Cash management

rvs29

I recently sat the Cash Management exam on the AQ2013 syllabus. After doing all practice and mock exams provided by AAT and MyKaplan I was achieving competent in all papers, and found them relatively easy.
I found the real exam really hard, and it was totally different to any mock papers I had done. There was also a question in the exam which was not covered in my material and had never learnt it!

Did anyone else have the same experience?

Any advice?
Thanks

Whisper

I found the exam a lot harder than the practice papers too, and this was the topic i was most confident about. I passed but it was the lowest score i achieved and the only one below 80%

I had a similar experience with a high marking question and could not work out what was required of me as there was very little instruction. I filled the question in as best i could, but i only grasped what it was asking about 10 mins before the exam timed out, so could not check my answers.
A few of my peers had similar experiences, one even had the same question and had to guess at it as well.

I have a feeling that it was possibly trying to test previous knowledge gained from lvl 3 and 2, so perhaps it's worth looking over some of those topics again, should you need to, and see if they relate to the question you got.

The written questions can really boost your marks, especially if you are unsure of some of your numerical answers. They are worth the time investment to get as many mark as possible. I did all the number questions I could first, and gave myself most of the exam to focus on the written.
My best tip is to drop questions you're stuck on, and move onto something else, come back to them later - time management is key for this exam. I learnt this the hard way in MDCL on my first try!

Good luck with your results

rvs29

Thanks Whisper! I am still waiting for my result but I am unsure on how I feel (if I have passed or failed). What was your thoughts after the exam? How did you feel you did?

I answered all of the questions the best I could but it was tough!!

I also finished with about 5 seconds left!

Just hoping for good results

ChrisJ30

I sat this exam three times. Like you doing the practice assessments I was competent. However, when doing the exams I saw questions I had no idea on. I was so glad to pass it on my third attempt. I wish you all the best with your result!

Whisper

To be honest I couldn't tell if i had passed or failed, It's a worrying wait for these exam results, but if you've done your best, thats all that matters! Really wishing you well

rvs29

ChrisJ30 - I'm glad you passed eventually! What steps did you take to help you pass i.e. in terms of revision?

Whsiper - Thanks!

ChrisJ30

Thank you @rvs29

I went over and over the written questions. Studying the example written questions. I also bought an Osborne book to give me further practice.

rvs29

@ChrisJ30 are you able to send me the link for the Osborne book which you bought?

Thanks!

ChrisJ30

I bought a paper back book otherwise I would

rvs29

@ChrisJ30 What was the book called as I am trying to find one to buy!

ChrisJ30

I tell a lie I bought this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/147272206X/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

rvs29

@ChrisJ30 great thanks so much! I will be buying this if I do not get a positive result!

Whisper

Just to add - we used the Kaplan text books - theres a study text and an exam kit and some other bits, you can buy in a bundle or individually - just reading the answers they provide really helped!

http://kaplan-publishing.kaplan.co.uk/aat-aq2016/cash-treasury-management/Pages/essential-study-materials.aspx

The Exam kit is very useful (just for the amount of written Q's & answers)

edit: have just seen you used Kaplan - but will leave the link for anyone else interested!

rvs29

Hi @ChrisJ30 and @Whisper thought I would let you know I received my result today, and as expected - it was Not Yet Competent. I'm not hugely disappointed, as I didn't think I was going to pass anyway. Just annoyed I now need to re-study it!
I am looking to purchase any further materials that may have helped you both. Any suggestions? I self-studied using all of the material from Kaplan already.

Thanks!

ChrisJ30

sorry to hear dude. have you requested your feedback?

ChrisJ30

as above I bought the Osborn book and really reviewed the answers to the written ques

rvs29

I did get my feedback, it was:
01. Cash receipts and payments and their relationship with profit - Significantly below
2. 02. Forecasting income and expenditure - Borderline
3. 03. Patterns of cash flows - Below requirement
4. 04. Prepare a cash budget - Borderline
5. 05. Sensitivity analysis - Borderline
6. 06. Monitoring cash flows - Exceeded
7. 07. Liquidity management - Met
8. 08. Saving and borrowing - terms, conditions and calculations - Below requirement
9. 09. Raising finance - Met
10. 0. Investing surplus funds - Below requirement

Pretty bad I guess...

ChrisJ30

I don't have access to the sample assessments any more. But the written questions are 8,9 and 10 right?

I notice you are significantly below on task 1 which is the cash flow. I think you brush up on that matey.

ChrisJ30

Don't give up buddy - you will get there Im sure!

Whisper

@rvs29
First, don't worry, these feedback forms are sometimes not that helpful or encouraging. I looked at some of my feedback forms and by what was written on them, it looked like a fail, but I passed. So, don’t worry, this is not bad - and can be worked on. It indicates the area's that you had problems with, and what you were stronger at.

It's hard so many weeks after, but I would list out what you remember was on your paper for each question, and go over what you know you know didn’t understand or do well on. Do remember, you are highly unlikely to get the same questions again, but there is a chance, and some topics are usually guaranteed to come up in certain modules (off the top of my head I cannot remember what those are for Cash mngmnt, but I will have a look to see if in my class notes we were given a rough break down, and I will post it later)

As your results are a bit mixed, in your revision I would cover all topics again to solidify understanding, but focus on the topics that can come up in the questions where you were below and significantly below. Practice different types of questions, even if its repeating the same questions (like repeating the online sample assessments.)
Try and find lots of written questions to practice, they really can save you on this paper as they carry a significant amount of marks, read and make notes on the written topics and try to make sure you can answer the written questions thoroughly to gain as many marks as possible.

The borderline sections you can easily pull up into met and exceeded, look through the topics again and see if there are areas where you know you could have dropped points. Also practice the online sample assessment to get a good understanding of the layout to ensure its not user error such as missing drop downs on multiple choice Q’s, or missing boxes in tables that lost you marks.

From the feedback you received, I think you’re almost there. You will do much better on your resit, use your experience from the first exam to help, especially with time management, as you now know which questions took longer! If you need any help with any topics, or you get stuck on a question, post it here and I will see if I can help

rvs29

@Whisper thank you for writing back to me your comments and advice were lovely and will deffo take it all on board. Hopefully i will get there next time !

ChrisJ30

@rvs29 what about my comments