AAT Level 4 Synoptic Exam
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you're not alone in this- I feel so down about this exam and it is literally taking over my life. It is 7 months ago since the last sitting and I have forgotten everything. let alone materials from exams I did over a year ago! this is so unfair and to have such a long gap between resits has put us at a real disadvantage. I am planning on revising all weekend and will let you know if I come across anything useful. good luck! xLindi said:
I know, I have hit a brick wall. To start I have wasted 2 months of my time trying to get to grips with what it is I needed to learn. I've signed up for a correspondence course including videos covering a recap on all of the mandatory units and some accounting systems and controls - which was very useful. But I'm finding my brain is now for some reason unable to remember anything from Financial Statements which I did nearly a year ago...Venoxulous said:After reading this thread, I'm dreading this final exam!
No idea where to even begin with revision.
So... I have decided to re-do the Professional Lucky Dip green light test to force my brain to think and recount what was learnt. This green light covers all 3 mandatory units. Where I got 88% before my PDSY exam in July, I now got 75% - which I think is worth a pat on the back. I've reviewed my answers and identified where I struggled/went wrong. Some are so silly, general typo's.
Then, I am not sleeping at night, which is a combination of stress at work (so much more is expected of me now and I'm in a constant lull unable to come up with anything productive as my brain is tired from trying to study) and personal life is hectic.
I have now decided to research the art of becoming proactive and am intending on addressing my sleep/wake times to follow exactly the same pattern every night, as apparently that way your body clock finds a rhythm in which it wakes fresh and proactive each morning.
Isn't it sad that one silly exam has completely taken over my life? The only problem is it's not that silly and I am determined to pass it in December.
Tips I can give you is try the lucky dip test; practice the written questions on the practice exams; and make sure you don't do too much... take regular breaks when studying and get the right amount of sleep to wake up refreshed. Hope this helps, I'm yet to find if it works for me...
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Hi All,
Has anyone received the email regarding the new "SAMs" AAT have released and if so has anyone had a chance to see if they are of any good use yet? An extract from the email is below:
"Sample assessments and mark schemes (SAMS) have arrived
What are SAMS?
Sample assessment and mark schemes (SAMS) highlight the types of questions likely to be included in a live assessment.
Tasks will be accompanied by mark-schemes and are reflective of the depth of content coverage, the level of demand, duration and mark allocation of tasks that will be in the live assessment.
What SAMS are currently available?
We have just released SAMS for the following two synoptic units:
Advanced Diploma Synoptic Assessment (AVSY) (PDF)
Professional Diploma Synoptic Assessment (PDSY) (PDF)"0 -
Good luck to all receiving their exam results tomorrow who sat in September - I'm praying for a pass!!2
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Yes good luck to everyone tomorrow let’s hope for good news0
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Good luck all x0
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Good luck everyone0
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I have just logged on and have passed with 70% which will do me on this exam, Good luck everyone4
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Failed with 54%! (averaged 80% in all other exams). Have made a complaint to AAT and will make one to their governing body also.2
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What luck! This is starting to get ridiculous now.DanielEvansSouthall said:Failed with 54%! (averaged 80% in all other exams). Have made a complaint to AAT and will make one to their governing body also.
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I still can’t see my results? Anyone else expecting theirs today and still haven’t appeared?0
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When mind came through it was mid afternoon.. let's hope it's late because they're still considering passing people...1
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Received mine, passed 2nd time lucky with 78%, so pleased but also feel so sorry to all those that haven’t. I was so upset when I failed before and really had no idea if I had done it this time or not. It was a horrible exam and so difficult.1
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Well done @unicorn1905 - some good news at last.
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When did you sit the exam? I sat mine on Wednesday in September and I wonder if they release the results in order it was sat... I still dont have mine and it's driving me crazy ..1
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From what I recall it's always released on the Friday regardless of which day you sat. Some people on my sitting got their results as late as 6pm.1
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I don't think they release in order they sitting because some of my classmates sat on Tuesday and still waiting for the results whereas others sat on Thursday and got the results0
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@Adam144 I sat mine Wednesday evening.0
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@Lindi thank you, I’m so relieved.1
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Just refreshed the page and got my results !! Passed!! What a feeling.. I failed it once back in May, so I am so relieved this time it turned out to be a positive result... Now need to re-sit MDCL.. another nightmare.
Good luck everyone !2 -
Guys, I passed, finally! Third attempt. It's been so hard emotionally since finding out the result the first time in May I think. This time I got 88%. When I came out of the exam, the feeling was good, but I was still very nervous a few minutes ago when I was trying to check my result.
For those who want to see how I prepared this time, please go back to my previous posts after my exam this time. It worked for me, hope it'll work for you, too. All the best everyone!3 -
So good to hear there are more passes coming through this time well done everyone and to everyone who still needs to re-sit good luck you will all do it xx0
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Amazing well done! This is the result I need to complete with an overall Merit. I am definitely interested in how you prepared x007 said:Guys, I passed, finally! Third attempt. It's been so hard emotionally since finding out the result the first time in May I think. This time I got 88%. When I came out of the exam, the feeling was good, but I was still very nervous a few minutes ago when I was trying to check my result.
For those who want to see how I prepared this time, please go back to my previous posts after my exam this time. It worked for me, hope it'll work for you, too. All the best everyone!2 -
I need 76% to get a merit. Am finding it difficult to remember stuff as it's been nearly a year since I've done Finstats and my college is not offering any more revision classes.1
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I can't see your previous post on how to prepare.. could you post it again please? also is this your final exam?xhazel123 said:@007 Please can you provide a link to your previous post. Just found out I failed for my first attempt and would really appreciate recommendations for study techniques and resources
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I have found this one, guess that's a key point:MissHermansen said:
I can't see your previous post on how to prepare.. could you post it again please? also is this your final exam?xhazel123 said:@007 Please can you provide a link to your previous post. Just found out I failed for my first attempt and would really appreciate recommendations for study techniques and resources
"Relevant costs are those avoidable costs and it will make a difference of the cost (differential costs) whatever choices you make, e.g. Fixed costs that will only incur with one product line. Allocated fixed costs are not relevant as whatever decision you make they will still be incurred or have already incurred,
Relevant costs example: variable costs, marginal costs
Not relevant costs e.g. Sunk costs (historical costs because they are already spent, not relevant anymore whatever decision you make), allocated fixed costs, committed costs (costs that you've entered into contract but have not spent yet)."2 -
@MissHermansen I have managed to find 007's previous post.
"Relevant costs are those avoidable costs and it will make a difference of the cost (differential costs) whatever choices you make, e.g. Fixed costs that will only incur with one product line. Allocated fixed costs are not relevant as whatever decision you make they will still be incurred or have already incurred,
Relevant costs example: variable costs, marginal costs
Not relevant costs e.g. Sunk costs (historical costs because they are already spent, not relevant anymore whatever decision you make), allocated fixed costs, committed costs (costs that you've entered into contract but have not spent yet)."2 -
I think my other post was made in another thread but I can't find it anymore.
Here's what I did: I get the AAT sample assessments together, also with the memory of my exam questions, you can analyse the type and style of the questions from them, i.e. Question 1 is multiple choices or fill in the blank (I don't remember now) of the cross topic knowledge. There are certain pattern of knowledge you need to know, so go through them in the financial statement and all other units. I don't remember clearly now, that Q3 and Q 6 are both on internal control, finding the weaknesses and SWOT analysis related. Q2 is budgeting related, Q 4 is decision making related. Q5 is ratio.
So I make sure in Financial statement (Q1 and Q5)I am very familiar the different financial statements, esp. Income statement and SFP, and each individual elements in it. For Q1, I googled how to find discrepancies/ errors in financial statements (in bookkeeping, the error of original entry, compensation error, etc.); Q2 and Q4, I checked the AAT sample assessment of the type of questions they asked, and the newly published marking scheme, then write out the information for those different questions, e.g. Different types of budgeting, how and in what situation to use them, the pros and cons for them, etc,, if you're lucky, like me, you will get very similar questions to the sample assessments, that means, you will have the model answers already as they have published the marking scheme for them now. Orr Q4, you'll need to research on what are relevant costs and what are not, and how to spot them and use them, this I suggest you to search for ACCA exams questions for the answer. Or simply goggle relevant costs.
Q3 and Q6, you just need to read through your Synoptics text book and see how they write the weakenesses etc.
Hope this helps.
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And, it will be helpful, just to get yourself ready for the next resit, in case you need to, right after the exam, as soon as possible, try to remember as much as possible your questions and write them down the sooner the better, this can help you to prepare for next time, with the sample assessments published on the AAT website, you want to collate as many as possible question types/ style for each question, doesn't it make sense?
I didn't do that the first two times, but remember vaguely after studying the sample assessments again when I was preparing for the third exam, as they are largely similar patterns anyway.3
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