Synoptic Assessment-Advance

The synoptic layout for AAT Level 3 is a mess, from the actual assessment questions to trying to upload saved files. Something needs to be done to improve this, I am disappointed to say the least, wasted the whole year for a badly designed exam. Deeply upset, I came out of the assessment in tears. I don't know who set the synoptic assessment especially the second part relating to spreadsheets, I have asked people with qualifications higher then AAT level 3 for help and they couldn't even understand the spreadsheet module. Absolutely appalling people are left without qualification because they couldn't complete the synoptic due to incompetency of the AAT

Comments

  • janeW
    janeW Registered Posts: 25
    Your not alone feeling despondent with aat. I too have worked very hard to achieve a good result and after my resit today I am not feeling confident at all. The spreadsheet section is far too complex and the time allotted is insufficient to be successful.
  • Mike Webster
    Mike Webster Registered, Tutor Posts: 203 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    edited July 2017
    Sadly, you are not the only one having experiences like this. Many of my students have been in the same boat - we've complained, to no avail. Maybe you should complain?

    This whole situation has destroyed my faith in AAT - as a professional body and an awarding body. I owe so much to the AAT qualification because I would not be doing the job I love without it, but so much damage is being done by these issues on a daily basis.

    I hope you eventually achieve. I will be allowing some of my Level 3 students to progress to Level 4 even if they haven't passed the Level 3 Synoptic provided they pass it by mid November - many colleges may well do something similar otherwise they'll have no Level 4 students.
    Michael JH Webster AATQB FMAAT
  • janeW
    janeW Registered Posts: 25
    My tutors expressed their concerns today and cannot understand why the spreadsheet module is this complex. One tutor who is a practising accountant said he would not pass the spreadsheet module as the demands of the tasks are not even relevant in a real working environment, however he does not teach spreadsheets. They have also made a complaint to aat.

    I forwarded a email today to aat as I had problems uploading the last task, which was only 50% complete. I worked out my error I hadn't closed excel down but before I could upload correctly the exam ended.

    As I have said previously my achievements thus far have been excellent, above 90% on all exams so this is a really frustrating time for me with the hard work I have put in over the last couple of years. Having tried twice now to complete the spreadsheets within the allotted time, I have failed. I didn't struggle with the answers I just didn't have enough time to do it proficiently. Don't aat teach to carry out your work to the highest of standards and preach the ethical principle of professional competence and due care? Why are they not giving us the opportunity to practice what they preach.

    I apologise if this is a very negative post however it does help with my frustrations writing it down. Also it is nice to know I am not alone in this.

    I
  • stephanie_wells
    stephanie_wells Registered Posts: 12
    I am part of another discussion on here, believe me there are about 8 of us all in the same boat, as of this morning this is my update:

    Well, as iv mentioned before my training provider has been an awful let down, 1 - no tutor for the synoptic module of the course so did this as home study and moving my exam from next monday to this morning with just 2 days warning. So iv crammed revision and notes in over the last 4 days and nights..... i get to the exam this morning to sit, ok so i have to admit no problems uploading at all!!!!!! but ....... when i last sat this back in July, there was just 1 assessment to download for the excel tasks - after doing my best and actually feeling ok about it, i upload and save with just 7 mins left and lo and behold - 'WHY IS THERE ANOTHER 2 ASSESSMENTS TO DOWNLOAD FOR EXCEL????????????????????????????
    where the hell did these come from?? they were not there last time!!!!!
    Im in utter shock, complete dismay and having a complete internal breakdown as all the work i had put in, will not make up enough for a pass as 75% of the 2nd part of the exam has not been done.

    Found out that at my college in the 2016 synoptic up till last week, i was the first and only one to do this exam and failed - so, 100% of the course was failed!
    and now probably again. //£2000 for the biggest stress factor ever.... and to top this off, you cannot book another until your fail has come through which takes 7 weeks, so by the time i get to do yet another i have mossed the intake for the level 4 - putting my whole career plan down the toilet.

    The most terrible experience of my life.
    How has everyone else been getting on????
  • janeW
    janeW Registered Posts: 25
    It seems to be a misery for all of us Stephanie. My circumstances slightly different but there should not be room for us to make errors like this, we should be concentrating on doing the exam to the best of our ability and achieving the highest grade we can. I explained to my husband that I did not manage to upload the last task and his response was "well don't you do that after the exam has finished anyway?", it was nice to know he shared my thoughts. I don't think there is going to be many people doing Level 4, it was not my intention at this time to do Level 4 but I think it would of been enough to put me off AAT unless they addressed the many, many issues. My exam will now be marked out of 86%, that puts me at a real disadvantage and up until that point I was feeling confident.

    I am honestly so disheartened by this, surely AAT can see that students who have obtained good results so far and now suddenly on the synoptic, many of us are failing. It just doesn't add up, we have not suddenly stopped revising. The alarm bells must be going off at AAT, completed my form today for my 50 pound refund.
  • clees
    clees Registered Posts: 33
    edited July 2017
    Sat this exam 2 weeks ago, so just waiting patiently to find out how badly I did!

    I could not finish spreadsheet 3, and had to skip the trial balance and the financial statements and instead do as many of the smaller tasks as possible the time constraints are far to tight and I finished with 1min 23 on the clock.(thankfully I managed to upload everything)
    in the end the time given to complete section 2 does not allow you to take DUE CARE check your work properly.

    However I do think it is important that we know how to use and be competent in using excess, but my issue is that they require you to use one particular formula to find the answer and to do something in one particular way.
    Anybody who uses excess regularly knows there is no one way to do something in excel and in the working environment no body cares how you do the calculations as long as the end result is correct! !!!!

    so why does it matter if I use =SUBTOTAL(9,J42,K42) as the exam would want me to OR =SUM(J42:K42) as I would in normal life if the answer is the same???

  • ammw90
    ammw90 Registered Posts: 24
    Sat this exam 2 weeks ago and it could have gone either way really! I was one of a lucky few who did not have any technical issues, most of my colleagues had their tests locked numerous times and moved to a different PC. I think I was also the only one who has attempted and finished all tasks and uploaded them with 20mins to spare. Not enough time to check the answers. Very badly worded - to the point that I didn't know what they expected from me.
  • JW94
    JW94 Registered Posts: 10
    Please email customer.support@aat.org.uk with your complaints! I sat my exam on 11th July and it was horrendous! The wording to the spreadsheet part was awful and the time was too short! AAT emailed me back to basically say not enough people have complained so I just have to suck it up! If everyone that's commented on here emails them they might start to take notice!
  • janeW
    janeW Registered Posts: 25
    I actually had a question in part 1 that I read and reread and couldn't determine exactly what they were asking for. It was a costing question which is my strength (97%) and I believe my actual calculations were correct however the second part to the question was not very clear and I was coming up with several scenarios. I know you have to read the questions very carefully and I even went back to it after completing part 1 to look at it with fresh eyes. I spoke to one of the other students who said she had a similar question and was also baffled by what exactly aat was asking. In a real scenario you would be fully aware of what your task was with full information available. Maybe the person writing the question, the answer is clear to them as they have written the question but if they want a correct answer they need to make the question clear and precise, then we would beable to provide them with the correct answer.
  • stephanie_wells
    stephanie_wells Registered Posts: 12
    JW94 - i ahve just sent AAT a mega long email including the emails to my learning provider to explain the extent of my issues with the course. Believe it or not, uploading is not one of them!!!

    So unhappy with the whole thing - lets just see what they send me back - that should be interesting.
  • Ellada
    Ellada Registered Posts: 43
    Just sent my complain as well. But I don't really think it will help. Complain for AAT to AAT...
  • stephanie_wells
    stephanie_wells Registered Posts: 12
    lol
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