Advice for FSLC!!??

Hi all,

I have completely hit a brick wall with this unit, I open the book and have absolutely no idea where to start!
I flew through level 2 and 3 last year, and had huge motivation to complete them and passed everything rather easily, but level 4 seems to be a huge jump. I don't think it helps that I took like 2-3 months off before starting level 4 either.

Due to this I seem to have lost all motivation to study, I sat my first L4 exam (Personal tax) two weeks ago and it seemed to go pretty well, but when I studied for that I seemed to have at least some motivation and idea of how to lay out the studying which got me through it. I am distance learning so have no peers or anyone to really help make studying more enjoyable.

Has anyone else gone through something similar, and do you have any tips or advice? It'd be hugely appreciated!

Comments

  • livintiv
    livintiv Registered Posts: 69 Regular contributor ⭐
    I haven't got through it, but I'm in an eerily similar situation! Am getting ready for FSLC, did PLTX a few weeks ago, and (pardon the dated expression) my mojo has just disappeared :disappointed:

    Let's set up a support group! :+1:
    MAAT - April 2022
    Currently working through ACCA
  • Louis1999
    Louis1999 Registered Posts: 8
    > @livintiv said:
    > I haven't got through it, but I'm in an eerily similar situation! Am getting ready for FSLC, did PLTX a few weeks ago, and (pardon the dated expression) my mojo has just disappeared :disappointed:
    >
    > Let's set up a support group! :+1:

    Aha! That’s so bizarre!

    How did you find PLTX? I personally found it okay once I got going, but in this unit I just feel like nothing is staying in and can’t find a study method that works.

    Support group sounds good right now aha ??
  • livintiv
    livintiv Registered Posts: 69 Regular contributor ⭐
    I think I would have enjoyed PLTX more had I actually studied for it properly :lol:

    With FSLC - I'm not sure what it is, perhaps it's the book I'm working from (BPP - I'm becoming increasingly weirded out by their books at Level 4) with the multiple amounts of flipping between pages to find the information I need to work through a question - it's going in, but really slowly! It's a bit frustrating because I find the whole thing so dastardly interesting and I want to be able to understand it right now and of course that's not going to happen...yes, I might have mild ASD.

    One thing I've found that helps - which I didn't need at Levels 2 or 3 - was making summary notes of topics. I love writing things out by hand and have genuinely found it to be the case that hand writing out some notes helps things stick.

    #keeponkeepingon :star:

    Happy Easter!
    MAAT - April 2022
    Currently working through ACCA
  • Louis1999
    Louis1999 Registered Posts: 8
    Yeah I hated PLTX at first due to the volume, but once I got going it was actually quite enjoyable as it’s very practical, and having the reference material was a confidence boost as well.

    I’m working from the Kaplan books, which I’ve noticed always seem to have too much info for what you actually need, if that makes sense? I think that’s the reason why I’m always a bit overwhelmed by the content until I condense it to more realistic sizes.

    I’ve done a bit of studying this morning and actually feel quite good, making good ground on the basic P&L & balance sheet statements for Ltd companies (not even attempted consolidated ones yet!) and it seems to have started to click which is good. Repetition, repetition & more repetition is what seems to work for this part of the unit ?.

    Good luck with the rest of your studies and Happy Easter too!
  • Pian32
    Pian32 Registered Posts: 474 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    FSLC is a very different set up to previous exams (especially if it's the first core module in this level). In previous levels you essentially learn how to do things numerically and apply the rules that way. In FSLC however you are now learning all the wording for the rules and definitions to go with the calculations.

    The numbers side of this module should come fairly easily initially since it's applying what you've already learned to limited companies. Then you will be doing ratio analysis and that's not too bad once you're doing the questions this you will want to learn properly because you get them again in MDCL.
    AAT Level 4, MAAT
    ACCA in progress
    F4- Passed Aug 2020
    F5- Passed Dec 2020
    F6- Passed Sep 2020
    F7- Passed June 2021
    F8 - Passed Sep 2021
    F9 - Passed June 2021

    SBL -
    SBR - Passed Mar 22
    ATX - Passed Dec 21
    APM - Passed June 22
  • timsmith86
    timsmith86 Registered Posts: 17 New contributor 🐸
    I am exactly the same, finding this a very difficult unit.

    I should have been scheduled to sit my exam this week but have delayed it 4 weeks to give me more time.

    I make a lot of errors in haste, rushing when I am trying to studying... Forgetting and accrual or distribution cost etc...

    Just a lot of information!

    Looking back it makes level 2 and 3 seem so easy, but they were a challage at the time.

    Fingers crossed it all comes together shortly.
  • Louis1999
    Louis1999 Registered Posts: 8
    > @Pian32 said:
    > FSLC is a very different set up to previous exams (especially if it's the first core module in this level). In previous levels you essentially learn how to do things numerically and apply the rules that way. In FSLC however you are now learning all the wording for the rules and definitions to go with the calculations.
    >
    > The numbers side of this module should come fairly easily initially since it's applying what you've already learned to limited companies. Then you will be doing ratio analysis and that's not too bad once you're doing the questions this you will want to learn properly because you get them again in MDCL.

    Yes I’ve definitely noticed the difference In the layout already, but practicing has really helped me get used to it so far and I’m feeling much better about this unit now!

    I’ve not got fully into ratio analysis just yet, but I imagine lots of practice will help with that part also.

    Thanks for the reply!
  • Louis1999
    Louis1999 Registered Posts: 8
    > @timsmith86 said:
    > I am exactly the same, finding this a very difficult unit.
    >
    > I should have been scheduled to sit my exam this week but have delayed it 4 weeks to give me more time.
    >
    > I make a lot of errors in haste, rushing when I am trying to studying... Forgetting and accrual or distribution cost etc...
    >
    > Just a lot of information!
    >
    > Looking back it makes level 2 and 3 seem so easy, but they were a challage at the time.
    >
    > Fingers crossed it all comes together shortly.

    It is quite overwhelming to begin with, as someone else has touched on, the layout and the level of knowledge required is so much more than in the prior levels.

    I also had to move my target exam date (hadn’t booked it at that point) by a few weeks to give me the extra time that I definitely needed.

    To update from my last post on this, I actually changed training provider from Kaplan (Distance learning) materials to First Intuition (Distance learning) and I must say, the quality of content suits me so much better. It has really broken parts down into realistic chunks, but at the same time it’s not given me pages upon pages of drawn out content!

    I’m now pretty confident on the basic P&L & SoFP sections, and I’m starting cash flows tomorrow so hopefully I’ve gotten over my mid-level 4 crisis!

    All I’d say is just keep persevering and don’t let it beat you, take a few days off if it gets too much and then get straight back into it. That’s what I did and now I’m quite enjoying this topic and feel pretty confident about it going forward.

    Good luck with your studies!
  • timsmith86
    timsmith86 Registered Posts: 17 New contributor 🐸
    Yes Louis, exactly, good luck.... I am studying with Accountancy Lesrning Ltd, I used avado for 2 and 3, so potentially the changed in provider caused confusion at the start, mainly losing marks on small errors and my explanations of ratio

    I feel once this exam is over it will boost my confidence for the rest of the qualification.
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