ACCA: F7 Advice

mark057

I've not long started to read through the F7 study text I've purchased from BPP.

I really enjoyed the financial reporting paper with AAT at level 4 but I'm finding the text somewhat stultifying so far.

It's like reading instructions for a new tv.

Has anyone else had any experiences with this paper or got any tips?

Mark

Nps

Hi, I did F7 in June of last year and also used the BPP books. It was definitely the hardest exam I've sat so far. I used the study text, their revision kit and their I-pass CD (OK for testing bullet points but nothing more really) and got 80% so I can reassure you that BPP will enable you to pass (I had no practical experience to fall back on either). I also did the OpenTuition revision questions but they are worded slightly differently to BPP and less complex so useful if you have time to do them but not at the expense of the BPP questions. I admit that the first time I read the book I was quite blown away as previous to this I at least understood stuff for the earlier exams on the first read through even if I didn't immediately remember it. Rest assured though that once you've got through it all, the earlier stuff starts to make more sense and then you just build on that till it all makes sense. At times the text may have been written in Mandarin for all the sense it made! I found that things didn't really seem to sink in until I'd done a few questions and used the answers to guide me. I have no magic formula except to practice, practice, practice. F7 didn't come easily to me and I had to work bloomin hard - there is just so much content to remember. I actually enjoyed it though once I understood it as I like the number puzzles that statements usually are. I found time pressure to be my main pitfall in the exam and wrote furiously for the full 3 hours. I kept reading that time management was important but didn't really take it seriously - Take it seriously! Has anyone explained the difference between the UK and the Int syllabus to you. I'd definitely advise you do the Int version (I didn't). Being a self studier I missed out on that vital bit of info regarding the differences and it meant that I couldn't do 10% of the questions - I'll explain further if you're not aware either (this issue was the first time I've been disappointed in the content of a BPP book). It is a difficult exam but BPP does contain what you need to pass so don't be disheartened this early on - it will all start to make sense once you start doing questions. I'm normally happy with the content before I start practice questions but with F7, the questions were a necessary part of me actually understanding it in the first place.

mark057

Hi NPS,

Thanks for the detailed response.

I think you are right. I'm just going to have to grit my teeth and read through the text.

An explanation between INT and UK would also be helpful too.

I guess I'm at a stage where I'm lomging to get to the Pro papers but not there yet. ACCA truly is a mentally grinding slog isn't it? Particularly with no support.

Thanks

Mark

Rozzi Rainbow

Hi Mark

If I remember the F7 textbook correctly the beginning is an introduction to the need for Financial Reporting and it uses etc. This can be a bit of a slog to get through as it's mostly reading and not much doing (and doesn't form the main part of the exam). Then I think it goes on to explaining some of the standards in more detail and how to apply them. Then it gets more interesting with the groups and consolidation questions to bring all the beginning bits together. This is the main part of the exam, but you need the background knowledge to know and be able to explain why you are doing what you're doing.

My tips for F7 are to be strictly focussed on time, and when it's up move on - even if your answer doesn't balance!!! I know that goes against the grain but if you can't spot the balancing figure quickly it's not worth wasting time over possibly only one more mark. Also any adjustments you make will have at least one other effect on the balance sheet so try to keep this in mind when adjusting figures, and try to make a contra adjustment elsewhere.

Good luck!

Nps

The Uk and Int papers share the same syllabus except that 10% of the INT paper can be substituted for UK specific questions. So basically the UK syllabus is bigger. In my paper, the INT paper had 10 marks on ratios whereas the UK paper had 10 marks on UK standards instead. I knew ratios inside out so would have been 9-10 easy marks, instead I probably got only 1-2 marks by waffling on about something I hadn't studied. Why hadn't I studied it, I hear you ask? Well when the BPP text states 'UK and INT' version on the front I wrongly assumed it covered the UK syllabus - reasonable assumption? Apparently not! There were a couple of lines in the intro telling you that you need to download the UK specific stuff from the BPP website, and I missed it (my own fault of course, but I still think it should have been clearer and highlighted a bit more - and why was it not just printed in the book anyway). I think that's one of the risks of self studying, there's no one to advise on this kind of thing. In my exam hall, only a very small minority of us did the UK version. I'm lead to believe that ACCA are withdrawing the UK versions of F7 and 8 in the near future anyway so there really is no advantage to doing the UK version.