ACCA - New Student Question

optimistic_

Hi All,

Mature Student here, or at least hope to be!

I am based in Dublin, and in the next year or so i will be dropping out of full time work to go back to study full time ACCA.

At the moment I'm just looking at what colleges provide the best value for money etc.

One query i have, is disregarding tuition fees (which will no doubt end up costing me approx €10k) How much is studying ACCA from F1 to completion likely to cost me? I've tried to work it out with registration fees, exam fees etc. But could someone give me an idea of what i will be spending on books, various fees?

- Actually, could anyone recommend decent tuition programmes which would work out cheaper for the full 14 papers?)

I know it's a lot to ask, so I do thank in advance anyone who takes the time to answer my questions,

Cheers,
Opti

SBWife

The cheapest way is self study.

Books F1, F2, F3, F5, F7, F8, F9 are €69.30 per exam for Kaplan Book & Exam Kit
Books for F4, F6 assuming you need the Irish variant are €125 per exam
Registration for each of the F papers is £72 so about €83.

So for the F exams you are looking at a total of €1,482.00 in books and exam fees.

P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 (or P6, P7) are the same price for the Kaplan Book & Kit €69.30 each.
Registration for each is £84 so about €95.

So an additional €822 for P exams.

Initial registration is about €83 and you pay €83 in fees for however long it takes you to do the exams.

HTH

thefa

Are the courses with GCD, BPP, etc worth the money? I am registering with the ACCA now and would only be able to do the study it part time.

SBWife

My advise would be to do F1 through F3 on your own. The material is very straightforward and between the books and sites like OpenTuition really shouldn't be a problem even if you have no accounting background. Once you have these completed you'll have a better idea as to whether or not you need to take a course from one of the tuition providers.

thefa

I have an accounting background though and have exemptions for the Fundamental level except F6 so I was thinking of F6 and P1 next December. I might also be able to get sponsored or part sponsored so am considering them but they are €595 and €710 respectively.

optimistic_

SBWife, you're an absolute star.

Thank you

SBWife

thefa wrote: »

I have an accounting background though and have exemptions for the Fundamental level except F6 so I was thinking of F6 and P1 next December. I might also be able to get sponsored or part sponsored so am considering them but they are €595 and €710 respectively.

The syllabus won't change between now and December. Why don't you pick up some of the books look at the past exam papers and judge for yourself whether or not you'll need a course. The courses for December won't start until September.

thefa

Thanks SB. Have just had a quick look at both of them and F6 seems to have a lot of similarities with my final year tax module so could save some money there. Is 2 of these exams at a time enough do you think?

SBWife

2 is what most people do...but if you've 6 in total doing 3 at a time would have you finished in a year as opposed to 18 months. Given that December is a ways away I'd seriously contemplate adding P2 to your agenda as well.

loveacca

If you do take on P2 you should consider taking a course, I think BPP, Independent Colleges and GCD all offer full time courses. P2 is probably one of the harder papers and if you have received exemptions from F7 it can be tough going

thefa

I'm pretty sure you have to have all of P1,2 & 3 complete before you can move onto the options so it with F6 to do anyways I'd be looking at the same timeframe unless I took on four but thanks for the advice. I have only 3 months of the practical experience got so I'm not going to rush it anyways.

Wish they'd advertised the closing date for exams a bit better loveacca!

lucylu19

SBWife wrote: »

The cheapest way is self study.

Books F1, F2, F3, F5, F7, F8, F9 are €69.30 per exam for Kaplan Book & Exam Kit
Books for F4, F6 assuming you need the Irish variant are €125 per exam
Registration for each of the F papers is £72 so about €83.

So for the F exams you are looking at a total of €1,482.00 in books and exam fees.

P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 (or P6, P7) are the same price for the Kaplan Book & Kit €69.30 each.
Registration for each is £84 so about €95.

So an additional €822 for P exams.

Initial registration is about €83 and you pay €83 in fees for however long it takes you to do the exams.

HTH

If you do go down the self study route be sure to check out http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ I know you can get the BPP books and revision kit for €57 free delivery.. and I think the kaplan ones are cheaper.
I started from F1 and did self study.. am now upto P2 and P3... and found this the cheapest way.

SBWife

thefa wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you have to have all of P1,2 & 3 complete before you can move onto the options so it with F6 to do anyways I'd be looking at the same timeframe unless I took on four but thanks for the advice. I have only 3 months of the practical experience got so I'm not going to rush it anyways.

Wish they'd advertised the closing date for exams a bit better loveacca!

You don't have to have them complete. You must however either have taken OR BE TAKING them at the same time. Therefore you could take F6, P1 and P2 in December and then take P3, and the two options in June.

onimpulse

optimistic_ wrote: »

... i will be dropping out of full time work to go back to study full time ACCA.

Why drop out of full time work? Most people continue to work full time and go to lectures in the evenings.

There are a number of advantages to this firstly, You gain work experience at the same time as getting your exams. No doubt your aware that you need relevant work experience in addition to your exams - the exams aren't worth much on their own. Perhaps you already have this as you mention you would be a mature student?

Secondly, Working in a finance role, most employers will pay your fees, incl tuition fees and give you study leave.

Finally, You still have an income while you're studying.

This is the route most people take. Perhaps your personal circumstances make this difficult, but remember it's not easy for anyone.

Good luck with it - it is worth all the hard work!