ACCA Study Guide and Exam Tips - Planning Part
1. Planning:
When you are going to enter in your next ACCA exams, first take your
time and bent on planning immediately and decide about which papers to
start ,when ,where and how to start ! Also consider which study text to
be used and everything relevant to your papers immediately , because the
purpose is avoiding time wastage . Specially , don't wait till the
results of your previous exams if you will do so, it means you have
already wasted 2 precious months of your current exam session.
When
finally you have planned all the above mentioned things relevant to the
exams , then first of all calculate quantity of your time you have got
to organize for the exams then plan your expected daily basis work
routine including your wake up time ,classes time , playing time , family
commitments , sleeping time and so on. Finally try and draft a
timetable of above mentioned plannings of your daily basis routine
works supported by the quantity of expected days and overall time you
have got for every paper of your current ACCA exams.
But
remember one thing about your timetable that is , your timetable should
be realistic and attainable . if you have set an Ideal timetable then
you will always need your space while following your timetable and this
will demotivate you , so your timetable should be motivating and
encouraging in terms of achieve ability of your routine works that you
have set in your timetable.
2. Info of ACCA Examinable Documents :
"Work smarter than harder". You must have info about examinable
documents of your ACCA exams . These are introduced by ACCA examiners
giving additional details about that particular topic like as,
intellectual level of a selected topic , the depth of knowledge needed
and the way you have to use your skills and knowledge practically in
exams . For more details click here
But remember you
should not rely totally on these examinable documents only . You have
to prepare the whole study text and available material but more focus on
examinable documents to improve your skills to be successful in your
final exams .
3.ACCA Examiner's Approach Interview:
These interviews are released on ACCA website regularly .Examiner's
Approach Interviews released at ACCA,s web site offer you first-hand
insight into what examiners want in answers provided by students in
their relevant exam papers. So this area requires more attention by
students if they want to perform well in their exams .Click below link
to approach these interviews:
Examiner Approach Interviews
4. ACCA Approved Study Texts:
In
ACCA there are different publishers who provide learning contents for
ACCA students . But students should use aproved learning contents
providers.The approved study texts are completely reviewed by ACCA
continuously for coverage of the whole info and additionally for any
revision incorporated once changes within the info.So therefore, you'll
be taking a large risk by relying only different kind of notes reffered
by friends, colleges or teachers.Famous Publishers are BPP ,GTG and
Kaplan , but BPP is only approved learning partner of ACCA. Click the
link to check approved learning study text providers and their rank .
ACCA Approved Learning Study Text Providers Direcorty !
ACCA Study Guide and Exam Tips - Studying Part
5. Goals Oriented - Approach:
Set targets on daily basis. In ACCA papers you have to study complete
course and all available relevant material to pass your exam .So on
daily basis work realistically , try to cover chapters ,past papers and
questions daily to complete your course ,otherwise giving just some
hours to your studies will not be helpful in completing your course , so
all efforts will be useless at the end . Cover your daily work always
on time ,so that before exams you will be able to revise your exam
papers 3,4 times easily.
6. Make Clear Concepts:
Whole of the ACCA study lies on Concepts . If your concepts are clear
then you can handle different scenario questions in your text books and
also in exams . Therefore from the first day of your ACCA studies
continuously try to understand and perceive the underlying ideas behind
every topic of your text books . If your are conceptually strong in your
studies you will be able to earn good marks in your papers by giving
ideas in different kind of situations in exams . In ACCA if you are not
doing so your making a big mistake of your life because it can cause
problems for you in your advance level papers of ACCA.
7. Ask Teachers for Help:
If you're stuck somewhere while studying or fighting with a selected
topic and could not understant it then don't hesitate in asking your
teacher , friend , T.A etc to assist you. Get facilitated on right time
don,t wait or try on yourself again and again ,this will waste your time
and efforts.
ACCA Study Guide and Exam Tips - Practicing Part
8. Past Papers Practice:
Past papers practice is in recommendation of ACCA . Most of past papers
questions are found in Exam Kit to practice and apply your concepts to
evaluate yourself against your preparations .Wise students starts
practicing at right time before exams .At least in last month you have
to do only past papers .This will improve your skills of time management
, pressure handling , structuring the answer , understanding the
marking scheme etc. Most of time students got failed their exams only
due to lack of time management skills in exam even having complete
knowledge of that paper.The reason is lack of practice of past papers
and final mocks .
Structuring the answer of a question
in ACCA exams is another major problem for students. To get idea about
how to structure an answer you have to practice simply past papers and
finally at least 2,3 mocks at the end . Mock exams should be practiced
according to exams conditions .
Your answers should be
according to rules and standards provided by ACCA Examiners .Info in
answers must be to the point or relevant to be successful in your
papers . For this purpose try to understand every model answer provided
in exam kits but not just memorize it as it is. Also use approved text
books to get enough knowledge of topics and understanding it clearly .
Use proper words in your answers having good weight age in the eyes of
examiner and requirements.
9.Writing skills:
Many candidates perform poorly in ACCA exams in terms of writing . The
reason for poor writing is a lot of rough practice before exams.
Candidates have to focus on this issue at practicing stage before the
final exams . The trick is simply perform every practice on rough copy
as like in final exams always by writing slowly neat ant and clean every
single word and line so that in final exams this will be a natural
habit for you . Then you will not face any problem of writing but
remember don,t compromise too much on speed otherwise you will be in
shortage of time .
10.ACCA Examiner,s Reports:
Examiner Reports are published by ACCA after every exam on website .
These reports are made by examiners after checking papers of students .
In these reports examiners tells us common mistakes and drawback areas
encountered by students.The purpose of these reports is to offer
candidates generally a constructive feedback as to their performance in
their examinations.These reports provide a general commentary on the
overall performance of candidates in each session after assessments as
well as details on:
- technical aspects that were being examined in the questions
- whether candidates performed well or poorly ( performance areas also )
- what aspects of the questions appeared to cause difficulty to
candidates and if possible why it was a problem e.g. lack of knowledge,
poor examination technique , time management etc.
Most of students don,t read these reports even they don,t know
about them . This is shocking and plays a negative role in your exam,s
performance somehow.
11. ACCA Papers Marking Schemes:
Understanding marking schemes is vital for your success in exams .If
you want to get some good marks in ACCA you have to comply with marking
scheme and the idea behind this.In order to get some good marks and to
comply with marking scheme try to answer the questions according to
requirement , also use good words that examiner wants and try to remain
to the point always.There are different words that are used by examiners
in questions requirements and you have to answer according to those
words. For example 'identify' , list , define etc . If these words are
used then simply there will be one mark per list or point , so if there
are four marks you should list four good points to get full marks . Word
'Briefly' means theme of a story not a detailed answer.In case of
'explain' examiner wants a detailed answer full of knowledge explaining
all relevant points . Explanation should be according to marks available
, neither too much , nor too less ! Similarly word 'Discuss' means ,
write points in favor and against the topic required in question.So it
means you have to be clear almost about every term used in papers to
avoid time wastage and failure in exams.
12. ACCA Exam Analysis:
This gives idea
about which kind of topics mostly asked ? Which areas are not tested
within many previous attempts and which kind of queries these are or
topics are ? This provides vital info about key topics and queries that
can be tested in your current ACCA exams and you should use this info to
rank sure key topics and then you have to focus on these topics very
carefully with great attention . However, make sure that you are not
going to spot for exams only these areas selectively on the basis of
analysis . These areas just needs proper attention and clarity to boost
up your confidence about your preparations for exams .This will be a
plus point having good understandings of these important topics which
may be favourite areas for examiners and so , there are great chances to
be tested in your exams. This will enhance the possibility of getting
passed your papers easily .
13. Examiner Analysis Interview:
ACCA Examiner Analysis Interviews are published on it,s website for
every exam . Here examiner comments on the performance of the students
in current and past exam,s .Examiner also tells about student,s
weaknesses and the relevant areas . Analysis interviews are very useful
in guiding students on the way to improve their performance in ACCA
exams.Shockingly, some students don,t consider them as a useful tool and
with a reasonable confidence i can say that they are simply loosing
some good marks due to this carelessness .Examiner Analysis Interviews
will be accessed through the following link:
Examiner Analysis Interviews
14.ACCA Technical Articles:(Student Accountant)
ACCA
Student Accountant,s technical articles are terribly useful tool for
ACCA students towards topics within which students have unusually
underperformed . These articles also have info about changes , updates
and additions in the syllabus . So, pay special attention to these
technical articles always for every paper before entering in your next
exams .
Student Accountant magazine will be accessed through the subsequent link:
ACCA Student Accountant Megazine
ACCA Study Guide and Exam Tips - Preparation Part
15.Revision:
When you have done with every aspect of your studies then start
revision , assign proper time for your revision . Even you have studied
every thing in syllabus but it will not easy for you to revise full
course in few days so assigning proper time is necessary otherwise you
will feel stress and will become panic at initial stage of revision. Use
your own notes always in revision because this will be easy for you and
will save your a lot of precious time.If you are not in habit of
making your on handy notes you can use approved publishers notes .
16.Exam Centre Confirmation:
Knowing about your exam center is very important . You should select
exam centre which should not be too far or away from your living place
when submitting your exam fee to ACCA . Check Also your Docket before
exams and confirm that your docket is according to your provided info.
Take reasonable care to reach your exam center on time by leaving your
living place on right time considering the distance and traffic problems
.
17. Sleep well before the exam:
Worrying about the exam, or studying till late night , will interfere
with sleep .No doubt it seems unnatural to think about not studying
before the exam night, but in
order to get proper rest, it is necessary to put down the books and go
to bed early . Skipping some hours of studying will not
affect your grades .So take proper rest before your exam night
.Otherwise you will feel sleepy in exams and would not be able to
perform well.
18. Panic Control:
Students feel panic due to exam pressure in ACCA which is a big
problem and some times unfortunately leads towards failure . How to
avoid this in not a big deal .To don,t feel panic , take a fresh glass
of water , check your sitting details , fill your details and remain
concentrated till start of paper .If you have failed and got panic , you
will simply become confused throughout the total exam session . This
will result in errors and a lot of cutting on your answer sheet The
trick is simply think positive before the exam starts , try to recall
your memories , remain calm totally and hold your nerves till the exam
ends .
ACCA Study Guide and Exam Tips - Performance Part
19. Reading Time:
In ACCA papers fifteen minutes are given to read the question paper .
These fifteen minutes are also vital towards solving your whole paper as
you solve in standard time of three hours .In these fifteen minutes
you have to understand the requirements of the questions and then start
thinking from where i should start solving the questions keeping in mind
the requirements of questions and the structure of answers . So
in short the trick is simply understand the requirements of questions and
start planning of structures of answers. in these fifteen minutes . If
you have done with this all and have some extra minutes then start
drafting your answer on question paper , don,t waste your time !
20. Understand Question Requirements:
Read requirements of the question and the question carefully . Don,t
miss any point or line , understand it completely and then start solving
the question . Understanding the question is very important , this will
result in no cutting and clear to the point answer which examiner
wants.
21. Answer to the Point:
Marking
scheme and answering to the point are relevant to each other . As above
we have discussed how you should answer accordingly marking scheme the
same case is here . When answering to the point you should try to write
according to requirement , marks available for that query and the word
used as query in question like as discuss , define , analyze , identify
, explain , list etc. So this is a matter of common sense which applies
here .
22. Structure up your Answers:
Examiner wants and appreciates well-structured answers . Your answer
should in adherence of questions requirements . The wording and solution
should be simple and brief covering whole aspects of questions. This
puts a good impression on examiner , the impression that you simply have
tried your best to prepare your answers . And in case of time runs
out, a solution just mentioning the key points of a question examiner
may reward you a few good marks never thinking that the question is
left incomplete. So always follow the required structure to gin some
good marks easily.
23. Facilitate the Examiner:
Always
facilitate your examiner by following required structure , writing to the
point , writing clearly and cutting on your answer sheet. Always follow
the sequence of requirements and the questions . Mention questions or
company name in question on each answer on start as title .Name the
questions parts clearly as a , b , c, etc. Start your new question
always on a new full page . Don,t mix up different questions . Do your
workings on right place properly this will help the examiner in
understanding that from where the figures used in questions have
actually came and how the have been calculated. Mark the question
numbers clearly always and take a look at to follow the sequence of
sub-parts to avoid confusion.Always write in line and within the
permitted area of answer sheet don,t write on corners or cross lines and
leave for examiner to seek your answer .In short avoid confusing
examiner , that,s all !!
24. Don't leave any question Unanswered:
Unanswered question puts a bad impression on examiner . if there is a
time management problem or you are shortage of time try to just t
format the answer,s major points but remember just in case when you are
unable to complete the solution . Examiner will understand your problem
and will reward you some good marks . So if you are just leaving your
question completely unanswered the you might loose your marks and
examiner confidence and this may contribute towards your failure.
25. Review:
Always try to solve your paper up to fifteen minutes before the exam
time . If luckily you have done this , then review your answers
completely and make corrections where needed . But remember don,t
overwrite again and again .
26. After Exams:
Hummm now just go home , take proper rest , sleep well and enjoy your
some time . After this again prepare yourself for next examinations
immediately and avoid wasting your time :)
Source
http://accareloaded.blogspot.com/2013/12/acca-december-2014-exam-tipsgeneral-tips.html
