CAP2 Exams

Mark1916

Hi,

Thought id set up a thread so people can air their views, problems, tips etc for the up comming exams!

Ill start off and say I think Cash Flows are a high possibility for the Financial Exam!

larry2009

does anyone have solutions for this paper?

Dell2009

I just tried to upload it but the file appears to be too large and exceeds upload limit allowed by boards. PM me and i'll email it to you.

You can download it from the Student Centre area of the ICAI website.

Dell2009

I have just tried to Zip the file. hope it allows you to download.

larry2009

Dell2009 wrote: »

I have just tried to Zip the file. hope it allows you to download.

Thanks for that. The link in the student centre was an SFMA paper!

Nidot

All the solutions which seem to be given out by the institute have errors in them, or atleast contradictions in what you'd expect from the notes from lectures/book.

Or maybe thats just me???

SL10

No an awful lot of stuff have errors in them...is very annoying!

prinz

Nidot wrote: »

Or maybe thats just me???

It's not just you.:mad:

Mark1916

I think we all realise that the institute are a joke of an organisation and how they get away with giving out sub standard answers. If the ICAI themselves cannot work things out correctly how are we meant to? And if we doing something the way we seen in an answer and apply it in the exam and its wrong we get penalised. Joke.

Hackysack

Mark1916 wrote: »

Ill start off and say I think Cash Flows are a high possibility for the Financial Exam!

I really don't think so. The only way they could really come up in my mind if they appear as a part of the Case Study (which would = really bad news imo).

I can't see them justifying a Section B question for Cashflows, particularly if you have a good template for them, because it'd just be a matter of throwing your template in and whacking the figures in.

With the open book exam, Cashflows just become a bit too easy imo.

larry2009

what is everyone studying for this? Might leave out WACC as it came up in the continuous assessment.

Would working through previous papers be enough for this??

larry2009

Mark1916 wrote: »

I think we all realise that the institute are a joke of an organisation and how they get away with giving out sub standard answers. If the ICAI themselves cannot work things out correctly how are we meant to? And if we doing something the way we seen in an answer and apply it in the exam and its wrong we get penalised. Joke.

Its pointless studying solutions that are wrong....but im hoping they are more than 50% right

Mark1916

larry2009 wrote: »

what is everyone studying for this? Might leave out WACC as it came up in the continuous assessment.

Would working through previous papers be enough for this??

I wouldnt exactly be leaving out WACC, its too big a topic to leave out, company valuations as a whole is a very topical subject and it could easily come up!

SL10

I dont think I would leave anything out for this subject as going on past exams they can basically put whatever they want in. I'd say there is a good chance that there will be some form of WACC on the paper

gerrymadden1

How are people fixed for them at this stage lads? I cant help but feel underprepared at this stage, have people finished the courses and doing exam papers yet? I plan spending the last 2 weeks doing exam papers. is this too late??

SL10

I am nowhere near finished the courses! I have been doing questions as I have been going along tho- mainly Prof 3 ones. I'm gonna try start doing some CAP2 exam papers next weekend

Coldplayer

I wouldn't say its too late to do anything, I've been doing questions along the way. I do think we have very few questions to work off though. The prof 3 questions are not up to the standard I think we are going to face at all.

Have an awful feeling we are going to have a cashflow incorporated into question 1, which would be an absolute disaster imo.

gerrymadden1

ya prof 3 q's are rubbish i cant bear to think how hard these feckin exams will be!! I suppose we all go by with 2 weeks in college exams and did fine so a good solid 4 weeks will hopefully do the trick!!

Hackysack

If you're only starting studying for these exams (and you're sitting all 4) you're not gonna be able to get them all in one go.

larry2009

Hackysack wrote: »

If you're only starting studying for these exams (and you're sitting all 4) you're not gonna be able to get them all in one go.

we'll see about that. liking the positivity

Hackysack

Well i've sat them already and I'm repeating one. And along with a lot of other people who were studying for the entire period of study leave last year, they're still repeating this year.

There's quite a rake to get through over all four subjects. So unless you're gonna chain yourself to the desk for 12 hour days and have a perfectly honed study technique, I really can't see anyone passing all four in one sitting, especially if they haven't started studying at this stage.

Pro-tip. Spend most of your time with Financial. Tax can be done in about a week. Auditing, around another week. SFMA will need a good bit of solid work and a bit of luck to pass in the exam. Financial... well I can't really comment on that since that's the one i'm repeating.

larry2009

Hackysack wrote: »

Well i've sat them already and I'm repeating one. And along with a lot of other people who were studying for the entire period of study leave last year, they're still repeating this year.

There's quite a rake to get through over all four subjects. So unless you're gonna chain yourself to the desk for 12 hour days and have a perfectly honed study technique, I really can't see anyone passing all four in one sitting, especially if they haven't started studying at this stage.

Pro-tip. Spend most of your time with Financial. Tax can be done in about a week. Auditing, around another week. SFMA will need a good bit of solid work and a bit of luck to pass in the exam. Financial... well I can't really comment on that since that's the one i'm repeating.

thanks for the pro tip! but some people are naturally good in exam situations and dont have to study as much as others.... so to say its impossible to pass all 4 in over 4 weeks is a bit negative!

prinz

larry2009 wrote: »

we'll see about that. liking the positivity

Sorry buddy, but having sat CAP2 already I have to agree. Starting to study now it is extremely extremely unlikely anyone will pass all four papers, no point in giving people false hope.

Hackysack

I suppose it is a bit negative, but I recall myself being optimistic last year and well, two sittings of these horrific exams really put a dampener on those optimistic feelings of mine!!!

How are you going about studying for them?

prinz

Hackysack wrote: »

I suppose it is a bit negative, but I recall myself being optimistic last year and well, two sittings of these horrific exams really put a dampener on those optimistic feelings of mine!!!

Any tips for getting the optimism back? I know what we're going to face and it's affecting my studying now.

larry2009

Hackysack wrote: »

I suppose it is a bit negative, but I recall myself being optimistic last year and well, two sittings of these horrific exams really put a dampener on those optimistic feelings of mine!!!

How are you going about studying for them?

well 4 weeks and 4 subjects so a subject each week should do the trick...maybe less than a week for auditing

prinz

larry2009 wrote: »

well 4 weeks and 4 subjects so a subject each week should do the trick...maybe less than a week for auditing

Good luck with that.

SL10

Wow Larry I wish I had your optimism!

I've been studying for 3 weeks at this stage and plan and putting in a solid four weeks and I still don't think I'm gonna get all four!

Having sat the CAP1's last year (studying for the entire leave and still having to repeat 2!) I think its really important that people know what they are heading in for. These exams are no where like college exams and even if you have studied and put in all the hours there is still only a 50% pass rate so a lot of us are going to be disappointed in August.

Hackysack

prinz wrote: »

Any tips for getting the optimism back? I know what we're going to face and it's affecting my studying now.

You have two to do right? SFMA & Financial (if I remember correct?). It's tough though, but i'm getting myself geared up for it all. I'm doing a bit here and there but I went through what I need to do and set myself a timetable for the period of my study leave that outlines all of the topics I need to do.

For Fin. Rep, i'm gonna be heavily relying on the giant question pack to teach me the basics for all of the standards and then work on Sandra Gleeson's question notes for the year (they seem to be of a high standard and to a lesser extent Barry Smith's revision notes).

If I cover off the standards quickly enough I can then fly through the basics of what's necessary in each standard. I'm only allocating about 3 days to work on exam papers (it's gotten to the stage where i remember the actual figures needed in the solution rather than the technique for getting them).


For SFMA last year I focused heavily on getting Portfolio Valuation nailed along with Variance Analysis. I covered ratio analysis really well and had very concise notes made for the topic that explained each ratio and how to calculate in a brief manner. The way I looked at it in the end of the day, I didn't think there was a lot they could ask calculation wise in the Management Accounting side of the course - Transfer Pricing & Variance Analysis. The theory was fairly blag-able. I didn't bother with working on the FX stuff. I couldn't get my head around it, and I had a feeling it was gonna be an option (it was. Both times). but i figured i'd spend too long trying to learn it and there was never any decent questions to practice it. I figured I'd waste a lot more time doing it that way.

Tax was simply a matter of doing the Prof.3 papers that Ciara Deane gave out as lecture notes. I had a small folder with around 50 or so questions in it. After trying all of them, I felt I had a really decent grasp on the topics.

Auditing, i don't really know how I passed it to be honest. I did very little actual study. A lot of it was blagging, which I was able to do because of my job.


But anyway to address the question re optimism/motivation. I felt that putting everything into my timetable and how to deal with it in manageable doses made me realise my limitations and it gave me an idea of what topics I needed to cover.

prinz

Hackysack wrote: »

You have two to do right? SFMA & Financial (if I remember correct?). It's tough though, but i'm getting myself geared up for it all. I'm doing a bit here and there but I went through what I need to do and set myself a timetable for the period of my study leave that outlines all of the topics I need to do.

Have three to do, all except SFMA. The only one really bothering me again is FR, and that's dragging the confidence down when it comes to Audit and Tax.

SL10

Hackysack wrote: »

For Fin. Rep, i'm gonna be heavily relying on the giant question pack to teach me the basics for all of the standards and then work on Sandra Gleeson's question notes for the year (they seem to be of a high standard and to a lesser extent Barry Smith's revision notes).

Which Question pack are you using Hackysack? I have a consolidation question pack and an IAS question pack but not too sure if they are any good or not so haven't looked too much at them.

The first question in the consol pack is Pandar and in the IAS pack is Sandown...is it the same question pack by any chance?