ICB test centre exams - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

GrahamG · Veteran Member

RE: ICB test centre exams

GrahamG · Veteran Member

@Peasie - Exactly! You'll have plenty of time, so enjoy it and leave yourself ten minutes or so to review your answers at the end. I reviewed all my answers and spotted that I'd selected the wrong radio button on one of the questions, so glad I took the time to review.

GrahamG

-- Edited by GrahamG on Friday 30th of July 2010 10:24:15 AM

GrahamG · Veteran Member

All has been revealed. Now I understand what the free report is. Like you Ruth, I've actually scored 99% - Distinction.

Looking back at the 94% initial score, I thought, "what questions did I get wrong?". There were a couple of slight ambiguous wordings, but I reviewed these questions carefully and was happy my answers were right. [EDIT] Just looked at the free report. Yep! It was the ambiguous questions that caught me out. Very minor though.

I'm well chuffed with that outcome.

GrahamG

-- Edited by GrahamG on Friday 30th of July 2010 11:10:32 AM

GrahamG · Veteran Member

Just booked my Level III Payroll Management for 13th August 2010 and my Level III Manual Bookkeeping exam for 25th September 2010 (earliest available in Cambridge). But that will give me plenty of time to swat up on advanced coursebook.

Anyone suggest any recommended texts for the Payroll Management? Ruth?

The Level III manual bookkeeping costs £75, so better get that puppy right first time!

ICBUK · Guru

Hi Graham,

Are you booking for a particular time on a particular day? The general rule of thumb is that the maximum wait should be 2 weeks, 25th September is almost two months so there should be plenty of bookings available before that.

GrahamG · Veteran Member

@ICB - I don't think this is an ICB issue. Pearson Vue are offering a plethora of online assessments and Cambridge being as popular as it is during the summer - I think it's simply that Cambridge Pearson is booked up for all the other things as well. First come, first served. So fair enough. August at Pearson Cambridge - every assessment slot is booked.

A September date works to my benefit. I want the time to go over some old ground for the advanced paper. Also, I've decided to do the Level III Payroll Management in August, so quite happy with the dates.

Definitely a good move by ICB to go down the online assessment route for the manual exams.

RuthA · Senior Member

Well done!!

I wonder if we got the same one wrong? I found most of it very clear, so I'm guessing it might well have been.

I can't remember what I used to learn payroll, I'm afraid. IIRC there is a section on it at the back of David Cox's Business Accounts but I think I did a lot of learning off HMRC information online.

I also found I wasn't able to book level 3 as soon as I was hoping, then I'm going on holiday so I've gone for an early September date.

Peasie · Expert

I passed with a very disappointingly low 86%. And I'll bet that about 12 of the 14 points dropped the words "control account" would have appeared at some point in the question. There was never that many questions in the mock relating to control accounts. It wasn't so much the concept - it was the wording confused me. So instead of being happy at passing I'm left angry at the question wording. It takes 24 hours for the results to get to the ICB so it will be Monday at the earliest before I can start on the next stages of ICB membership and getting a practising certificate.

PS - I HATE driving. Especially to a place as well hidden and uinlabeled as Pearson Vue's place is in Greenock.

PPS - I guess I'll need to go over control accounts again.

RuthA · Senior Member

I'm sorry to hear you were disappointed with the exam and your results, but congratulations all the same.

Peasie · Expert

I'm disappointed as all my assignments with Ideal Schools and all my mock exams and real exams are all high marks (lowest being 96%) and then this massive drop because the wording threw me.

A couple of things about the exam centre - there isnt much space to write on the plastic sheet what with the mouse, keyboard and computer taking up the available space. I even tried to move the computer (which I found was attached to the desk). That must have looked funny to the woman watching behind the glass screen.

Stardoe · Guru

Well done on your result Peasie, even if you were disappointed with it! You passed....celebrate!

I'm a bit confused about the 39 questions....I only had 22 on mine....or was that 22 tasks? My exam centre here in Chelmsford was really nice, air-conditioned and I even had a room to myself! There was also plenty of room on the desk and I only wrote on one side of the white board.

I have only just renewed my student registration so am waiting to upgrade my membership until I've finished the Level III. I wanted to do my Level II back in May so that I could upgrade before my student membership expired, but unfortunately they were busy re-vamping the exam system so the earliest I could get was the end of July.

Pauline

GrahamG · Veteran Member

@ Peasie - I think your result was respectable. At the end of the day, a pass is good enough. Really the exams are unimportant - what is important is having a thorough knowledge of bookkeeping and accounting. A good knowledge of bookkeeping will stand you in better stead with your clients work than a cracking grade.

I only got 89% on my Level III Computerised. I don't feel put out by that. It's a pass and that's all I'm interested in. One more percentage mark and it would have been a merit, but I'm not worried about that. You've got a good result. That's another exam down and just a few more to do.

The control account questions did appear often, but these were the Sales and Purchase Ledger control accounts in the general ledger. The balance on these accounts should equal that of the subsidiary sales and purchase ledgers. The totals of these subsidiary ledgers should be mirrored in the control accounts. The subsidiary ledgers contain the details, but the control accounts only contain the summary totals.

I was reading the ICB website today and noticed that they're now going to be offering a Level IV costing / management accounting exam!

Congratulations on a worthy result.

Peasie · Expert

Here's where it starts to get weird.
I go to the ICB website this morning and it says I have received 94% and get a distinction. Maybe they saw my moaning on here and took pity on me.

GrahamG · Veteran Member

@Peasie - Yes, I know it is pretty weird when you get one mark at the test centre and another mark on your ICB results page.

As I mentioned previously, I got 94% at the test centre and 99% by the time the result was posted by ICB. I'm not sure why this would be and probably no one wants to shout too loudly lest ICB realise something's amiss.

The 'free report' you get provided by ICB is a useful indicator. I would imagine that your report possibly showed any where between 9 and 12 errors. Mine showed two, but there was no way those two errors would have been worth an initial loss of 6 marks, they were too minor questions.

I would imagine there is some other validation going on at the ICB end and that's why the final posted result can vary.

For me 99% made more sense because my first thought when I saw the 94% was, "What did I get wrong?"

So, you are probably feeling a lot happier today. Let's just hope ICB don't find a glitch and then tell us all, "your original grades were the correct ones!"

Well done on an even more respectable result!