Easiest level 4 exam?

Random23

I will be starting my AAT level 4 in September and want to self teach myself at least one of the units over the summer.

Any advice as to which level 4 topic would be the 'easiest' to pass with minimal help.

Thanks

oh confused one

To be fair there isn't any one that is easy!!!

katsutlieff

Random I would chose the one you think you would be most interested in. I am choosing between Budgeting and Financial Performance for my light summer time reading

Nikdoug

It may be wise to get a head start on some of the more difficult units such as financial performance or drafting financial statements. If you do want an easy one though, personal tax is a small unit. Obviously, this depends on your intentions for the optional units.

flower

Well I always thought Personal Tax was the easiest because I could relate to that and was interested in it. Turned out though I had to resit but did it easy second time around.

jewels.p

I didn't think any was easy at this level! .....................just to make you freak out :laugh:

exam panic

after sitting 2 acca exams I would say aat very easy .AAT if you put your head down study almost certain that you will pass .and syllabus is small so you can get though it quickly .

pirate

I think personal tax was the easiest. Possibly the most study was Mac (financial performance and budgeting) itwasnt hard as such just required a lot of thinking about. The most tedious one for me was drafting financial statements due to the seemingly endless chapters on ias standards but the consolidated accounts was interesting and you need to know this stuff first in order to do the calcs required.

If you want to have a quick win and feel like you are making progress then personal tax first

reddwarf

I'd start ready about MAC it really helps to get an idea of the context of all of the measurements and comparisons.

I'd also look at websites comparing difference company performances so that you see how company analysis works in the real world. Listen to Evan Davis on Radio 4 'The Bottom Line, Saturday evenings!!! He talks to 3 co exectives from diverse types of companies and talk about how they run them and what they do with their PFI info.

Post Office is facinating at present as they are getting is ready to sell it off.

Have fun!!!

uknitty

I've got Evan Davies Bottom Line queued up on my Sky + ( the other half saw it advertised and thought it may be of use to me in my studies - bless)

Brownie points for him - and I really must find time to watch it now !

oli

I would say that the easiest one for me was budgeting and possibly the most difficult or at least more work has to go into was unit 10: the project.

I think that if you put the work in on any of them though you should be fine.

Hope this helps

reddwarf

uknitty (hmmmm trying to figure out that one - 'United Kingdom Nit Witty'??! not very flattering LOL)

Your OH sounds very thoughtful! You'll soon be an 'EDF'! Evan Davis fan!!

Random23

Thanks everyone, Great answers!
I think I'm going to get Budgeting out of the way first because I'm fairly interested in that unit then maybe Personal Tax after that.

Handy that my Level 4 books were just delivered 10 minutes ago ... sighhh.

uknitty

I like knitting and I live in the UK

I'm on to the last chapter of what Osborne call "limited company accounts" which is consolidation. My head has just started to ache.

Think I am going to order the Kaplan book for this because the way they explain the consolidation process in their workbooks is slightly different to the way that Osborne recommend you tackle the questions and the Kaplan method in the pocket revision notes makes slightly more sense to me.

Slightly.

I'll be so glad when this unit is out of the way - just because I want to get the first one over and done with !

I've got half a mind to start Personal Tax just so I can get something signed off and showing on my statement of acheivement (I always find it much easier to motivate myself when I can see that there are things signed off as complete and I am on my way....)

reddwarf

I found consolidation easier than pearl one knit one!!! Sounds as though you have good plan - lots of luck!

jewels.p

exam panic wrote: »

after sitting 2 acca exams I would say aat very easy .AAT if you put your head down study almost certain that you will pass .and syllabus is small so you can get though it quickly .

I wouldn't say it was very easy at all. It took a lot of hard work for me to do my AAT and where you get the idea of the syllabus being small I don't know. I studied while working full time and it took me from April 2008 until February this year when I qualified. And that was sitting exams and passing them all first time.

exam panic

jewels.p wrote: »

I wouldn't say it was very easy at all. It took a lot of hard work for me to do my AAT and where you get the idea of the syllabus being small I don't know. I studied while working full time and it took me from April 2008 until February this year when I qualified. And that was sitting exams and passing them all first time.

I still think aat easy.(very easy i'm not sure ) and the syllabus is small per exam let's say pev for budgeting only and pcr forecasting and each of these exam you have 3 hours to do it in exam . and the same as dfs .I'm work as a chef and I skipped foundation I start from level 3 and I passed all exams first time , .but now I qualified but still can not find a job in accounting field . so My aat qualification not in use maybe that why i think aat easy (disappointing)

uknitty

If you already have your level 4 you could undertake self employed accounting work, that way you could get enough experience to go for MIP status and even set up your own practice.

exam panic

uknitty wrote: »

If you already have your level 4 you could undertake self employed accounting work, that way you could get enough experience to go for MIP status and even set up your own practice.

Thanks for your advice I might have to do that way because no employers give me a look at the moment.

Shell B

Hello

I must say i have not found AAT easy but everyone is different and some things come easier and quicker to others, but us slower ones get there slowly but surely and in my opinion i think you appreciate it more.

for me i would rate the units as the following 1. being this is what i would start off with.

1.Credit Management - there are two exams to this but one is multiple choice and you get your results straight away and the other your tutor marks. I found the Osbourn Book really helpful with this unit i had very little teaching at college but passed first time.(its a good ice breaker i think)

2. Personal tax - found this a challenge as never done tax before but got there eventually

3. Financial Performance - this for me was my biggest challenge so far but then again i really dont like costing so never felt comfortable with it but still passed.

4. Financial Statements - some bits of this unit is tricky but i think i enjoyed this unit the most as it came more naturally and was more methodical for me.

As for Budgeting i cant comment as i am revising this one now, but what i would say is start your project now, the sooner the better as you tend to find that you do your bit and then it has too be checked and its not always checked straight away so there is some waiting around with it.

Anway goodluck

Shell B

Dipak Thanki

I would say Financial Performance and Budgeting are the easier of the units in my opinion.

Both exams were pretty identical to the practice CBE. My advice would be to make sure you can do everything on the practice ones 100% and you should be fine for both exams.

I only have DFS to complete now and my project is almost complete. I enjoyed the project and it's pretty straightforward once you start.

Good luck!

stevef

Surely, by definition, all the papers should be at the same level of difficulty. It is more a matter of what your individual preferences/ability in subject matter and exam style are.

reddwarf

I would say you develop some savvy and a more tactical approach as you get to level 4 exams, having done several before they become less of a unknown quantity, format, timing, style etc.

Monsoon

It's a while ago now, but the Unit 10 project was a complete and utter pain. Didn't finish it for 2 years after I passed my exams.

Exam wise, costing was the hardest for me (didn't understand variances at all) and tax was the easiest, but that's just how my brain works.

jml_76

study budgeting

Buy the Kaplan revision kit ....its very good and very smiilar to the exam

babsa

The Icas project is a must for level 4. I would start to work on this Project it has to be 4000 words give or take 10%. The tutor gave us power point slides but I found it helped to work with the BPP book. First you have to decide what accounting scheme you want to base your project on. Once you get this out of the way you can think about the exams more.
The college I attented this year don't do the tax units and I didn't want to do the Audit so I self studied the Personal Tax unit over the Easter holidays. I got my results Friday I passed. This took me four weeks, 2 weeks reading through the text and question bank books and 2 weeks revision. If you need any information about the project message me.

PhillipP

Random23 wrote: »

I will be starting my AAT level 4 in September and want to self teach myself at least one of the units over the summer.

Any advice as to which level 4 topic would be the 'easiest' to pass with minimal help.

Thanks

I have been considering Level 4 self-study as well and am also interested in knowing where is the best place to start, bearing in mind the changes to 2013. Having looked through this post it appears that Budgeting might be the best place to start, but there appears to be a number of recent posts which contradict that. Also, are there any CBA Level 4 tests where you get the result immediately, or are they all a 6 week wait for the results?

steve2008

PhillipP wrote: »

I have been considering Level 4 self-study as well and am also interested in knowing where is the best place to start, bearing in mind the changes to 2013. Having looked through this post it appears that Budgeting might be the best place to start, but there appears to be a number of recent posts which contradict that. Also, are there any CBA Level 4 tests where you get the result immediately, or are they all a 6 week wait for the results?

Budgeting can be an easy exam if you are confident with your costs and revenues stuff and have a good mathematical mind.

The best order is not necessarily going to be the easiest first though.

All the exams take up to 6 weeks to get the results, I'm not sure about ICAS though, as I think this is marked by your exam center.

I'm doing mine, on the old syllabus in this order

Personal Tax (done)
Budgeting (awaiting result)
Business Tax (50%+ through)
Financial performance
Financial statements
ICAS

If your doing business tax, it is best done after personal tax, as it builds on the knowledge gained in that module.

beccajane87

For me personally, budgeting was the easiest, followed by ICAS. ICAS takes a while to get your head around and get into the "flow", but once I did I found it quite easy to do.

Financial Statements on the other hand.... :bored:

Kelly7

I don't really think people coming on here saying things like AAT is easy helps anyone. Personally I am really struggling and I'm sure I'm not the only one and reading things like that just makes you feel more depressed and your self worth lessen even more.

j1994

Are the exams similar format to the 2010 assesments?