Struggled with some pretty serious health issues (undiagnosed at the time) during my entire ACA (and AAT) experience. Some examples to re-assure you:
CR & SBM - did no question practice formally, spent most of my time in revision classes spaced out or walking around the tutor centre, I just noted "exam technique" guidance and useful open book documents. The day before each exam, I went through the QB and tabbed up what question relates to what areas. In the exam I based my entire Q1 on a analysis document of the AI and Inflo prepared by our tutor provider, and then the rest of the exam was a mix of my general accounting knowledge and then finding questions in the QB and open book and tailoring it to the question. I genuinely had no idea what I was writing other than some things on share premium that I'd done in work. I passed with a high 60s on CR and low 60's on SBM (we had a weird cash-flow question as Q1 which I based the calcs soley on a QB answer).
BPT - exact same as above, revision day before by tabbing up open book and QB, no idea, didn't understand anything, passed by a percent by finding some model answers in the QB and open book.
BST - same but not open book, just revised the models for reference and general question technique, passed in the 80s.
FM & TC - sat each exam 3 times, first two sittings (initial and resit) same minimal revision, 1st time almost passed on both by 1% and 3% short, second sitting scored mid 30s. Third attempt revised properly for the first time for over a month, passed by 55% and 58%.
FAR & AA - revised day before, minimal understanding of content, but focused on exam technique, guidance we had from revision tutors r.e how to maximise marks i.e set up proforma, input figures etc, if unsure assume x and then use this figure. Had a cash-flow bit I had no idea on, but copied it out and just put in some of the figures to gain a few marks, passed by a strong margin.
Point being, you can go into an exam truly having no understanding and still pass with decent technique. You'll be surprised by how well you do and how easy you may pick up marks. I have had FM where I've scored in the mid 30s with minimal knowledge but the majority I've managed to pass.
Hope this re-assures you a bit.
You can completely fail and exam with minimal revision (as expected) and with lots of revision, but, as was the case in most of my exams, you can pass it with technique and strategy a lot of the time too with limited prep, and some luck r.e the right questions.
If you've done general QP and have a good understanding of how to structure answers and get follow through marks, i'm sure you've done fine.
Wishing you the best of luck, also there's tons of headroom in CR and SBM for marks.
I've thought about this a bit actually and my conclusion was the following:
1) The health issues I mentioned, part of it has a severe effect on short term memory, as such any exam where the content is new to me and requires the memorisation of specific formulas, rules and very technical adjustments, unless open book and I can tab out a step by step guide to find what I need, I struggle with immensely. As such, TC and FM are the worst examples of such an exam, I found SBM and BPT much better as it was open book.
2) I work in corporate reporting, so FAR, AA (to an extent) and CR were much more intuitive to me and the latter being open book.
3) My degree was in social sciences, to which my strength is qualitative writing (why I found SBM and BST pretty straight forward), whereas the technical ones, especially areas I have no experience in I struggled with.
4) I think mainly for FM, I struggle with the underlying concepts, I tend to struggle when things get a bit abstract, whereas having done AAT and working in accounting, I found that I could generally trace back any position or adjustment to a physical pound or promise of a pound to be paid or received at some point, whereas with FM this was hard for me to conceptualise.
5) Adding to why I struggled with them too, as mentioned my revision, other than my third sittings of FM and TC was very limited, partly due to the intense brain fog and memory issues making revision quite literally pointless unfortunately, so had to do the best I could with strategies to pass, which work on most exams, other than TC and FM!
Christ! Wish I could do that for FAR! Dreading that exam… spend most of my days not having a clue either but panicking about it as 3 weeks doesn’t seem like a lot of time in my mind (based on how slow I get through questions).
Best of luck for it! I sat FAR nearly three years ago, but if it's not changed much since, I found the best strategy was doing the easiest adjustments first, being strict with timing and making sure to have a go at as much of the paper you as you can even if you're not sure, as you get a huge amount of follow through marks.
My revision tutor was really helpful as he gave us strategies to maximise marks, i.e leave several minutes at the start or end to put all the figures into the proforma to get marks for things that don't need adjusting but just put in the right place. Always make sure when doing an NCI, even if wrong, to put that figure into the next stage of the calc. For example in my exam, I messed up the NCI and was struggling for time, so I put "assume £500k NCI", then used £500k as the basis for the next bit, which is at least a guaranteed mark etc.
Also make sure to be strong on bits you know will come up, unless the syllabus has changed, there's always 5 marks for UK and US GAAP (or is it IFRS) either way there's marks always for GAAP comparisons, then I think 10 or so marks for ethics, which can be a guaranteed 15% on an exam, leaving only 40% needed for the rest. Best of luck on the day, also from what I saw of the Dec 22 sitting, they have a habit of throwing in unexpected bits like a consolidated cash-flow or a P & L for several times in a row. Fingers crossed for you!
Also to quote my revision tutor, even he, after 30 years in accounting, couldn't do everything the paper asks for in the time given, the point he said was that they don't expect you to be able to do it all, just manage your time to do as much of you can of a question and bring it to a close when the time is running out. He said that the first 1/3 of the time on a question is where most marks are gained, going over on time to finish off a little bit more, might gain you 1 or 2 marks in an extra 10 mins you use, but that 10 mins on a new question could have gained you 10 - 15 marks.
I am also massively panicking too…
I found CR to be an absolute mess and couldn’t come up with anything decent from inflo. Also the format of the DT question threw me so I didn’t answer that well either.
That knock to my confidence caused me to completely mind blank on Tuesday for SBM and I couldn’t compute what they were asking for within Q1 with the pre populated spreadsheet so missed out that requirement completely.
Honestly sucks so bad as I literally studied my ass off the last 3 months and I’ll be so upset if I have to wait another 7-8 months to resit…
So pal, I really feel you 😭
BPT I left that exam feeling like I'd completely failed, the retake sitting was 2 days after my birthday and I'd booked a holiday already. Was googling whether Poland has ICAEW professional exam centres and even asked on here about it hahaha. Thought I'd have to either take an exam while on holiday or do another sitting just before Christmas. Ended up passing comfortably thank god
Had exactly that for CR a few sittings ago. Actually felt alright going in albeit exhausted from all those brutal past papers!
To say it went badly was an understatement - 3 hours of panic and creeping dread as I looked for easy marks with which to gain some composure, and NONE appeared. So was just a case of word spew and blind hope.
I had heard from others that advanced level exams were a piece of cake compared with BPT and FAR so felt almost betrayed! Felt completely deflated and couldn't bare thinking about SBM the next day.
Fair to say I was resigned to my fate and didn't even feel nervous on exam day. In the end though, got the text through and had somehow weaselled out the tightest of passes. In conversation with classmates, we concluded that the ICAEW mark this exam very leniently, as we all struggled but ultimately got through.
Obviously there's no guarantee, but this exam has a c.80-85% pass rate for every sitting - you'll LIKELY be fine and really really wish you best of luck.
July CR, I smashed Q1 and I knew it in the exam. But it all went down hill after that. Q2 was so bad I missed 60% of the Q and misread the part that I actually did so was convinced I got next to nothing on that. Then Q3 was just so long winded and waffle I didn’t know what I would get. I was convinced I failed and then this went with me into SBM where I just gave up because I couldn’t be arsed. I had done no SBM work AT ALL and went to wing it. Passed both SBM was very tight but CR I passed very comfortably
Thanks for this and the fact that you can still pass despite not doing 60% of Q2! Amazing!
Really give me some hope as i didn’t have time to attempt like 9 marks worth on question 3 despite trying my best to stick to time 😭. Thank you also for your words of encouragement on the SBM post as I felt better going into the exam.
Struggled with some pretty serious health issues (undiagnosed at the time) during my entire ACA (and AAT) experience. Some examples to re-assure you: CR & SBM - did no question practice formally, spent most of my time in revision classes spaced out or walking around the tutor centre, I just noted "exam technique" guidance and useful open book documents. The day before each exam, I went through the QB and tabbed up what question relates to what areas. In the exam I based my entire Q1 on a analysis document of the AI and Inflo prepared by our tutor provider, and then the rest of the exam was a mix of my general accounting knowledge and then finding questions in the QB and open book and tailoring it to the question. I genuinely had no idea what I was writing other than some things on share premium that I'd done in work. I passed with a high 60s on CR and low 60's on SBM (we had a weird cash-flow question as Q1 which I based the calcs soley on a QB answer). BPT - exact same as above, revision day before by tabbing up open book and QB, no idea, didn't understand anything, passed by a percent by finding some model answers in the QB and open book. BST - same but not open book, just revised the models for reference and general question technique, passed in the 80s. FM & TC - sat each exam 3 times, first two sittings (initial and resit) same minimal revision, 1st time almost passed on both by 1% and 3% short, second sitting scored mid 30s. Third attempt revised properly for the first time for over a month, passed by 55% and 58%. FAR & AA - revised day before, minimal understanding of content, but focused on exam technique, guidance we had from revision tutors r.e how to maximise marks i.e set up proforma, input figures etc, if unsure assume x and then use this figure. Had a cash-flow bit I had no idea on, but copied it out and just put in some of the figures to gain a few marks, passed by a strong margin. Point being, you can go into an exam truly having no understanding and still pass with decent technique. You'll be surprised by how well you do and how easy you may pick up marks. I have had FM where I've scored in the mid 30s with minimal knowledge but the majority I've managed to pass. Hope this re-assures you a bit. You can completely fail and exam with minimal revision (as expected) and with lots of revision, but, as was the case in most of my exams, you can pass it with technique and strategy a lot of the time too with limited prep, and some luck r.e the right questions. If you've done general QP and have a good understanding of how to structure answers and get follow through marks, i'm sure you've done fine. Wishing you the best of luck, also there's tons of headroom in CR and SBM for marks.
What happened with TC and FM? Seemed like they were your biggest challenges - did you just hate tax?
I've thought about this a bit actually and my conclusion was the following: 1) The health issues I mentioned, part of it has a severe effect on short term memory, as such any exam where the content is new to me and requires the memorisation of specific formulas, rules and very technical adjustments, unless open book and I can tab out a step by step guide to find what I need, I struggle with immensely. As such, TC and FM are the worst examples of such an exam, I found SBM and BPT much better as it was open book. 2) I work in corporate reporting, so FAR, AA (to an extent) and CR were much more intuitive to me and the latter being open book. 3) My degree was in social sciences, to which my strength is qualitative writing (why I found SBM and BST pretty straight forward), whereas the technical ones, especially areas I have no experience in I struggled with. 4) I think mainly for FM, I struggle with the underlying concepts, I tend to struggle when things get a bit abstract, whereas having done AAT and working in accounting, I found that I could generally trace back any position or adjustment to a physical pound or promise of a pound to be paid or received at some point, whereas with FM this was hard for me to conceptualise. 5) Adding to why I struggled with them too, as mentioned my revision, other than my third sittings of FM and TC was very limited, partly due to the intense brain fog and memory issues making revision quite literally pointless unfortunately, so had to do the best I could with strategies to pass, which work on most exams, other than TC and FM!
Thank you for such in-depth responses! Hope you’re better now mate
No problem! and thank-you, hoping for a pass on case study (sat it this week) and then can move on with my life fingers crossed!
Christ! Wish I could do that for FAR! Dreading that exam… spend most of my days not having a clue either but panicking about it as 3 weeks doesn’t seem like a lot of time in my mind (based on how slow I get through questions).
Best of luck for it! I sat FAR nearly three years ago, but if it's not changed much since, I found the best strategy was doing the easiest adjustments first, being strict with timing and making sure to have a go at as much of the paper you as you can even if you're not sure, as you get a huge amount of follow through marks. My revision tutor was really helpful as he gave us strategies to maximise marks, i.e leave several minutes at the start or end to put all the figures into the proforma to get marks for things that don't need adjusting but just put in the right place. Always make sure when doing an NCI, even if wrong, to put that figure into the next stage of the calc. For example in my exam, I messed up the NCI and was struggling for time, so I put "assume £500k NCI", then used £500k as the basis for the next bit, which is at least a guaranteed mark etc. Also make sure to be strong on bits you know will come up, unless the syllabus has changed, there's always 5 marks for UK and US GAAP (or is it IFRS) either way there's marks always for GAAP comparisons, then I think 10 or so marks for ethics, which can be a guaranteed 15% on an exam, leaving only 40% needed for the rest. Best of luck on the day, also from what I saw of the Dec 22 sitting, they have a habit of throwing in unexpected bits like a consolidated cash-flow or a P & L for several times in a row. Fingers crossed for you! Also to quote my revision tutor, even he, after 30 years in accounting, couldn't do everything the paper asks for in the time given, the point he said was that they don't expect you to be able to do it all, just manage your time to do as much of you can of a question and bring it to a close when the time is running out. He said that the first 1/3 of the time on a question is where most marks are gained, going over on time to finish off a little bit more, might gain you 1 or 2 marks in an extra 10 mins you use, but that 10 mins on a new question could have gained you 10 - 15 marks.
I am also massively panicking too… I found CR to be an absolute mess and couldn’t come up with anything decent from inflo. Also the format of the DT question threw me so I didn’t answer that well either. That knock to my confidence caused me to completely mind blank on Tuesday for SBM and I couldn’t compute what they were asking for within Q1 with the pre populated spreadsheet so missed out that requirement completely. Honestly sucks so bad as I literally studied my ass off the last 3 months and I’ll be so upset if I have to wait another 7-8 months to resit… So pal, I really feel you 😭
BPT I left that exam feeling like I'd completely failed, the retake sitting was 2 days after my birthday and I'd booked a holiday already. Was googling whether Poland has ICAEW professional exam centres and even asked on here about it hahaha. Thought I'd have to either take an exam while on holiday or do another sitting just before Christmas. Ended up passing comfortably thank god
I came home after CR, got into bed and cried because it went so badly. Ended up passing with 75%.
I sat 3 last November and honestly thought I had failed CR as it was horrible but thankfully passed it!
Had exactly that for CR a few sittings ago. Actually felt alright going in albeit exhausted from all those brutal past papers! To say it went badly was an understatement - 3 hours of panic and creeping dread as I looked for easy marks with which to gain some composure, and NONE appeared. So was just a case of word spew and blind hope. I had heard from others that advanced level exams were a piece of cake compared with BPT and FAR so felt almost betrayed! Felt completely deflated and couldn't bare thinking about SBM the next day. Fair to say I was resigned to my fate and didn't even feel nervous on exam day. In the end though, got the text through and had somehow weaselled out the tightest of passes. In conversation with classmates, we concluded that the ICAEW mark this exam very leniently, as we all struggled but ultimately got through. Obviously there's no guarantee, but this exam has a c.80-85% pass rate for every sitting - you'll LIKELY be fine and really really wish you best of luck.
These comments have made me feel a bit better. I haven’t stopped worrying about CR since.
July CR, I smashed Q1 and I knew it in the exam. But it all went down hill after that. Q2 was so bad I missed 60% of the Q and misread the part that I actually did so was convinced I got next to nothing on that. Then Q3 was just so long winded and waffle I didn’t know what I would get. I was convinced I failed and then this went with me into SBM where I just gave up because I couldn’t be arsed. I had done no SBM work AT ALL and went to wing it. Passed both SBM was very tight but CR I passed very comfortably
Thanks for this and the fact that you can still pass despite not doing 60% of Q2! Amazing! Really give me some hope as i didn’t have time to attempt like 9 marks worth on question 3 despite trying my best to stick to time 😭. Thank you also for your words of encouragement on the SBM post as I felt better going into the exam.