ACCA Practice

jenny3549

Hi Guys,

I keep reading (everywhere!) that practice, practice, practice of past papers is the key to success for ACCA. I'm not ready to start on past papers etc yet but have had a quick flick through the Kaplan Revision Kit and there's not really that much in there.

The problem with F6 is that the past papers available on the ACCA website are no use as they are from a different FA - so, apart from the kit where can I find additional practice material?

Would it be worth buying a BPP kit also or would they use the same questions?

Any ideas would be most welcome!

Nps

Hello,

I bought the BPP revision kit and that included the past papers but re-written to take into account the updated finance act. The questions were intermingled with BPP's own practice questions but there was a section at the start telling you which questions came from each past paper.

Nps

I've just checked the revision kit that I used for the December '12 exam, and it contains all the questions from every exam since Dec 2007, as well as the pilot paper. They are all adjusted for the changes in the finance act figures.

jenny3549

Thanks!

I'll have another look at the Kaplan kit and see if it does include all the past papers. They aren't laid out like the papers, just different questions so it could be that they are all there after all!

This is my first ACCA unit so it just feels a bit daunting. I had so many AAT questions and papers etc for practice that I feel a little bereft now.

How did you find the exam? I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the text and it already feels like a HUGE amount to remember!

Nps

Hi,

F6 was my first 'proper' ACCA paper too. I did F1-3 but there is a world of difference between a CBA and a proper written paper. I thought the syllabus followed on from AAT personal and business tax really well and was a good paper to get settled into ACCA.

What I particularly liked about the BPP revision kit was that it included a break down on every past exam question as to where the examiner awarded the marks. There were things that I wouldn't previously have stated on the answer sheet but that a mark was awarded for. I would definitely have missed out on easy marks if I hadn't realised that beforehand. In some cases, it's not just a case of getting the right answer but by actually clearly showing the stages and sometimes stating why you've done it in a particular way even though the question hasn't asked you to state why. After a few practice questions I had a much better idea of where the marks were likely to be found.

Have a look at www.opentuition.com too, there are about 50 more questions on there for you to practice.

I found the exam ok, one question threw me but it seemed to throw most people. Luckily I realised what it was asking for about 10mins before the end of the exam so spent the last 10mins scribbling furiously!

jenny3549

Thank you so much. That's really helpful. I think I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment as there seems to be sooo much to remember. It might be better when I get to the revision stage as I'll have a clearer idea of what the questions will look like.

Thanks for the tips about the marking also. I have been wondering if I would need to add 'notes' to my answers in the exam. The text usually has notes to its answers but I'm never sure if that's for tutorial purposes rather than as a guideline for what you should put yourself.

I've signed up to Open Tuition already which looks good but unfortunately all of the stuff for F6 won't be available until end of Feb. Should be very handy though.

Did you do another one as well as F6 in December. I have all of the books for F7 also but am now wondering if I'll actually be able to fit that in as well given how long it's taking me to wade through F6.

How long did you spend revising, as opposed to initially studying?

Sorry for all of the questions!

Nps

I only did F6 in December but I did AAT levels 2-4 between Apr and Sep, then F2 and F3 in Oct and Nov so it was a pretty packed few months. I'm hoping to do F7 (nearly finished the book but definitely taking longer than F6 did), F8 and F9 in June. If I get chance I'm going to try to squeeze F4 in too, but I think that might be pushing it.

I couldn't really give a clear idea of how long I spent studying and revising. I'd only done AAT personal tax and business tax in the previous few months so a lot of the syllabus was already familiar and just needed a bit of revision or to go into a bit more detail. I also have a 2 yr old and a 6month old baby who I am at home with during the day, so even though I might have my books open for a whole day, I may realistically only get 10 mins of worthwhile work done!

The best bit of advice I can give, is to get the initial study out of the way and then just do as many questions as possible. I honestly think you could know the book word for word, but without practicing questions you would fail the exam. I thought I knew it all until I started the questions. I ran out of practice questions to do, so this time, I am going to purchase different revision kits from different publishers (though if they all use past exam papers like BPP do, I may find that a lot of the kits are very similar so may end up being a waste of money). I also plan to try and find some more sites like Open Tuition who have practice questions.

jenny3549

Wow! You're amazing to have done so much in such a short space of time!!! Especially with the little ones!

I think I may do the same and buy a couple of different revision kits and hope that they aren't all duplicated. I'm definitely going to try and fit in as much time practicing questions as I possibly can as that certainly seems the best way to go. I know what you mean about knowing the book but then getting thrown when you see the questions!

I'm probably panicking a bit early but I've tried to work out how much time I have to allocate to each paper and it seemed like plenty until I realised how long it's taking me just to get through the text for F6 - this could be down to my rather over the top note taking though! (I'm a typical Virgo).

Let me know if you find any sites with extra practice questions as that would definitely be handy.

Thanks again for all of your advice!