ACCA

g_bonsor

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone on here is/has studied ACCA. I was wondering what the difficulty level is compared to AAT.

I am thinking of studying ACCA distance learning once I have completed my AAT but just trying to judge how long it would take me to complete the course, and how many exams I would be able to take in one exam sitting.

Thanks

CeeJaySix

I went on to ACA rather than ACCA, but either way it's a big step up once you're through (or claimed exemptions from) the initial level of computer based assessments.

Syllabi are much bigger, and unlike AAT you can't just do a couple of mocks and be almost certain you'll get much the same type of question in the real exams. By the final papers you are having to pull together a lot of knowledge to real-world type scenarios.

To put it in perspective, AAT level 4 is at (shockingly) level 4 of the national qualification framework - one level above A-levels, and roughly equivalent to first year of university. ACCA / ACA finals are at Level 7, which is Masters level.

It is all perfectly do-able, but you may be in for a bit of a shock, especially when you come across subjects you don't take naturally to (for me that was the business strategy side of things). I breezed through AAT but really had to work for most of the ACA papers.

Most people at my office seem to sit 2 exams at a time, though some do 1, and some do 3. All depends on your ability to retain information and the time you have available. Personally I only did 3 in one go when I sat my finals, and that wasn't enjoyable!

Again my personal opinion is that using a college is easier, I self studied AAT but my firm sent me to Kaplan for ACA, and I'm not convinced I would have had the time/motivation to self-study it at least for the higher papers. That said plenty of people do self-study successfully, so it's down to your own ability and commitment.

g_bonsor

Thank you for your advice CeeJaySix - it has been very helpful!

I am only on my Level 2 of AAT which I complete in June, however I have done A levels at college so I guess that helps me to judge what the difficulty level will be.

Can I ask a couple questions:

1. How much time did you spend in college each week studying for this.
2. How much time did you have to spend out side of college?
3. How many exams did you generally do per sitting?
4. How often did you take the exams? (Every 3 months/6 months)

I know that everyone is different but I'm just trying to gage a rough idea of how much work it will take. I know it seems quite a jump from Level 2 to ACCA, however currently I am studying AAT by going to college 1 day a week and am finding that it is going quite slow and easy for me and I have a lot of time at work where I have time to study. I feel like I'm wasting a lot of time that I could be putting to good use by studying towards ACCA!

Hope you can help, thank you

CeeJaySix

I deliberately avoided the offer of college for AAT from my employer because I felt it would be so slow - perhaps you could consider distance learning to speed things up a bit if it fits with your life.

To answer your questions:

1. College courses ranged from 2 days to around 8 days I think for the 'learning' phase, followed by a similar length revision phase, depending on the exam. Kaplan offer 'intensive' options where you do these all together in the few weeks before each exam sitting.

2. Not enough! I'm fortunate to absorb most things first time and due to various factors (including a lack of interest!) didn't have a lot of my own time for study. The standard for most seems to be a couple of hours a night plus say 4hrs Sat & Sun during the time you're at college to be comfortable enough for the exams, but that is very an individual thing as everyone learns at different speeds and in different ways.

3. Mix of 1 and 2, except finals when I sat all 3.

4. Every 3 months.

Nps

I followed the ACCA route. It is a massive step up from AAT, in size and difficulty, but I don't know how difficult/easy you found AAT. I started off doing 4 exams in 1sitting, then 3, then 1 or 2 as they got harder and I had less time to study. How many exams you take per sitting is really down to how much time you have and how naturally you take to a subject. It also depends on how you study - using Kaplan/BPP focuses on the important parts whereas if you self study you don't have that knowledge of what is important so you end up covering more of the syllabus which obviously takes far more time.

I think ACCA's new policy of 4 exam sitting per year makes it easy to sit the same number of exams but better spread over the year.

Doing AAT at a college and at their pace would have driven me mad - why not self study and up the pace a bit? Sounds to me like this would be a far better option for you.