Level 3 Synoptic results day

Mosh

Today is results day for those that sat their Synoptic at the end of January!

Here's what my student feedback says:



And here's my final mark



I'm pleased to have gotten 99%, but it's a little strange that the missing one percent apparently means my ethical and accounting principles are below requirement! I must've accidentally written something utterly horrific instead of the correct answer.

KLM

Hi @Mosh

Congratulations on the result!

Do you mind me asking how the exam was? I've heard lots of people say it was awful and that they ran out of time, had problems with the Excel tasks etc? It's made me a bit nervous, so it would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

Mosh

I've been using Excel in my day-to-day work for over ten years, so it was nothing I hadn't seen before. I could understand it being a struggle if you're a basic user - it's overwhelming if it's not something you use all the time. From what I remember, there was some simple formatting (add a blue border and yellow shading to a cell), some vlookups and ifs, and a trial balance to be divided into a SPL and SOFP using absolute references (pressing F4 in the formula bar to add $ signs)

There was also a written section where you had to write an email explaining the benefits and disadvantages of changing from a sole trader to a limited company. There are certain key phrases they'll be looking for so make sure you've got those down.

There was also a written section where you had to explain sustainability in a business context. I had a vague recollection of reading that sustainability covers financial, social and environmental considerations (or profits, people and planet) and I filled in the blanks from there.

The key to smashing the assessments are the BPP Question Banks available on Amazon and the Green Light tests here on the AAT website. If you can get to a position where you do consistently well on those, the exam will have nothing to worry you.