To ask if anyone has any ACA exam tips please?

[Tiplsplease]

Struggling to structure my revision.

I have BS and FM three weeks today - in college part time until then but mainly on leave to study.

FM is a resit so theoretically I should know what to do but I am panicking with the size of the QBs and the pressure... barely done anything for BS yet so need to get cracking - I have done notes so was planning to just hit the QB

What I am awful at is committing to something without panicking? So can anyone help with structuring my time realistically before the exam? Sorry if that sounds obvious, I have a good degree etc just struggle with it!

I’m worried that three weeks is not long enough urgh

I basically have 21 x 9 hour days to use.

I did ACCA myself (and converted to ACA later), but am the ACA training mentor for my firm. I assume by the amount of study leave you have that you work for a big firm?

My firm is only small, and as such our trainees have to do their main courses on weekends, with a block release revision course, then only one day's study leave in addition to the exam day.

What I'm trying to say is that while you feel that it's not very long, it's a huge amount of time compared to most other students that will be sitting the exams, and that's most definitely in your favour.

How close were you with the FM exam first time around? Do you know what you did wrong? One of my students failed an exam purely on messing up his time management on the day.

All I would suggest is putting together a study timetable, and sticking to it. Make the most of any services available to you via your college or the ICAEW, and use as many of the exam resources available to you through your ACA Student Membership. Does your college provide tutor support outside of the classroom?

But most of all - don't panic! Getting yourself overly worked up is not going to help you in the slightest. Just remember that every other person in that exam room is feeling just like you, and all you have to do is be better than half of them.

As my old BPP lecturer used to say - if you get more than 5% over the passmark it just means you did too much work!

Good luck!

Thanks a million! Yes I work for big 4 but most of it is holiday actually I am taking as I didn’t want to be working long hour in run up to the exams (and get a decent hol allowance).

I did badly in original FM (40, pass mark 55) as I panicked and messed up on time and everything really. Have a good track record with the nine I have passed though so am confident I can do it, just need to focus.

Yes, Big 4 working hours are a lot longer than we put on our trainees, so I don't blame you for taking time out of your annual leave.

My don't panic comment seems the most appropriate. Have confidence in yourself - you've got through the first 9 already, so you're already more than half way through and on the home stretch.

If you really feel you're struggling with the panic and are overwhelmed, don't forget that you can always contact CABA CABA

Forgot to say - Is it the first one you've failed? If so, again, don't worry - the first one you fail is always the biggest emotional hit as it's the first time any of us really come across a time where we might actually fail something.

Previously exams (GCSE's, A-levels, etc) are pretty much always passed, you just get different grades. To be told you've "failed" something is always a kick to the gut.

Eat some chocolate before the exam for energy and make sure you are well hydrated.

In between revision times during your study leave, take a walk to relax. Have healthy snacks in the house too.

Give yourself the reward of half a day off with something nice to do (meet friends?) a couple of times at least during your 3 weeks.

And good luck!

Thanks all!

No it’s not actually the first one - we take them three at a time where I am and I was in a bad place and failed all three in one go. It wasn’t a happy time. I knew when I was doing them it was going to be a strain and it was just too sttessful. Fingers crossed it goes better this time

I did ICAS, best thing in my opinion is to work through the question banks, don't do them all but pick the difficult ones from each chapter and do a couple from each area - do one from each chapter then go back and work through again doing another from each chapter so you've covered the whole syllabus then If there's anything you're struggling with do some more from that chapter.

If you have past papers then work through some of those. Make sure you are doing each one to time (question bank and past papers) and doing them properly e.g. full sentences rather than bullet points.

Good luck, it's horrible but it's doable!

Assuming these are "written" exams...
State the bleeding obvious!!!
Imagine being a marker... they only have your words to go on. So make sure you write a lot of "because" in your answer.
Stating a theory is knowledge... but that is not enough. You need to demonstrate understanding. Often with numerical questions this happens implicitly through the calculations but with written stuff you need to be explicit.
For example:
NPV uses the time value of money. This is the concept that £1 today is worth a different amount in the future due to (i) the ability to earn interest and (ii) the impact of inflation. When I were a lass I used to get the bus to town, have a few drinks and chips on the way home for a fiver. These days I can't get the bus with a fiver. (Except that you would probably have a scenario for the context!)

Good luck!

Oh I loved FM! You have to be really strict with yourself and move on if questions are talking too long. You can always go back if you have time. Show all your workings.

It’s a while since I did FM but if yoi nail through all the questions in the book and every past paper you’ll be golden.

BS I have no tips. I got my highest mark in the practice paper before we started revision and got a lower mark every subsequent paper cumulative with my lowest ever mark in the actual exam!

Agree with @onlyjustme make sure you're picking up the easy marks. I remember going into one of my exams with the mantra 'do nothing is always the first option' e.g. if a company could make a number of investment decsions and you need to evaluate them, don't forget that not investing in anything is always an option and is and easy mark or two.

And you have 21 days? That’s loads.

Do a morning and an afternoon session with a morning break, lunch, and an afternoon break.

Then go out and do some exercise and get some fresh air and have a healthy dinner.

Don’t stress yourself or working all the hours god sends.

Take some time off - timetable a couple of half days and do something with friends or family.

Your brain needs time to process, you can’t clog it with the question bank all the tome.

Really really look after yourself.

Thanks all! Tbh when I say 21 days a lot of that is revision also, I am not ready to start straight on FM qb just yet. I still have a few concepts to revise and am making notes as I go along to help me retain info

I am also an awful procrastinator!!!!

Hi. I did CTA so haven't done your set of exams but similar sort of thing. My biggest tip would be to get right in to question practise / past papers. I spent way too much time faffing around reading over notes etc but what really helped was just putting my head down and actually answering the questions, in exam conditions. Or at the very least, devising a written plan or how you would answer them. Best of luck!

Another one saying question practice. Even if you need to brush up on topics consider revising that one and then doing the OTs for it (do they still have them?) or the longer questions as when you check the answers you are effectively revising the content.

Remember you marker can only award marks for what you have written. Make sure it is neatly presented and legible. It makes it easier to search for the marking points.

I did different set of exams, but maybe my experience can help (CeMAP, CeRER). Yes to picking up the easy points, if I looked at a question and the possible answers and nothing jumped out at me as possibly been the answer, I flagged it and moved on, I answered all the ones I was sure of first - same with calculations, unless I knew the exact formula I had to use when initially looking at the question, I moved on.

I find writing full notes - even copying the full sentences from the books helped in the topics I was struggling with, I remembered writing particular words when sitting the exam, so I could narrow down the answers.

Take regular breaks - when you are revising and it feels nothing is going in anymore you’ve probably hit your wall. Have a break and come back to it with a fresh mind.

Taking past papers really helped, I found it helpful to review the wrong answers and that explanation from that helped me understand what I probably wouldn’t have taken in otherwise.

Try not to put pressure on yourself, if like my studies, there is so much to learn which is quite impossible to retain everything, get a basic understanding of each topic, you just need to know enough to pass, if I wasn’t getting something after several attempts, I figured I was never going to ‘get it’ so to move on from that and Retain more from the topics I was comfortable with.

Good luck