I've done a number of past papers and always thought that the allocation of marks was odd. 20 marks for filling in a VAT form but only 25 for opening a whole set of accounts and updating with TB before and after. One takes 15 minutes at most, the other about an hour.

Oh well. Let's hope we never have to worry about this exam again.

Cheers

Neil

Yes I agree. I also studied with HLC (my tuition has expired hence I can no longer access the forums!) and did not cover bad debt on a VAT return. I took a bit of a guess and looking it up afterwards I think I have gone along the right lines. Here's hoping anyway.

At least I feel a bit better about the mark allocation though, thanks Neil!

M

i did exam yesterday an wow....i flunked it
my course hadnt covered for most which is nuts in a way
i bought a past paper an revised everything on the syllabus...an i think i over did the revision so much my mind went blank on some of the things
the control accounts i looked at an had i went with my gut feeling i would have got it right...but i didnt
for me tit went downhill a bit from then on....i know i flunked it but now its given me a huge kick an i will prepare an put in for the exam again in june
i hope everyone did ok in theirs
June

Hi Bill
the only problem is ...i didnt finish 2 questions an the the first question i got totally wrong because i couldnt see the mistakes, it was on control accounts, an was asked to corect the entires as there were mistakes...if i had gone with my gut instinct, i would have got it right...so in fact, 3 out of 5 questions werent completed at all
i came home pretty down but im gonna prepare properly an will put in for the exam in level 2 in june...i already have level 2 in computerised
im not gonna do level 3 yet as im going into payroll instead which im starting in a months time

June

Hi June,

sorry to hear that things didn't go well.

an excellent book for revising for ICB level II (and III for that matter) is the AAT - 1-4 Foundation: Revision Companion.

Any version post 2006 is great.

Comes with 23 short chapters each handling a specific topic then four full simulations followed by four practice exams.

Remember that you haven't failed until the results drop on your doorstep. I've been totally shocked in both directions before.

Talk soon,

Shaun.

I feel like it went ok for me, but I won't count my chickens. I was really surprised that there was only me and another woman sitting the exam in Sheffield (unless there are other centres, but the one I went to was in the city centre).

It may sound like overkill, but I did four mock exams and I'm really glad I did. It helped to prepare me for what they might ask. The first two I did were from 2007/08 and didn't include any questions on depreciation or control accounts, which surprised me. However, I then did the February and October exams from last year and found that the exams had gone up a level, and did include those aspects.

I was a little thrown at first by the the control account and VAT questions on the exam last week. I didn't expect them to give me examples to correct, but I think I managed it. I agree about the bad debt relief though - that wasn't in my coursework either (I'm with Ideal Schools).

Although Bad Debts are covered in the Home Learning College materials there is categorically no mention of Bad Debt Relief and the 6 month rule.

The panic on the forum at HLC gives an idea as to how badly this material was covered in the course.

What astounds me is that student blame themselves.

Cheers

Neil

Neil, the 6 month rule came up in one of the mocks that I did, but you're right, again it's not in the coursework.

Hi Kelly,

I'm sure that you've done better than you think that you have.

For the computerised side :

The cheap as possible route to certification is to get a trial copy of Sage line 50 and the ICB practice exam and work through it until your results come out the same as theirs and you can understand exactly what they are looking for.

A better approach would additionally be to get the BPP AAT foundation bookkeeping with Sage and spreadsheets with Excel. That takes you through doing the books for a small company and is an excellent book for referal or revision.

There's no requirement at all with the ICB to have a training provider for any of their exams (but companies such as HLC are trying to keep that a secret).

For The Manual side :

Business Accounts by David Cox is an excellent book for around £20.

Combine that with some recent past level III papers (which you have to pay for) and download some of the CAT papers with answers from the ACCAglobal website (which you don't have to pay for).

Here's the link for that one : http://www.accaglobal.com/students/cat/exams/

The CAT papers are at a higher level then the ICB but that should just give you more confidence when going into the exam.

Alternatively vote with your feet and sign up to study CAT. It's hard work but it's the equivalent of the AAT qualification.

As far as I know you can self study CAT but you need a training provider if you go AAT so CAT is the cheaper of those two routes.

Whatever route you choose good luck with it.

Shaun.

If you look on the ICB website, they have a new area which looks at many different areas for the exams, a kind of revision area. It goes through many areas including the Bad Debt for VAT returns. As mentioned before, there is also an area about previous exams and which areas were poorly done.

I think as part of your revision, you should look at these pages together with past mock papers from ICB, to get a feel of their exam style.

I am still unsure of what the ICB want someone like me to do with no manual exams completed. Anyone got an update?

P

No surprises there then!

Well done Martha.

So, the drinks are on you then????

Well, that's just typical. I've been checking the ICB website every 3 minutes since Feb 10th and I missed being first to the results because I was on the train.

Congratulations to you both.

I also got a distinction with 100% on Level II.

Just as well. Like Shaun, I'd have lost sleep wondering where any lost marks went.

I might allow myself a small sherry...

Cheers
Neil

Definately glad they're out of the way. 
I was thinking about doing the Computerised exams, but as I'm now in Canada, am looking for a course that would be more beneficial over here.

From looking at job postings they mostly use Quickbooks or Sage Accpac or Simply Accounting.

I've got a little experience using UK Quickbooks, so hope I can sercure a job first and hopefully the employer will pay for the full training.  Am looking forward to getting some experience and then setting up on my own in a couple of years.

Finding this site very good for info though.  Great to have somewhere to bounce ideas and share knowledge.

hi all
would just like to congratulations to all who have passed level 2 manual!!
myself included!!! could not get my hat on i tell you was so surprised, really thought i had failed, i got 84% merit !!! not as good as i would have liked, neil wanna swap grades???
only joking!!
now i'm stuck on computer as my big head wont fit through the door!!!!
yay yay yay!!!

also have just got to share this, i went for a job interview yesterday, it was for a cleaning company, and for some mad reason they were more interested in my bookkeeping and i may just get the opportunity to work in bookkeeping even though i had initially gone with the intention of being a cleaner!!! so i was also very pleased about that too!!!
congratulations to all i'm going to dance around the house with my duster now!!!
hope you all have a good day and weekend
kal x x x

neil tthank you!!
cant believe i'm now actually over qualified for a job!!!
there is hope out there for those of us who left school as teenagers without a clue as to what to do with their lives, (for me that was becoming a teenage mom, and doing any jobs i could to fit around when my daughter was at school!!) thats why cleaning is second nature, bit obsessive especially plug holes and handles dirty things!!!
thanks again Neil and of course i'll let you all know how it goes
kal x

Congratulations everyone :)

Nice to see that there can be light at the end of the tunnel, I became a mum at the age of 19 (She's 21 now and at uni studying law) but I also have another 3 the youngest being 2 and he starts nursery in september which is when my light starts to come closer. I do currently work part time but only a few hours to keep my hand in while being at home with him, I did put him in nursery when I worked more hours but found I was only working to line the nursery's pocket seen as we get no help from tax credits.

Even though the forum can be distracting from studying it has also given me a bigger push to keep at it.

Loving reading the posts.
Wendy

Hi Shirley

Well done. The margin for a distinction in the centre-based papers is lower than that for the home-based ones. It's 85%.

Cheers

Neil

Congratulations to everyone who got such great results!
I hope you all celebrated fittingly over the weekend, I sure did!
M

Well done Kal, that's great news.
I get the impression this under PAYE, in which case you will not have to bother with MLR or PII, however if it is as self employed then yes you will need MLR and it would be wise to have PII.

I'm sure you will be more than capable of doing the job, but we are all here to chip in with ideas should you need any assistance. Once again, well done!