AVSY exam window 10-14 July

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  • tarishna24
    tarishna24 Registered Posts: 2
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    Personally I feel AAT need to scrap this exam, it's causing everyone too much distress. They need to pick up on this but surely they do as soo many people have expressed their issues
  • Multiplicator
    Multiplicator Registered Posts: 116
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    // Did everyone who took the exam save it onto their computer?//

    yeah we were told to save it to Desktop or else we would never be able to find it
    Once we had done that - you will have to change the name to yours as an identifier which is useful if ever you successfully upload. Then save using control-s frequently throughout

    I uploaded at 30,60,90 mins ( clearly three batches of single questions) and you have to close the excel file or apparently it wont upload. You dont get a receipt saying "sent" so it just floats off into the ether somewhere. And remember folks - if you cant do something as basic as this you deserve to fail an exam which has something like "accounting practice" on the top !

    I took a watch in ( mechanical) and some were told to do q"2 and q3 first as they carry more marks - but being an accountant you should be able to adjust your times according to the marks and I found it didnt matter much - it was all pretty much a disaster
  • paula1443
    paula1443 Registered Posts: 4
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    Let see if you pass Multiplicator as seems in your opinion everyone who express distress deserve to fail
  • Multiplicator
    Multiplicator Registered Posts: 116
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    read them again Paula - it is called irony -
    actually all those expressing distress upsets me
    AAT qualification was intended to be a craft path into a decent profession and it seems all a con - you pays your money and fail the final exam
    then you resit - nothing has changed altho you are told it has - and you fail again

    car crash or dream crusher - take your pick - If I had been told that this would happen I probably wouldnt have signed up and paid for this course - so to a certain extent I feel I have been mis-sold a non-product. It is of course All Too Late now. I have posted quite a few posts in this vein and also included an open letter on the level 4 thread ( it combined Level 3 and level 4 woes ). detailing the defects of level 3 AVSY

    IF you think I am on AAT's side - read them again and pay attention !

    Oh and Paula - I didnt pass I got 62% - have you read all my posts or just skimmed the last few ?

  • paula1443
    paula1443 Registered Posts: 4
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    My apology Multiplicator as I have receive notification on my phone I have red only last few comments and I guess I'm still angry with that exam ( even though don't have result yet ) and sorry to hear u did not pass but 62% is probably more than most of us who had this exam on this week will get anyway .
  • Multiplicator
    Multiplicator Registered Posts: 116
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    Paula - I am sorry for that. Good luck if you retake
    My appetite for taking AAT exams has been blunted
    My appetite for paying and following AAT courses that in the end - the final one - you fail has been almost extinguished. You will note there wasn't a high failure rate for the first exam - so people could judge the lie of the land and drop out early to save money.
    I thought I might do Arabic or Mandarin in Sept 2017 - at least even if you fail, you will come out with a working knowledge of the chosen language. AAT level 3 - complete waste of time springs to mind. I feel sorrier for those who are locked into this disgraceful charade.
  • salma1011
    salma1011 Registered Posts: 41
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    Very true. I am thinking to stop too and save £3000. This year we were 3 classes for level 3. They were planning to have 2 classes for level 4. But only 7 passed out of the 3 classes (60 students). And most of students are thinking of not doing level 4 or I know some are going to do ACCA/CIMA as they were going to do it anyway but do not trust AAT anymore. Few are going to do a degree. I have sat for second time this week and had so many technical issues. But found my exam much easier. I don t think all exam are the same level.
  • salma1011
    salma1011 Registered Posts: 41
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    AAT is asking me to renew my membership before end of August but I will have to resit for third time because of technical issues in September. My results are due end of August. So does it mean I can not use the AAT website before my resit? As I am not sure I will do level 4.
  • Multiplicator
    Multiplicator Registered Posts: 116
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    I noticed that they (AAT) were starting to demand money from me ( new year sub fees)
    and the VERY same thoughts went thro my mind....I am aware of the irony of such a course of action.
    actually I am more worried about getting access to my college ( stripe cards and all that jazz) because the library is so useful- and access to their site

    Minor problems TBH. - I have asked my college for pass rates - no answer so far
    dammit I broke my 'timing' watch yesterday.....

    Ho hum - must look on the bright side - life goes on ....sunny outside...
  • Lilimae94
    Lilimae94 Registered Posts: 1
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    I am due to take my resit on 27th July. I really don't know what the best action to take would be, as the exam doesn't seem to be any better. I have been really down since I first sat it and don't think it's worth stressing over anymore. I have emailed AAT but have been told it is taking longer than anticipated to resolve so I'm having to wait 20 working days. Which by then the resit window will have passed.
  • stephanie_wells
    stephanie_wells Registered Posts: 12
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    I too think this exam is a bot out of scope. I actually enjoyed the level 2 and was excited to do level 3, i ahd a limited amount of classes for each module and felt i just scraped through each exam.... i thought i studies quite well for the synoptic i took at the end of may. I had my result last week and no where near passed! This must be the ,ost disheartening thing and i agree with everyone on here, i cant see how the AAT can see this bringing any positivity to anyones career....
    I work in accounts and have done for 3 years now, you either create your own spreadsheets or most of the time work on what is already there - all this formatting with colours, change look up filter to cross with his filter etc etc is pointless but stressful! its like studying for things that you will never use.
    I have another re sit in 2 weeks and im dreading it.
    I am competant at my job, do accounts for 3 companies and manage the companies assets financially and to be honest - i use none of what i have learnt! I wish the AAT would have done a trial run and had feedback before making this compulsory!
    I was so wanted to complete my level 4 but im in second thoughts now, and due to the fact my learning provider didnt have enough students to do level 3 syn after they had my £2k i had to do a homestudy - no wonder i failed!
    Even tough my resit is free im still highly unimpressed!
    Please dont be disheartened guys - this has no reflection on your competancy - believe me !!!!!
  • Ellada
    Ellada Registered Posts: 43
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    I set my exam last Saturday at West Herts College. Just one student out of 12 had technical problems on spreadsheet part. It has been sorted during 10 min but no more issues.
    Part 1 of the exam was not too bad except just 1 task where I couldn't understand what they want me to do and how... any way never seen something similar on Osborne or Kaplan books. It was MIX (!!!) between mark-up, absorption reversed (what is it?) and budgeted/actual costs. So, confused...Spent a lot of time...I think I fail that task. But other task from part 1 were very easy.
    Part 2 was stressful as well BUT I've completed just 2 task plus a bit more than half of task 3. Again, not really sure if my calculations were correct...

    BAD wording...

    Probably, it's fail :(
  • dahlia
    dahlia Registered Posts: 24
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    Thanks everyone for sharing your experience and feedback on the synoptic last week- very disheartening to read for sure.

    I sat mine last Friday, and it had to be the most stressful AAT exam by far for me. I had decided to download all 3 Excel tasks right at the start and upload all at the end. After saving them to the PC, I was not able to get out of SecureClient to access Excel. The invigilator and I tried all of AAT's troubleshooting suggestions e.g. window key, Alt-Ctrl-Tab etc. In the end, we had to pause the exam and reboot the PC. Luckily once we got back in, things started to work as they should, although I still lost some precious few minutes when *every* minute counts in that part of the exam!

    Honestly it was an insanely mad rush trying to get everything done on Excel. The questions were more long-winded than those I had practised with Osborne's workbook as well as AAT's assessment practices. The questions I had were of a similar level of difficulty but because there were more bullet-pointed tasks, I had no time whatsoever to check what I was doing- it really is a matter of: Read, Do, and Pray that I've read and done right!

    At the end of one task, I had 7 or maybe even 8 worksheets going! The college PC monitor screen isn't big enough to have a workable side-by-side view, so the constant flipping back to read the question was so inefficient.

    I ended up having to leave a couple things undone just to economise on time e.g. email task etc.

    Now I just pray that my effort was sufficient...

    I'm probably not going to do level 4 with AAT (considering switching to IFA). Does anyone know whether I'd have to pay another year of student membership fee just to resit in September (if I'm not doing level 4 next year)? The result is due back 25 Aug, any resits will have to be the following window w/o 18-24 Sept, which crosses over to the next academic year.

    If anyone knows the answer, let me know please. Thanks.

    I wish everyone awaiting results the best of luck!
  • nheed
    nheed Registered Posts: 12
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    Yes, you will have to have your membership upto date to sit any exam. There is an earlier window AAT have put on at the begining of Sept that you may be able to do before your current membership expires. Regardless of the fact you only lost a few minutes, the interruption and technical issues you experienced are unacceptable in the middle of an exam. My issues went on for about 15 mins, I then went back into the exam having to use the task manager to switch between screens, while this was happening I was panacking, my mind was panacking and I ended up leaving without uploading anything. I was up to this exam a distinction student, no chance of maintain that with this exam when I resit!
  • dahlia
    dahlia Registered Posts: 24
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    I absolutely agree with you @nheed - There should be zero tolerance for technical issues of any sort! Period.
  • stephanie_wells
    stephanie_wells Registered Posts: 12
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    what is the IFA course?
  • salma1011
    salma1011 Registered Posts: 41
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    Yes what is that course? I had technical issues too but was not the only one. Lost this time 20 minutes so was not able to finish my question 2:3 in fact done only worth 4 marks. My exam has been paused 3 times. Therefore my exam took 4 hours instead of 3h15. But found the exam quiet easy this time. College is blaming AAT and AAT blaming College. I do not really care who fault is but for sure I am the one who is losing my time my money and my health!
  • stephanie_wells
    stephanie_wells Registered Posts: 12
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    I actually got an email from AAT end of june explainiing there was many technical difficauties and apologies for this, they said they would credit my learning provider so i can resit for free, after passing i can then clain £50 as compensation for the stress!!!!
    Stress = understatement!!!
    #ditchthesynoptic
  • dahlia
    dahlia Registered Posts: 24
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    stephanie_wells said:

    what is the IFA course?

    IFA is another membership body that provides accountancy qualifications- up to level 5 so one more level above AAT.
    https://www.ifa.org.uk/
  • Multiplicator
    Multiplicator Registered Posts: 116
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    The problem with chucking Level 3 if you have failed is that you would have do the course and exam with IFA again wouldnt you ?
    so IFA is only a bale-out option really after you have got level 3 under your belt
    Are the levels interchangeable ? - I am surprised IFA isnt contacting everyone !

    and good luck to the re-sitters ! it seems like you will need it

  • Meema1
    Meema1 Registered Posts: 8
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    Are there any similarities between the Exam kit provided by Kaplan and the mock assessments on the AAT website?
    I find the ones on the AAT website a lot harder, any thoughts?
  • JW94
    JW94 Registered Posts: 10
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    @Meema1 I don't know what the Kaplan ones are like but I definitely felt the real exam was more complicated than the ones on the AAT website!
  • Ellada
    Ellada Registered Posts: 43
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    Kaplan Exam Kit is harder than Osborne synoptic workbook. I've got both. More chances to pass with Kaplan but even there is not enough practice tasks.
  • Meema1
    Meema1 Registered Posts: 8
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    @JW94 Definitely feel as though the mocks provided on the AAT website are worded differently, don't know how I'll find the actual exam if I'm struggling with the mocks :anguished:
  • nheed
    nheed Registered Posts: 12
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    I've done Kaplan, Osborne and AAT practice exams. AAT practice exams were the hardest out of those but still easier than the real exam.
  • Meema1
    Meema1 Registered Posts: 8
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    nheed said:

    I've done Kaplan, Osborne and AAT practice exams. AAT practice exams were the hardest out of those but still easier than the real exam.

    Would you say the Kaplan questions are similar to the exam at all?
  • nheed
    nheed Registered Posts: 12
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    Similar but more straightforward - hard to compare really, like level 2 vs level 3 , same thing just harder.
  • kellypreston
    kellypreston Registered Posts: 24
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    Just to let everyone know, I took the exam today and they're are still bugs within the software
  • JW94
    JW94 Registered Posts: 10
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    Please everyone email AAT to complain! I emailed and they said nothing will be done until enough people complain!!
  • stephanie_wells
    stephanie_wells Registered Posts: 12
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    JW94 - That is ridiculous, i had to complain to my training provider today as after they added the synoptic into my course after a week of signing up and paying and then passing all other exams getting to the synoptic to be told there isnt a tutor for this and they would notify as soon as they have one, so rather than wait for however long, iv had to do a homestudy for this module - yes i failed first time around and have another exam on monday 31st july.
    I cannot believe AAT would say enough of us have to complain - this is a joke.
    And to top it off, i find out today that although they have given me a start date for the level 4 in september, they mentioned today that the AAT will not be carrying on next year as they are changing over to ACCA.... WTF!!!!!!

    I dont know what to think, im wondering what the hell the 2k was for.... im very very distressed and disheartened afetr so much hard work!

    As if it dosnt get worse - i have to pay the next years membership of £90 by 31st july and my last exam is on 31st and just hoping to god that i will stay activated for the exam that morning!!!!!!!!!!

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