IATI exams in May

sage4me

Hi,

I know its like how long is a piece of string, but I haven't studied in 15 years and am doing the IATI and a little freaked out.

I know I am ok for the taxation and the financial accounting. I even enjoy the business management - but the LAW - Oh My God, I find it soul destroying and am having real difficulties with it.

Anyone any tips on studying or how to improve my chances of passing.

Thanks

Arkmar

Hi Sage4me

I found with the law it was too much information to just read and learn... I charted it out and found it much easier...kinda like an organisational chart for each heading .ie. contract law, Tort, etc. etc. A new chart for each part of the law syllabus and just put in the really important stuff on the chart and bullet the sub-headings... once you have the chart nailed you can focus on each individual part of it... our lecturer was excellent at doing charts with us.. also if you have case examples for each subheading it helps because you get great marks for being able to relate to a case for precedence etc. It's a tough one but once you get the hang of it, it really works.

Arkmar

Oh and past papers past papers past papers past papers.... forever

rockbird1950

hi i doing acca now but did iat few years ago did a rev course in griffith colleg found it v good they gave me the summerised lecture notes...worth a shot

collegemum

Hopefully no-one is doing the course in <snip>........i've heard the accountancy lecturer is a disgrace

Neyite

I am in year 2 of IATI, and left school ages ago too so i was where you are last year.

last year i failed 2 exams in may, my own fault, i really didnt do a tap - accounting and tax, but because of the low mark i had to resit all 4 in august - crap summer, i got grinds in my worst subject - accounting, and crammed the rest in 7 weeks and passed. heres my study tips.

none of your accounting questions will balance - dont panic, dont waste time trying to find the error, its the technique that matters, not the numbers. if you have time at the end of your questions in the exam to hunt for the error, do it then, but finish your questions first.

i used flash cards - colour coded index cards for each subject and summarised key words on each topic - this will work well for law and Biz Managment.

work off exam and pilot papers, and refer back to the books when you need to per question. this will also help with your timing in the exam. then nearer may, do 3 exam papers 3 times- from start to finish: 1st time, with notes, books, & no time limits, second time without books, but with no time limit, and the last time under exam conditions, timed, no books, etc.

last year they told us to quote case law etc - i never bothered and i still passed. the questions for pilot 1,2 3, Summer 09 and Autumn 09 in terms of frequency out of 5 papers are below, but note, some are small 2-3 mark parts, and i have no idea what will come up in may.

directorship 5/5,Partnership 4/5, Limited Company 5/5
Liquidation/recievership 3/5 (note v. topical at the mo so could still occur in next exam?)
Employment Law 5/5, Ethics 5/5, Contract Law 3/5, Shares 3/5, european law 2/5, civil/criminal law 3/5 consumer law/sale of goods & services 3/5
debentures, meetings agency capital 2/5

so you get the idea - give plenty of examples in your answer, in your own words.

in tax, VAT is almost guaranteed, as is PAYE, and PRSI - thought the latter might be only part of a question. Tax adjusted profits features in most exam papers too. learn the proforma layout of income tax- it will save you time in the exam.

in business management, the manual last year was hard going, our lecturer gave us excellent power point notes summarising each chapter, so i expanded on these in the exam instead.

best of luck!
Ney'ite

Kildare78

Hi All

I am in my 02nd year of the IATI Course and am really struggling with it

I feel completely lost and find it strange as i got good marks in my exams last year. It's getting to the point where i am not enjoying it as i don't understand a thing my tutors are talking about half the time!

I am thinking of grinds as exams are in may and i am starting to panic. I don't just want to learn how to answer the exam question, i want to understand what i am answering.

Can anyone reccommend someone in Kildare - preferably Kildare town itself as it it the handiest for me.

Thanks

EveT

hi there,

I am doing ACA CAP 2s now but started off with IATI, for law I would learn a few cases that you can throw into a lot of things, carlill v carbollic smokeball etc, you dont need much detail, a couple of lines and the findings of the case.

someone said about charts, I found mind maps great, also making summarised notes, you wont have time in there to rewrite the book.

I left out bits (not that id be recommending that but didnt have time), i didnt do commercial law and tort and agency), covered the rest well, cant remember exactly what i got but was in the 70s.

Kildare78

Hi Eve T

Cheers for the advice - i hope ACCA is going well for you?

Law has been taken off the 02nd year of the course unfortunately as i realy enjoyed it last year.

This year we are doing Financial Accounting / Management Accounting / Taxation and Integrated Accounts Systems.

There is allot of theory with this years subjects and not enough practical so you don't get enough computation practice for the subjects - i am ok with Taxation and IAS though!

Thanks for the reply and the best of luck with your studies (If all goes well, i might do it myself next year!!!)

EveT

Kildare78 wrote: »

Hi Eve T

Cheers for the advice - i hope ACCA is going well for you?

Law has been taken off the 02nd year of the course unfortunately as i realy enjoyed it last year.

This year we are doing Financial Accounting / Management Accounting / Taxation and Integrated Accounts Systems.

There is allot of theory with this years subjects and not enough practical so you don't get enough computation practice for the subjects - i am ok with Taxation and IAS though!

Thanks for the reply and the best of luck with your studies (If all goes well, i might do it myself next year!!!)

hey, when I did law it was first year course, they moved it from 2nd year to first year. I am doing ACA, not ACCA, the chartered one. I didnt do 2nd year IATI cause got a distinction in first year and was exempt then.
Good luck with the studies!