AAT Level 4 In 7 Months?!?!?

Louise87

I am about to start my level 4 and I'm unsure as to how to go about it. I am aware level 4 is a big jump up from level 3 so any advice would be much appreciated!!

I work full time, but get day release from work to attend lessons. I have decided that I am going to take personal tax & business tax as my optional units. My plan is:

March - Budgeting
April - Financial Performance
May - Personal Tax
June - Business Tax
July - ICAS
August - ICAS
September - Financial Statements

All the lessons are scheduled into the college time table with the exams straight after them. Is this do able? Or do you think I will struggle?

Thank you = ]

Diddy Mau

Hi Louise,
wow, that's some determination on your behalf.
You are right level 4 is indeed a big jump, I'm currently doing level 4, same units as you. And I'm finding it harder than last year.
I dont know if its down to outside college commitments.
I've sat FStat twice now, just awaiting second results.
busy doing Budgeting & BTAX, awaiting PTAX results, oh and trying to complete ICAS.

If your college are fast tracking this, then beware the amount of reading in your spare time, as well as studing.

Dont get me wrong, if your determined then I dont see why you cant do it.
If you need some one to bounce ideas off then PM me. I might be able to help.

Good Luck

SarahJS

I think it probably is doable, and only you can judge how you think you will find it.

I'm aiming to do level 4 in less time that that self study, but that's partly due to how I've found level 3 so far (and with self study the only losses if you fail an exam are the exam fee itself, and a tiny bit of confidence!).

Good luck with what you decide!

Louise87

Thanks guys!

The time table we have been given is pretty frustrating. I have to take Budgeting & FP in March/April and If i dont take PTX & BTX in May/June, the lessons for these won't run again until Dec/Jan at least, so that means sitting around for at least 6 months with nothing to do but my ICAS (which I hope won't take this long!). I still have a full 12 months (from March) to complete my ICAS so there is no time pressure there. It's just whether I can cope with a unit a month.

If anyone else has any advice/guidance then feel free!

Thank you = ]

reader

Louise87 wrote: »

Thanks guys!

The time table we have been given is pretty frustrating. I have to take Budgeting & FP in March/April and If i dont take PTX & BTX in May/June, the lessons for these won't run again until Dec/Jan at least, so that means sitting around for at least 6 months with nothing to do but my ICAS (which I hope won't take this long!). I still have a full 12 months (from March) to complete my ICAS so there is no time pressure there. It's just whether I can cope with a unit a month.

If anyone else has any advice/guidance then feel free!

Thank you = ]

It has taken me 1 year and 8 months to complete all 5 exams and submit the ICAS project- I'm now waiting for my ICAS results.

The main reason it has taken me so long is because I wasn't used to distance learning (I done level 2 and level 3 through taught lessons).

If I had day release and motivation 7 months would definitely have been achieveable, i.e. one month per exam and 2 months for the project.

The only advice I could give you is to study for budgeting during March and phone up and book the exam for the end of March, study for financial performance during April and phone up and book the exam for end of April, etc etc.

The only other piece of advice I would give you is don't procrastinate, just dive in. It is possible to teach yourself the entire syallbus so give it a go. The worst case scenerio is that you resit.

uknitty

I've got my final level 4 exam in about 2 weeks time (Auditing) it will have taken me 9 months via distance learning which has been a comfortable pace. I've passed all my exams first time which I think can be attributed to not rushing too much.

7 months would have been too fast for me, but only you can say what is right for you.

Is this the standard timetable that your college offer ? If they have a proven track history of students passing first time then it must be do-able otherwise they wouldn't continue to run the course Have you spoken with the tutors to find out how other students following this time table have got on ?

Jo Clark

Louise87 wrote: »

I work full time, but get day release from work to attend lessons. I have decided that I am going to take personal tax & business tax as my optional units. My plan is:

March - Budgeting
April - Financial Performance
May - Personal Tax
June - Business Tax
July - ICAS
August - ICAS
September - Financial Statements

All the lessons are scheduled into the college time table with the exams straight after them. Is this do able? Or do you think I will struggle?

Thank you = ]

Hello Louise

I also attend college on a day release basis and do plenty of home study to top this up!

I have completed Financial Statements in 6 weeks (exam in week 7), Budgeting in 3 weeks (exam in week 5 as week off over Christmas), Financial Performance in 4 weeks (exam in week 5) and am due to study and sit Personal Tax during April and Business Tax end of May and three weeks of June. ICAS I start at the end of June after Business Tax and this has been scheduled to last twelve weeks. Out of interest, with regards to your comment about the lessons schedule are you studying at BPP/Kaplan etc. or at a FE College?

Anyway, in short, yes it is doable. I think you will find that you will be spending plenty of evenings and weekends studying to keep upto speed with the timetable and your understanding of the areas being studied. Your job may assist you with your understanding, depending what you do.

Good luck and as other students/members have said, feel free to message me here or in private if you wish to discuss this.


JC

clegganator

I would echo what a lot of people have said and it's down to what your evening/weekend commitments are. You may have to put them on hold for a while or at least drop them down a notch but if your committed to completing AAT in that time frame then it's just what you have to do! Best of luck!

deborahcarpenter

I did level 4 at college and completed it in 9 months including the project. Like other people have said it is do-able if you put the time and effort into studying and revising. I was quite lucky that my husband worked nights so i had every evening to myself and just got stuck into my studies.

Good luck, it will be worth it in the end:001_smile:

Sonia09

Hi, can someone please give me the key code to access the textbook online for Level 4 Financial Performance. This is for the BPP textbook AQ2013.

Thank you in advance

Sonia