I would like to ask you for info. Is it possible to take acca exams at random order? Let's say I first want to take exam on F4 , next I want to take exam on F1 and next on F4. Is it allowed or maybe one must start from F1 and go further with F2,F3, F4 etc?
within bandings its allowed to take them in any order.
There are four levels to ACCA. Knowledge level, Skills level, Core and Options.
Knowledge level is F1, F2 and F3 (AAT level)
Skills level is F4, F5, F6, F7, F8 and F9 (BSC level)
Core is P1, P2 and P3 (MBA level)
Options is P4, P5, P6 and P7 (MBA level - Any two from four)
Within each banding you can do the papers in any order
You can cross borders when attempting the last papers from the previous banding. For example, if you had already passed F1 and F2 you could do F3 and F4 but you could not do F4 without also sitting F3.
Or, lets do that completely out of sequence. If you had passed F3 only you could sit F1, F2, F6 and F9 but you could not have sat F6 and F9 if you were not taking F1 and F2.
The maximum number of papers that you can take in any one sitting is four but it is ill advised to ever take four fresh papers (I would recomend no more than two fresh and two resits in a sitting).
So, as you can see, whilst there is flexibility in the sequencing you could not take F4 before F1 because of where it falls in the banding.
HTH,
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
thanks for reply Shaun. I have alredy ordered old books from Kaplan from F4 to F9. I want to have a look at them so that I have some understanding of what acca is from F4 and further. As you said many people stopped doing acca after F3. I just want to figure out if I could handle something above F3
as noted in my previous message the ACCA qualification comes in three distinct steps in AAT level to BSc level to MBA level of thinking.
The first of those when moving to degree level study can be a real shock.
Don't get me wrong, F1 to F3 are not easy and there is still a 40+ percent fail rate for F3 (a little beter for F2 and around 30% for F1)
At F4 that rises to around 55% fail rate and by the options papers its around 70% of those taking the papers fail them.
The logic of course is that if ACCA was easy then it wouldn't be worth doing.
Be careful buying books too far in advance. I know that you have only purchased these to have a look at whats behind the curtain.
F6 study materials have to be purchased for that years sitting or they are useless as it is always the current finance act that is tested.
F7 and F8 have calmed down a little since the UK GAAP / IFRS convergeance between 2007 and 2010. Any book older that 2010 though is pretty much useless.
F4 is always being updated for new laws, regulations and cases but in principle it remains pretty constant with much case law that you will need to remember dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries.
F5 and F9 are on the management accounting side of the fence. ACCA occassionally include new parts to the syllabus or retire old ones but all in all Management accounting is very much like bookkeeping in that in principle it never really changes so a book from 2002 should be as relevant now as it was then.
As for can you handle it... Sure that you can, it just takes a lot of determination, the ability to read the question on the paper rather than the question that you wanted to be on the paper, and the ability to read between lines in scenario's to seek out what a client has not done rathwer than what you are being told that they have.
And the key to that... Practice, Practice and more practice.
Thankfully all of the post 2007 ACCA papers (and answers) are available freely on their site. BPP and Kaplan both take those old papers and bring the answers (and sometimes the questions) up to date for the latest sitting. Thats especially important with F6 where the papers on the website are worthless.
Eventually you will find the materials that work best for you.
My study kit for each paper was :
- BPP I-Learn - an introductory course on a CD covering all of the basics. Not enough to pass the exam but enough to give structure to your further studies (Aim : 2 weeks)
- Kaplan Study text (Aim 4 - 5 weeks cover to cover including doing all questions)
- Do all of the Opentuition lectures for the paper that you are sitting (aim for about 2 weeks)
- Kaplan and/or BPP revision kit - Old papers brought up to date, I always set up an Excel spreadsheet identifying the questions in the kit with the exam that they were from and then doing the questions in exam order rather than book sequence. (aim for 2 months of revision. Sit at least five papers under exam conditions (#1) in the two weeks before the real exam).
Remember to give yourself one day off per week and do not expect any more than four hours of study per day to be productive
HTH,
Shaun.
#1 Exam conditions.
At 10 a.m open your paper.
At 10:15 you may start writing.
At 13:15 you must stop writing
No breaks, no looking at answers, no answering the phone.
I even have a stockpile of exam style A4 40 sheet (should only be 20 sheet but I couldn't find a supplier) answer books to make it as close to real as possible.
Passing ACCA is as much about time management on the day as it is about retained knowledge.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
