be able to apply/recall it afterwards.

Don't look at the answers until you have responded fully (when we read answers we tend to think "oh yes I would have said that" but the reality is if we haven't practised answering we actually wouldn't!), but do use the module resources as a guide while you practise how to answer.

Same as you wouldn't get a 3 hour briefing in the workplace - you'd just have a quick intro and then get stuck in and give it a go, referring to guidance as you go along to really master the task.

Also, you don't need to be completing every single practise question - move on once you are consistently passing a topic.

I'm saying this as someone who started out like you being really meticulous about working thoroughly through every single module before embarking on question practice. (And repeatedly getting to the question practice and promptly feeling overwhelmed that I barely remembered anything I had read.)

Until - one of my papers we didn't have budget for me to attend both a taught course and a revision course, so I had to do self-study for the "taught" part and then attended a revision course. I hadn't managed to get anywhere near reading all the materials before attending the revision course and had no idea what some of the questions were even asking me at the start of the first day.

I learnt all the content I needed from the revision course days spent doing back-to-back question practice, researching and reviewing my answers. Passed with a much better score than the ones where I had spent most of my study time diligently reading.

Will reply properly later, but just to clarify it isn't passive reading; it's the OnDemand Kaplan course, so basically prerecorded mini tuition sessions.

I passed my third cert exam in June, gave OnDemand for Law, then MI & PTax as LiveOnline courses in Oct/Nov.

Every mark over the pass mark you get is time you could have spent Not Studying

In the past I would have fully agreed with this, but I only got 62% (55% pass mark) in my last exam - so not a big margin.

I am/was relatively bright - I managed all As & Bs at GCSE despite some challenging issues at home, then got a 1st in my BSc Hons when I did this as a mature student (while working full-time) so I didn't think Id struggle this much. I really do feel like it's a lot harder to absorb information now; I guess potentially sleep related?

Thank you - I've reserved a place

Probably not what you'll want to do but could you put your child in nursery an extra day to have a whole day temporarily to focus on revising plus some chores if needed?

Do you have to pay for your exams? I saw the extra 200 a month as worth it when paying 500 for exam and wanting to make sure I passed!

Ok so passive listening? All I meant by the phrase "passive reading" was that you're not actively working with the content and applying it. You're trying to memorise rather than utilise?

It wasn't a judgement, just an alternative view.

You've reiterated yourself that you're struggling to absorb the content. There's a lot of research on the effectiveness of active learning strategies, doesn't hurt to try some if what you're currently doing isn't working for you.

As I think I and others have said before - you're clearly very capable and I am certainly not suggesting otherwise. Re your previous studies, an undergraduate degree is very different to professional exams. People tend to find they need different strategies - I don't think it's a reflection of your ability so much as needing a different technique.

Are there any papers/topics that you find more interesting/ motivating?

That may also be a factor if you're bogged down in papers that are less relevant / inspiring to you. It's more difficult to learn topics we find boring etc!

If so, some papers may be less gruelling so it may not always be as tough as you're finding it right now.

@folkjournals sorry, I didn't mean to come across as defensive/dismissive - I am taking suggestions on board.

Some of the segments are passive listening, but each one usually relates to a segment of the workbook so I'm highlighting key definitions/terminology etc as we go along, and there is usually a scenario to consider or an interactive test question after each video, so I'd say a good proportion is active.

Honestly I'm not sure which ones I'd find more motivating - I've found them all quite dry so far. My degree (biomed) was far more interesting so possibly why I found the studying less challenging! That said, I find my day job quite interesting, & I'm in a management accountant role so hopefully MI will be more engaging (course booked for November).

No, please don't apologise, I just didn't want you to think I was criticising you. You're free to dismiss my comments if they're unhelpful.

Accountancy is a bit of a pivot from biomed, but I'm glad you're enjoying your day job even if the exams so far have been dry. Hopefully once you get into papers that have a more direct connection to things you can use in your job it will be more motivating.

If all else fails, "this is a means to an end" can be a useful mantra. You will get there.

Certificate stage is dull as there's so little application. Is it just BTF and Law you've tackled so far? The On Demand materials do their job and we've made them as interactive as possible. They are designed to be approached in bite sized chunks, so please try the 30 minutes here, 60 minutes there approach. You can also use Academic Support (Contact a tutor button) if you find you really don't know why an answer is right for a Q.

Today I've been helping students with Qs on solar power & electric vehicles, a traditional bank going digital, a government funding private education and another with budgeting issues. It gets better on professional stage, promise.

Message me if you want help.

And practice, practice, practice from the Question Bank. You will see very similar Qs in the real exam. Look for the "Test Yourself" function to build tests for the topics you find tricky.

Aha. Read back. Only PTX & MI to go.