AAT Level 4 Synoptic Exam

Charley1995

I sat it in December for the first time and didnt feel too bad about it but i also failed with 66% very disappointing

GemGem17

Just checked my results (which are out very early)! I am one of the lucky one's who has thankfully passed, got 67% first time round and 75% second time round. Good Luck to everyone who is awaiting their results, and don't give up and be disheartened to those who haven't passed this time....you'll get there

MissHermansen

I just had my results.. first time around i had 67% and this time ... (7 months later due to the ridiculous Synoptic Windows) I dropped another 3%!! I have no idea what to do to pass this exam! I feel like I am walking in the blind here... absolutely gutted

Adam144

I had 60% the first time when I sat it back in May 17, I took the exam again in September17 and passed with 72% thankfully.. However, I can't pay the evil MDCL, and that's the only one I've got left.. Tried 3 times already, and every time was close to passing - 67%, 67% and 68%.. Don't feel like sitting it again..

MissHermansen

GemGem17 said:

Just checked my results (which are out very early)! I am one of the lucky one's who has thankfully passed, got 67% first time round and 75% second time round. Good Luck to everyone who is awaiting their results, and don't give up and be disheartened to those who haven't passed this time....you'll get there

congratulations! I bet you feel so happy right now please can you give me some tips on how you passed this time around. I had the same as you first time around and now dropped by 3%.. I am not surprised mind after a 7 month gap from the first one

MissHermansen

Adam144 said:

I had 60% the first time when I sat it back in May 17, I took the exam again in September17 and passed with 72% thankfully.. However, I can't pay the evil MDCL, and that's the only one I've got left.. Tried 3 times already, and every time was close to passing - 67%, 67% and 68%.. Don't feel like sitting it again..

Sorry to hear you failed MDCL again.. I know it is little consolation, but I think there are many students in your boat. I have heard they are changing the entire exam in March so hopefully you will pass once it has been changed. Good luck x

GemGem17

Thank you @MissHermansen I felt far more confident coming out second time round, it is a massive relief. The only thing I did differently was revise at every opportunity I could for about 4 weeks prior to the exam. I had notes all over my living room wall so I was constantly reading over things whenever I could. The window gaps do not help though, 7 months in between the sittings is a lot, it's easy to forget everything you've previously done - the windows need to be more frequent to help students pass the exam I think. Will you be resitting the exam in the February window?

sophiemossop

I originally got 67% first time round, to now get 10% lower! How is this possible, I have never failed an exam before time one. Can someone please tell me the next resit date

sharpy92

I've just phoned AAT as I was wanting to pay for an appeal to get information on where I went wrong, due to me feeling like I should have easily passed (I was expecting over 80% result if I'm honest I felt that confident).

Apparently they only provide the information in 20 working days, which means if it goes up to the maximum it would come after the next Synoptic window. How is this fair?

MissHermansen

sophiemossop said:

I originally got 67% first time round, to now get 10% lower! How is this possible, I have never failed an exam before time one. Can someone please tell me the next resit date

So sorry.. the next resit window is wc 12th Feb so not long but I have no idea how I will achieve a pass. I just dont know what they want??

MissHermansen

GemGem17 said:

Thank you @MissHermansen I felt far more confident coming out second time round, it is a massive relief. The only thing I did differently was revise at every opportunity I could for about 4 weeks prior to the exam. I had notes all over my living room wall so I was constantly reading over things whenever I could. The window gaps do not help though, 7 months in between the sittings is a lot, it's easy to forget everything you've previously done - the windows need to be more frequent to help students pass the exam I think. Will you be resitting the exam in the February window?

I would do the same if I knew exactly what to revise- what did you focus on?? It is such a tough one to study for.. x

MissHermansen

sharpy92 said:

I've just phoned AAT as I was wanting to pay for an appeal to get information on where I went wrong, due to me feeling like I should have easily passed (I was expecting over 80% result if I'm honest I felt that confident).

Apparently they only provide the information in 20 working days, which means if it goes up to the maximum it would come after the next Synoptic window. How is this fair?

appeals are never successful.. I know people who have had 69% and still not been uplifted

Charley1995

Has anyone complained or appealed? Doubt it will be worth it anyway

sharpy92

MissHermansen said:

sharpy92 said:

I've just phoned AAT as I was wanting to pay for an appeal to get information on where I went wrong, due to me feeling like I should have easily passed (I was expecting over 80% result if I'm honest I felt that confident).

Apparently they only provide the information in 20 working days, which means if it goes up to the maximum it would come after the next Synoptic window. How is this fair?

appeals are never successful.. I know people who have had 69% and still not been uplifted

I'm not wanting to be uplifted. I've been told that if you appeal they apparently they give you a break down of your answers and what you were marked etc so you know where you went wrong. Them giving me a met/exceeded/below requirement to the tasks now doesn't help as i've no idea what the questions even were anymore.

MissHermansen

Charley1995 said:

Has anyone complained or appealed? Doubt it will be worth it anyway

I will not recommend anyone to appeal because it is more money for them and will not benefit you.. however I am definitely putting in a complaint and would encourage everyone to do so. It really shouldn't be this hard, stressful and demotivating passing a course we are all capable of..

GemGem17

@MissHermansen I had the Kaplan revision kit so I would recommend getting this if you haven't already. I did countless practice questions, I focused mainly on the SWOT analysis (which I exceeded somehow along with the ratios question). I was significantly below on the decision making question and internal controls - this seems to be a major downfall for a lot of people. It's hard to focus on areas because you never know what they're going to throw at you question wise. On the resit in December I was the only one who came out of the exam feeling confident, everyone else felt it was awful.

MissHermansen

GemGem17 said:

@MissHermansen I had the Kaplan revision kit so I would recommend getting this if you haven't already. I did countless practice questions, I focused mainly on the SWOT analysis (which I exceeded somehow along with the ratios question). I was significantly below on the decision making question and internal controls - this seems to be a major downfall for a lot of people. It's hard to focus on areas because you never know what they're going to throw at you question wise. On the resit in December I was the only one who came out of the exam feeling confident, everyone else felt it was awful.

thank you- I am still feeling at a loss but will not give up x

Charley1995

I've emailed a complaint but i highly doubt it will get anywhere AAT dont seem to care that people are struggling with these exams! I agree the feedback of exceeded met or below offers absolutely no help as it is impossible to remember the question or the answer we put!

will84

First time poster, long time reader. I have worked hard at AAT for over 3 years now but had good results, never failed any of them, and for the the first 3 level 4 exams on 2016 standards passed with a 87 (MDCL) / 89 (MABU) / 95 (FSLC) - definitely more challenging this year but passed all my level 2s and 3s with mostly exceeding - but I've gone and failed my synoptic with 64% at first try. I took it 6 weeks after taking MABU so a relatively small gap between the 3 main modules but fresh with the knowledge and confidence from passing them. I came out of the exam feeling very much like I had probably failed (but felt the same after MDCL too), I think this exam is awful, the questions are unclear and almost cryptic, I think there is a huge element of luck. I used the entire 3 hours and answered all questions checking them over and correcting for spelling and grammar. I'm not sure if AAT just don't want anyone to get a distinction or are relishing in the re-take fees that they wouldn't have had from the project - but this year I have lost a huge amount of respect for them and on reflection would have started with the entry level CIMA certificate instead. Not a happy member.

MissHermansen

Charley1995 said:

I've emailed a complaint but i highly doubt it will get anywhere AAT dont seem to care that people are struggling with these exams! I agree the feedback of exceeded met or below offers absolutely no help as it is impossible to remember the question or the answer we put!

have you got your complaint for us to see?

GemGem17

@MissHermansen sorry I can't be of more help, you'll get there though! It is heartbreaking to fail it, hopefully they'll continue to release more study material for it x

amyscatt125

I have read most of this forum now. I passed today first time with 79%. I'm lucky I got three exceeded as question 2 was below. Sorry to hear about everyone else. MDCL was my downfall but eventually passed it. Good luck to everyone else.

MissHermansen

will84 said:

First time poster, long time reader. I have worked hard at AAT for over 3 years now but had good results, never failed any of them, and for the the first 3 level 4 exams on 2016 standards passed with a 87 (MDCL) / 89 (MABU) / 95 (FSLC) - definitely more challenging this year but passed all my level 2s and 3s with mostly exceeding - but I've gone and failed my synoptic with 64% at first try. I took it 6 weeks after taking MABU so a relatively small gap between the 3 main modules but fresh with the knowledge and confidence from passing them. I came out of the exam feeling very much like I had probably failed (but felt the same after MDCL too), I think this exam is awful, the questions are unclear and almost cryptic, I think there is a huge element of luck. I used the entire 3 hours and answered all questions checking them over and correcting for spelling and grammar. I'm not sure if AAT just don't want anyone to get a distinction or are relishing in the re-take fees that they wouldn't have had from the project - but this year I have lost a huge amount of respect for them and on reflection would have started with the entry level CIMA certificate instead. Not a happy member.

I am feeling exactly the same as you and couldn't agree more with this post. I feel the questions on the exam were badly worded and like you said almost cryptic. It is hard to answer a question correctly when you do not understand what they are asking.. I very much regret doing AAT as it has left me feeling so stressed and deflated. I recommend everyone who are thinking of starting their accounting qualification to either do CIMA or ACCA. This really is not reflective of so many of our abilities..

MissHermansen

GemGem17 said:

@MissHermansen sorry I can't be of more help, you'll get there though! It is heartbreaking to fail it, hopefully they'll continue to release more study material for it x

thank you! Was this your final exam? If so be very proud and pop open a bottle of champagne tonight x

MissHermansen

amyscatt125 said:

I have read most of this forum now. I passed today first time with 79%. I'm lucky I got three exceeded as question 2 was below. Sorry to hear about everyone else. MDCL was my downfall but eventually passed it. Good luck to everyone else.

very well done! congratulations! feel free to share any good study tips for all of us who feel at a loss xx

GemGem17

@MissHermansen I'm awaiting my auditing results next Thursday which will be my final one but I definitely feel like celebrating with a bottle of champagne after passing this one! x

MissHermansen

GemGem17 said:

@MissHermansen I'm awaiting my auditing results next Thursday which will be my final one but I definitely feel like celebrating with a bottle of champagne after passing this one! x

if you have passed the synoptic I am sure you have passed the Audit! I sat that one too and passed very comfortably first time around. well done lovely x

hazel123

Sorry to anyone that hasn't got the results they wanted. I complained to AAT when I sat the exam in September and got 54%. They were completely useless and not helpful at all. I took to this forum to get some advice regarding what areas to revise and also bought myself the kaplan synoptic revision set off ebay as the only books I had were the BPP which I didn't find very helpful. I found this really helped and it paid off, found out I got 80% in the December exam. Happy to help anyone where I can

GemGem17

@MissHermansen aww thank you I hope so, my synoptic was 2 weeks prior to the auditing exam so crammed everything in within 2 weeks! Best of luck with getting this synoptic one passed xx

JoJoMis

I failed as well. Never has this happen to me before. Even the MDCL I passed with 97%. I came out of the exam feeling like I failed, but I always get that feeling so I was hoping it wasn't so. I am so angry at myself but NOT angry at AAT. I see so many posts saying it's AAT's fault that we keep failing-it's not. Not everyone is going to be good enough and that's just it. It needs to be hard, if we don't know enough then we need to go back to the books and study some more. I know it sucks, I had such a great plan for myself- was going to sign up to ACCA today/next week in hopes of bettering my job search but oh well. No one to blame but myself. I know it's not a popular opinion but I've just seen so much fingerpointing on this forum (and don't mean this thread specifically).