AAT Level 4 Synoptic Exam

Cheesypeesy

@Lindi thank you, it's certainly been a journey, and I feel far more competent than when I started. I agree with budgeting practice, I did particularly bad on task 2 and was saved by my performance on other tasks. I'm not sure what I did wrong though, a common theme in this assessment!

My tips would be to nail task 1 and 5 as these will give you a solid foundation to build on. You can also get plenty of marks on task 6 with a SWOT analysis. Task 4 often asks about relative costs, so once you understand those you can get a good chunk of the marks.

I've signed up for CIMA now, can't wait to start the new chapter in my accountancy career!

DomParmar

Congratulations too all of you that passed! It seems they may have changed the mark scheme and been more lenient when awarding marks. I heard they have only just changed this recently, can anyone confirm if this is true?

lindsaymay

Hi all.
I failed my synoptic with 56%
I'm losing the will now - I was on 2013 syllabus but had to change to 2016 so I wasted a lot of time on the project.
The synoptic exam is the only one I have to do and then I'll be qualified.
Can anyone offer any advise or is any one selling any synoptic textbooks? (Previously used Osbourne as supplied by college)

Thanks

Lindi

lindsaymay said:

Hi all.

I failed my synoptic with 56%

I'm losing the will now - I was on 2013 syllabus but had to change to 2016 so I wasted a lot of time on the project.

The synoptic exam is the only one I have to do and then I'll be qualified.

Can anyone offer any advise or is any one selling any synoptic textbooks?



Thanks

This is a tricky one, as no-one really knows what we should be studying for the Synoptic. I had bought the Kaplan kit, which consisted of a book larger than the Bible simply covering internal controls, (something my college never even mentioned) and I did the accompanying test questions which Kaplan based around GPL... but my exam was nothing like what I prepared for. I can only advise to go back to your Budgeting and Decision and Control modules as there is a lot about decision making, cost analysis, what if analysis, spotting weaknesses in budgets, that kind of thing. The other tasks cover a little of internal controls from memory such as how change can affect a business, in terms of resources such as money and staffing, morale etc.; definitely make sure you understand your ratios (back to front if you can, such as working back ROCE and TR days/TP days, I still havent found my notes on these) ROCE and ROSF are important ones as it analises how profitable your investments have been. A higher return is always better.

I did not rate the Osborne synoptic book because all 4 practice tests had exactly the same style questions, and to be honest none of these came up in either exam.

But hopefully the publishers have now released better materials, what with the revised synoptic from the AAT... so it's bound to be easier.

BEST of LUCK x

JadeBennett234

lindsaymay said:

Hi all.

I failed my synoptic with 56%

I'm losing the will now - I was on 2013 syllabus but had to change to 2016 so I wasted a lot of time on the project.

The synoptic exam is the only one I have to do and then I'll be qualified.

Can anyone offer any advise or is any one selling any synoptic textbooks? (Previously used Osbourne as supplied by college)



Thanks

This is the exact situation i was in, I was on 2013 and happily passed my first few exams... then came the tax units, Personal and Business, I felt like i was going round in circles then when i had finally finished both of them, i worked for months on the case study and initially received feedback that i only needed to make small amendments and it would pass. I did these, however as a distant student i was completely oblivious to the 2016 changeover if i didn't pass my case study in time. Anyway, i found all this out when i came to submitting my case study in December and they basically told me it was too late. So completely panicked when i finally booked the synoptic exam late January for 15th Feb and had no idea how different it was to 2013 or even what a synoptic was!

I purchased the Kaplan Revision Kit, then basically skimmed through everything, i then relied very heavily on doing questions and working out why they were wrong. I also brought another book (i think it was BPP) It was a question bank and i found the explanations within the answers of this book a lot better. I then spent about a week doing the wordy questions, looking at 'describe' - 3 points for, 3 against and a brief description. for nearly a whole week i didn't even look at the syllabus, just what describe, explain, analyse all meant in terms of how much i needed to write and how. I was amazed today to find out i had passed as i usually really struggle on wordy exams. But if i can give any advice i was say you've done every other exam... you know your stuff! and yes its a different syllabus but from what i found you there's nothing too scary that they throw in relating to the other 2016 exams. So focus more on grabbing every mark you can within the questions. I would also grab your feedback from your 2013 exams and have a check over anything where you got met or below requirement. I hope this helps!

hal978

Well done to everyone who was passed and also those who have tried the exam.

Although I have to consider myself lucky, I only got 70% on my first attempt. My qualification result was a Pass overall (and written on my certificate!) because most of my modules were transferred from AQ2013 at only 70%.

I booked another synoptic exam (yes crazy I know!) and I checked my result for this today and I got 93%! Now I have a Merit!

I was never good at written tasks, ever. This should be a lesson to everyone that it is possible to achieve higher marks with studying even though you may think you may not be good at certain topics or areas. It is possible to improve your result by 23 percentage points, like I did.

lyndsey1570

@lindsaymay Don't worry Lindsay I failed my first attempt with 59% and on the latest one I got 79% (third time lucky!) It has been the worst months trying to study for this exam and I wanted to give up too but if I can do it you can. My top tip and the reason I think I passed is because I related everything back to the scenario LIKE EVERYTHING. I didn't use the Kaplan resources as I felt they were not like the mock exams at all. I focused on the AAT mock papers online and looked at the Osbourne resources. Keep at it you got this !!!

MissHermansen

My tip is to tackle one question at the time during revision. Focus a day or two on each question.. look at as many past papers as possible and study what the question is asking in debth. Good luck x

DanielEvansSouthall

Right so I'm here again. After failing my PDSY exam last year, I chose to get my optional exams out of the way (External auditing and Business tax - awaiting results for the latter) and am ready for the big push to my PDSY re-sit in June. This will hopefully be my final AAT exam and so need all the help I can get! I plan to spend the next few days writing my revision plan. my idea was to start by going through the tasks in all the relative text books to see where my knowledge gaps are, study up on these and then go through the Kaplan exam kit questions to make sure I have a full understanding. I might also look into additional classes (I currently distance learn) to give me a further advantage . If anyone has ANY suggestions on how to pass, other than study my butt off, I'd really like to hear them!!!

Lindi

Myself and a friend used a company called Peak Accountancy Training, and they were worth their weight in gold. They answer any queries you may have, explaining why things are done a certain way, and they set up a few mock exams which can not be found in any other text books, then they mark your work and give you feedback. Unfortunately, the feedback I kept getting was my head wasnt working the way it should have done on the Budgeting questions, but they did manage to find all different ways to try and fix this and obviously have done enough for me to pass in December. I put this down to not having enough practice when doing my Budgeting exam at college, whilst the teacher was good, I did not always get answers to my questions and it sort of went downhill from there. Which is why I keep telling people to study up on Budgeting and D&C as this has dominated both PDSY sittings I had. Anyway give them a try at Peak Accountancy - Clive or Caroline. Good luck... keep us posted on how you get on

lucym96

I second what Lindi has said - I've always been with Peak Accountancy (in class), they are great!
My tip to pass the exam itself - try and understand why things are done as opposed to just knowing how to do them (if that makes any sense!). It does seem more are passing it now so I'm sure you can smash it on your next go - good luck!

shalls

hal978 said:

Well done to everyone who was passed and also those who have tried the exam.

Although I have to consider myself lucky, I only got 70% on my first attempt. My qualification result was a Pass overall (and written on my certificate!) because most of my modules were transferred from AQ2013 at only 70%.

I booked another synoptic exam (yes crazy I know!) and I checked my result for this today and I got 93%! Now I have a Merit!

I was never good at written tasks, ever. This should be a lesson to everyone that it is possible to achieve higher marks with studying even though you may think you may not be good at certain topics or areas. It is possible to improve your result by 23 percentage points, like I did.

WOW! This is the highest mark I've seen so far, do you have any tips? I'm sitting a retake end of April and don't have a clue where to begin revising.

Many thanks,
Shelana

TashaJNB

Charley1995 said:

Ive failled again second time around with an even lower score then the first time i really have no idea where i am going wrong i came out of the exam much more confident second time around and am shocked to have got an even lower score! If anyone has any tips or would be willing to share their revison notes with me that would be much appreciated

Hi Charley, I was exactly the same, convinced I must have passed this time as I got 69% in my first exam and felt much better after the second attempt. I came out with 64% this time and honestly do not know where to even start revising. I look at the results breakdown and am still struggling with what/how to revise.

If anyone has any tips on the best way to revise for this exam it would be much appreciated. I think my main issue this time around has been the fact that I haven't put very much into the revision because I find its really a broad subject and get stuck with where to start, what to go over etc.

Charley1995

@TashaJNB I was completely shocked i worked really hard leading up the exam and felt much more confident i seem to have done a complete 360 and the questions i passed the first time i didnt do very well on this time and the ones i failed on last time I've achieved this time! Not knowing what to revise is definitely the hardest part! If you send me your email i will forward you some notes people have kindly sent onto me

Venoxulous

TashaJNB said:

Charley1995 said:

I find its really a broad subject and get stuck with where to start, what to go over etc.

Exactly that! Me too.

TashaJNB

Charley1995 said:

@TashaJNBi seem to have done a complete 360 and the questions i passed the first time i didnt do very well on this time and the ones i failed on last time I've achieved this time!

Again, this was the same for me, so now I'm even more confused about what to revise!

I will accept all the help I can get so if you wouldn't mind that would be great. I'll message you my email address now. Thanks Charley!

@Venoxulous It's awful isn't it!

hal978

shalls said:

hal978 said:

Well done to everyone who was passed and also those who have tried the exam.

Although I have to consider myself lucky, I only got 70% on my first attempt. My qualification result was a Pass overall (and written on my certificate!) because most of my modules were transferred from AQ2013 at only 70%.

I booked another synoptic exam (yes crazy I know!) and I checked my result for this today and I got 93%! Now I have a Merit!

I was never good at written tasks, ever. This should be a lesson to everyone that it is possible to achieve higher marks with studying even though you may think you may not be good at certain topics or areas. It is possible to improve your result by 23 percentage points, like I did.

WOW! This is the highest mark I've seen so far, do you have any tips? I'm sitting a retake end of April and don't have a clue where to begin revising.

Many thanks,
Shelana

If you relate back to the pre-release material (even if not asked in the question), you could get higher marks. I also wrote as much as I could. Try and get 100% in tasks 1 and 5 as they are multiple-choice questions, although you should spend more time on the written tasks.

Agnes123

I've always found the examiner report useful. It does give a good idea of what often goes wrong and where to pay more attention.

simon430

My advice would be to nail Q1, Q4, and Q5. Q1 been questions about accounting in general and procedures which marks can easily be lost on. Q4 is finding strengths and weaknesses so make sure you have a good understanding in this area as a lot of marks are offered. Q5 is about ratios which again a lot of marks are on offer so getting these three questions nailed will put you on a good footing. For Q2 it's all about budget setting/performance/comparison, also remember to answer about which budget it been presented eg. variance analysis etc and there strengths/weaknesses as you can get a couple of marks for this.

Might of mixed up which questions appear in what order but the principle is the same.

Steeleyg94

so the next time i sit this exam it will be my 4th attempt;

1st attempt - 43%
2nd attempt - 56%
3rd attempt - 66%

those of you who passed, do you think including references to the pre-release material makes a difference? I've seen it mentioned a few times so im wondering now if thats whats holding me back.

Once again i will be going over everything and hopefully this will be my last attempt!!

CornishPixie

I passed on my fourth attempt and this time I did refer explicitly to the pre-release material at every opportunity so I wonder if that made a difference for me. Mind you, I had totally different questions to my previous three attempts which I did not think allowed me to do so. Make sure you know your budgets inside out and also your ratios which if you really understand them will be an easy 20 marks in a relatively short space of time as time is tight on this one.

sharpy92

Steeleyg94 said:

so the next time i sit this exam it will be my 4th attempt;

1st attempt - 43%
2nd attempt - 56%
3rd attempt - 66%

those of you who passed, do you think including references to the pre-release material makes a difference? I've seen it mentioned a few times so im wondering now if thats whats holding me back.

Once again i will be going over everything and hopefully this will be my last attempt!!

I 100% agree with using the pre-release.

I failed twice with 64 and 65%, I was absolutely adamant I had passed easily second time around but didn't once mention the pre-release either time.

Third attempt I mentioned it as much as I could in each writing task (using the names of staff, principles etc) and got 75%. I was significantly below on Q4 regarding relevant costs as I had no idea, but managed to exceed 3 tasks - 2 of these being writing tasks.

shalls

Hi all,
Sitting the synoptic exam tomorrow for the second time after failing with 62% back in September. I managed to get below requirement on question 2 and significantly below on questions 3 and 6 which I thought were my stronger areas. Does anyone have any last minute advice? Thank you in advance!

nala

Hello to everyone

I am studying to my 4th synoptic exam .... Could someone do ma a favor and explain in easy words the 'arbitrary allocation of fixed costs ' and tell me how it works ?? I use osbourne book and I cannot find any information.

I would be very gratful if someone let me to understand it

Nick4712

@shalls I received significantly below for task 3 as well which I was surprised at because I felt it was my strongest written answer! Best of luck for tomorrow I will be sitting it as well. What are you doing to revise?

Zubair123

nala said:

Hello to everyone

I am studying to my 4th synoptic exam .... Could someone do ma a favor and explain in easy words the 'arbitrary allocation of fixed costs ' and tell me how it works ?? I use osbourne book and I cannot find any information.

I would be very gratful if someone let me to understand it

I think it means the allocation of the fixed costs is not realistic as it is just an estimate due to lack of data etc

But feel free to correct me if I am wrong

Greigc123

Sitting my first synoptic exam on Thursday, feel as if task 2 and 4 will be the deal breakers in whether i pass or not.

Does anyone have any last minute advice regarding this exam please?

Zubair123

Greigc123 said:

Sitting my first synoptic exam on Thursday, feel as if task 2 and 4 will be the deal breakers in whether i pass or not.

Does anyone have any last minute advice regarding this exam please?

I would suggest in the exam you fully read the question and give yourself time understand what it is asking. Also, for Q2 i revised the budgetary control, long term planning procedures, flexed budgets, standard costing, variances, and the types of budgets and the advantages and disadvantages (top-down or bottom up etc).

For Q4 I suggest you revise relative costs, contribution, limiting factor analysis etc. I also struggle on Q4 so that is the best I have got

Also, it is best to go back to the MABU & the MDCL modules and go over all of the content again. Have a look at the assessment objectives too as this will help.

Best of luck for Thursday

Greigc123

Zubair123 said:

Greigc123 said:

Sitting my first synoptic exam on Thursday, feel as if task 2 and 4 will be the deal breakers in whether i pass or not.

Does anyone have any last minute advice regarding this exam please?

I would suggest in the exam you fully read the question and give yourself time understand what it is asking. Also, for Q2 i revised the budgetary control, long term planning procedures, flexed budgets, standard costing, variances, and the types of budgets and the advantages and disadvantages (top-down or bottom up etc).

For Q4 I suggest you revise relative costs, contribution, limiting factor analysis etc. I also struggle on Q4 so that is the best I have got

Also, it is best to go back to the MABU & the MDCL modules and go over all of the content again. Have a look at the assessment objectives too as this will help.

Best of luck for Thursday

Thank you very much for your response , i feel okay with the MABU & MDCL content. Feel as if the issue is more in the wording of the questions and what they expect you to write, as the questions can be quite vague and open.

I shall go over that stuff and hopefully i pull it out the bag.

Thank you Zubair, i'll give it a my best shot!

lindsaymay

My exam is tomorrow afternoon!!
I've done all the mocks in my Kaplan and Osbourne books...I just feel there are so many things that could come up I'm unsure what to focus on!
Have any of you done any prep with the pre release? Without talking about the actual content I've highlight bits I think are important and put a few key words next to certain bits...What have you done?
Good luck to all about to sit the exam this week.