ACCA advice and help

Hi,

1) I self study so can't comment on BPP as a learning provider, but I do use their books and think they are excellent (not perfect but none of them are). What I will say, is that by reading ACCA forums, I often read about people complaining that they hadn't covered this and that in their course but it came up in the exam - that has never happened to me, the BPP texts have always covered everything. I actually think that if you can manage self study then you actually have an advantage as you are more likely to cover the whole syllabus whereas with a taught course, you run the risk of trusting that they have covered everything.

2) You don't need previous law knowledge for F4 - the BPP text is plenty. You won't need another book. But there is a lot to learn, you need to remember case law to back up your answers to gain all the marks available.

3) I did 4 exams in my first sitting, 3 in my next but now I only do 1 at a time. I was studying full time to begin with so I could manage 4 - I certainly couldn't now I am working again.

4) Although I do now work in accountancy, I did my first 7 exams whilst in the police force, so have never had the pressure of having to pass the exams for anyone but myself, so can't help there I'm afraid.

Be prepared for ACCA to be a massive jump up from AAT. The syllabus for each exam is huge in comparison to an AAT module and I don't think people realise this. I have my own opinion which I've often expressed here, only for others to disagree, but my opinion is this. You are exempt from F1-3 but I think it is useful to sit them. It gives you an idea of the difference between AAT and ACCA - my thoughts are, if you are ready for ACCA, then F1-3 will be no problem so you may as well sit them, however if you struggle with them, then perhaps ACCA isn't for you (by 'you', I don't mean you personally!) Passing F1-F3 also gives you a diploma so you get a qualification early on.

ACCA isn't always about knowing the syllabus - you may know the text book cover to cover, but a lot of the marks are gained from knowing how to answer the question. F4 for example, is not just about giving the answer, but about explaining HOW you got to the answer and backing it up with case law. For this reason, revision kits are essential - again I use BPP as these include all past exam papers plus extra practice questions.

There is A LOT of help for ACCA students on the internet so although I don't get the advantage of getting useful tips from tutors, it is generally all available on the internet. www.opentuition is good - it provides study notes, lectures and revision, as well as having a forum where fellow students and tutors will answer any queries. BPP and ACCA also have YouTube videos about techniques etc.

I can't see your signature with your options on, but if you do the AAT tax options, F6 is actually a good first exam to do. F5 also follows on nicely from AAT. F7 follows on from Financial Statements but is probably the hardest of the F papers so maybe not a good one to start with. F4 is fairly straightforward but is obviously a brand new area.

My own technique is to read the study text, make my own notes, re-read my notes a few times, then do every practice question available. In the run up the exam, I then trawl the internet for extras such as the YouTube videos and the opentuition forum.

I see you are in Bham so your exam hall would be the same as mine (New Bingley Hall). That's an experience in itself!

Hi Aaron

I've been meaning to reply to you since you first posted - sorry for the delay, I seem to have been really busy over the holidays! My thoughts seem to echo those of the previous posts, but here are my answers to your queries:

1) I have used BPP for all papers so far (up to and including P3). For three of the F papers I attended lectures at a local college, who worked from the BPP textbooks. Two F papers and the three P papers I studied completely by self studying from the books and revision kit, and one F paper I attended BPP classes. This was for F4, which I had planned on just self studying for but then I saw an offer to attend classes so thought I'd try them out. It was very good but quite rushed as everything is crammed into just a few days. But I thought our lecturer was excellent, really knew his stuff. Yes, for those papers I home studied for I felt it was sufficient and I passed first attempt (P3 yet to be confirmed!).

2) I never felt the need to buy any additional law books, I think the textbook and revision kit would have been sufficient had I not had the offer to attend class. Your plan sounds good to me.

3) I only took two exams at a time when I was studying one at college and one self study. Now I am just self studying I'm only taking one at a time. If in doubt I would suggest just sitting the one exam in your first sitting to get a feel for it. If you feel you could have studied another at the same time then you could try two in your next sitting.

4) Doesn't apply to me I'm afraid.

I agree with the above post that F5 and F6 follow on really well from AAT, these were the first two papers I sat.

Good luck!