When you watch youtube videos in relation to aat level 3 very often you hear that technique is very important during exams. How technique in accountancy and exams should be properly understood ? What people mean when they say that technique is important when you do exams ? Regards. Rafa
It can mean many things but the big two are know your pro forma's such as for tax calculations and watch you time.
I'll answer from the perspective of ACCA but they are all the same concerns.
With ACCA you have three hours in the exam hall and you need to score at least 50% of 100 points.
so 180 minutes dived by 100 points is 1.8 minutes per point.
Many items may have no points. For example in the ACCA there are often no points for the actual calculations but the calculations are all necessary in order to earn the points in the analysis. So ytou cannot think of it a a series of 1.8 mnutes but rather each question will carry a number of marks (say 20) so you have 36 minutes (20 * 1.8) to do the question. If you fail to finish in that time you are stealing time from answering another question.
ACCA exams are always very time pressured and if you have to stop to think thaen likelihood is you've failed.
That's an example of how technique in an exam is very important and the ONLY way to master it is practice practce practice.
For the run up to an exam for the entirety of the month run up I would do two old exam papers a day with a clock in front of me. And when I wasn't doing old exams then I was memorising pro formas, formulae and creating mnemonic's to memorise al points that you need to get across or the elements of an accounting theory.
Just think of it that knwledge is nothing without timing in the exam. And Timing is nothing if you don't know your accounting theory.
Good luck,
Shaun.
p.s. to give yourself the best possible chance in an exam... Practice, practice, practice and then practice some more.
__________________
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 Shaun for reply. When you say practice do you mean using excel , t accounts and practicing adjustments etc in excel ? most people don't have regular accounting software at home therefore excel seems to be the only option for practice . Do you agree ?
Thats a different sort of exam to the ACCA which in many ways starts where bookkeeping ends.
I mean practice until you don't really need to think about it anything that you will need to know in the exam.
Consider it that you should be considering the scenario, not how to implement it, when you are in the exam.
If you need software then there are always the 30 day free trials but you really need to be prepped for when you downbload it (or have access to a lot of different machines and email addresses!).
Good luck Rafal,
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.
