Lack of Time on Spreadsheets

DannyT90

I took my synoptic today and feel I've really let myself down. In all exams before I always achieved above 90% but with today's exam I feel I'll be lucky just to pass!
Did anyone struggle to manage their time with part 2? It's also the first time I didn't complete an assessment.

Also, are marks still given for incorrect answers but with the correct formula? I feel i had the correct formulas but rushed on the questions and got some wrong! I know most marks are gained in part 2, so I'm slightly concerned.

Any feedback would be most apprecieated.

dumutroba

Hi
There was a similar question recently
Unfortunately majority of the marks come from the Excel exercise, but if you have something right on there it will count
I personally felt that time is quite tight as well, I literally had no time to review my work, I was just following the script
Although I work with Excel I practice many times before the exam, main goal was to be able to do everything in the allowed time
I made sure that I covered 1 part of the exam very well, because I didn't want to loose points, in case Excel part was horrendously difficult or as many students experience technical problems
At the end I could see that I had all the calculations right, e.g trial balance because you have the totals to compare, but until the results came I didn't exclude fail as an option
So nothing is certain until you see the results

Duchess1

I didn't finish it either. Half way through one question, did not even start the last excel one.

DannyT90

I don't like making excuses but it just seemed like there wasn't enough time to properly go over both tasks and then check my work. Maybe it was my time management.

Is the re-sit the same exam questions?

Norvydas

The Excel part shouldn't take you long, is very basic and simple. Just revise enough before you go in the exam and try to remember all the formulas and etc. I know people who are not good at computers especially excel will find it difficult, myself however i have been working with PC's and with Excel for few years so I completed the spreadsheet section within half an hour. Try to revise Excel so much so that yiu know in your head where everything is, remember formulas so you dont need to search for them.

And when you resit the exam layout will be the same but question will be different.

DannyT90

Yeah for me it wasn't the excel formulas that were the problem, as I use them at work. It was remembering the Management accounting unit and the subjects associated with that unit.

It's such a vast level, it's difficult to know what to focus on. Then again I assume that's what revision is all about!!

Norvydas

I find Managment Accounting interesting therefore i didn't had issues with it nor in level 3 or 4,however financial statements and etc... i hated those as i found no interest in those units therefore i struggled on them more!

DannyT90

Any tips on revision techniques? I have a full time job and 2 kids, so difficult fitting it round them at the moment.

dumutroba

I would recommend practice more on the excel part and keep timing. Don't neglect the first part of the exam and practice the written questions, you don't want to loose points on the ethics. On the exam I had a question similar to the sample assessment on AAT website. If you struggle with management practice more the questions from workbooks or even go back to Management exam sample assessments, but try and understand the logic behind it.

tomstrong96

dumutroba did you do the exam recently? I did it yesterday but was wondering if anyone did the same one as me and wanted to talk about it :')

dumutroba

Sorry tomstrong96, it was back in August
Did you found it OK?

DannyT90

I did mine yesterday

tomstrong96

Yeah it was alright I didn't have any trouble with time and there was a ETB on task 2 which we had to produce a SFP with some profit sharing as it was a partnership but was wondering what people thought of it

DannyT90

Yeah it was on the ETB I can out of time on. How the inventory was presented I had never seen on a ETB before.

tomstrong96

Yeah I thought it was quite straightforward personally although I had to insert rows into the SFP and didn’t know whether other people were doing that haha so don’t really know whether I did it correctly or not

DannyT90

Just out of curiosity, who do you get your material from?

tomstrong96

Kaplan, you?

DannyT90

Osborne Books but I have noticed quite a few errors in their books.

Can you get the Kaplan books without paying them as a training provider? i.e. Self learning

tomstrong96

I dont think so, looks like they charge around £20 for each of them on their website

DannyT90

How's the material in the books?

tomstrong96

It is decent to be fair they have text books and integrated workbooks which they use when teaching but its all pretty solid with not many errors, if any, and i dont think ive seen any during level 3.

glennd86

I have done the synoptic assessment twice now and failed with 61% each time. I did the exam again for a third time yesterday and I am convinced I have not passed again either. It's incredibly frustrating as I was on for a distinction as well leading up to this assessment. The exam yesterday, I could not have done anymore revision, I have done the mock assessments on AAT several times and get a competent mark each time. I am competent enough with the ethics side of the assessment. I have revised as many accounting calculations as I could (apportionment, net present value, BOAR, margin of safety etc.), but then find I have a completely different task to complete. Also, the Excel section is incredibly difficult to complete when you find you cannot remember one formula and then realise you cannot complete the remainder of the question/task because of it. Does anyone have any tips who has passed as to how to prepare for this?

Norvydas

@glennd86

What do you mean by "remember formulas"? You don't need to remember them if you go to Excel and then go to "Formulas" tab and then click on "Insert Function" all of the formulas will be there, it also gives description of what that particular formula does. Sure it helps if you know them in your head already but you don't need to know all of them. Most important ones are; SUM, AVG, IF / Goal Seek - these ones are the ones you will use most.

I found Excel spreadsheets extremely easy, I love using PC's so for me Excel wasn't an issue.

Which parts do you struggle most? Is it Spreadsheets or Theory? If Spreadsheets then I would say do more revision on it then, if you don't understand the formula then look it up on Youtube, this helped me a lot.

And remember your Goal Seek formula as it will be useful, I YouTube this and it really went into depth on how to use it!