ACCA home study?

Lovbnmoma

Hi guys, I havent posted that much to this website but was hoping you could help me out with decision! So my background is I completed the ACCA Accounting Technician course three years ago and I am considering going on to do the rest of the exams. I live in Leitrim so the nearest places to study would be Galway or Dublin, both two hour journeys and i have two small kids so i was thinking of maybe studying myself at home. Has anyone done this and what should I do next if I am going to go that route? Any advice would be great!

nathughes

Hey hope you dont mind me joining in but id really love to know what are the best self study kits Kaplan or Bpp??

Nats

Lovbnmoma

Hi Nathughes, no not at all, hopefully someone will be able to help us out! Are you doing all of the exams or the accounting technician ones?

theg81der

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=55079072

Theres a thread that mentions some weekend study options. Homestudy is a tough option far play to you if you do it! How did you study the Account Tech course?

Lovbnmoma

Athlone IT were doing the course in my local town so it was so handy but i also didnt have kids then either so it was easier! I was going to do the weekend studying because I work three days a week anyway but I was thinking it might suit me better to do it at home so i dont have to be away from the kids too much. Dont know though because I dont know how hard it would be!

nathughes

Lovbnmoma wrote: »

Hi Nathughes, no not at all, hopefully someone will be able to help us out! Are you doing all of the exams or the accounting technician ones?

Hey I'm doing the acca not the technician. I'm thinking of doing F1 to f3 at home the do classes for the rest.

SBWife

I did ACCA by home study (well I'm awaiting my final results next week). It's possible, the material is not difficult until you get to the elective P exams, but it is bulky. I think if you are disciplined enough to cover the material in a timely manner and leave plenty of time for review and practice questions there should be no reason not to be able to do it at home. Especially given that you can ask questions either here or on OpenTuition if you have any problems.

nathughes

SBWife wrote: »

I did ACCA by home study (well I'm awaiting my final results next week). It's possible, the material is not difficult until you get to the elective P exams, but it is bulky. I think if you are disciplined enough to cover the material in a timely manner and leave plenty of time for review and practice questions there should be no reason not to be able to do it at home. Especially given that you can ask questions either here or on OpenTuition if you have any problems.

What materials did u use???

SBWife

I used the Kaplan Texts and Exam Kits for everything except F4 and F6 for those I used the BPP IRE specific Text and Kits.

blackfire

like yourself i havent posted much on this site but i did some subjects at home and registered with griffith they have home study courses which gives you access to videos. i found them quite useful

backtothebooks

blackfire wrote: »

like yourself i havent posted much on this site but i did some subjects at home and registered with griffith they have home study courses which gives you access to videos. i found them quite useful

They're rubbish!

theg81der

blackfire wrote: »

like yourself i havent posted much on this site but i did some subjects at home and registered with griffith they have home study courses which gives you access to videos. i found them quite useful

If you come on here and try to promote a business people generally see through it. It wasn`t even hard with you you lied your first post said your doing f4 and your 2nd that your just starting. Griffith sucks :P and thats why they have to self promote here!

sboyle01

nathughes wrote: »

Hey I'm doing the acca not the technician. I'm thinking of doing F1 to f3 at home the do classes for the rest.

You would be exempt from F1 to F3 if you completed the Technician qualification. I started at F4 and am currently on the professional exams. I study at home and don't find much difference in Kaplan and BPP books, both are good.

LookatMe

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Practice in Assay Conditions

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accountingedmonton

Maclyn

Hi,

I did all my study through homestudy, I was exempted from no subjects. I also have two small kids, I am sitting my final exams in June. I went to a revision course for P2 but everything else was on my own bat. I went with BPP. Once you are disciplined and have the want to get to the end of it... you will be fine. Hard work but its an achievement that you can be proud of.

Best of luck with it.

nomunnnofun

Hi Maclan,

First I'd like to say well done on getting this far studying on your own.:)
I was hoping to go down the same route myself and was wondering what time scale it has taken you to get to where you are. How many exams did you sit at a time and what ones did you find most difficult? Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Maclyn

Hi nomunnofun,

I started in 2007 and here is the time scale, I did miss three sittings so if you didnt miss any sittings, obviously it would take you less time.

F1 and F2 - May 2007 CBE
F3 - Oct 2007 CBE
F4,F5 & F6 - Dec 2008
F7, F8 - June 2009
F9, P1 - Dec 2009
P2 - Dec 2010
P3 - June 2011
F9 - December 2011 (Repeat)

Hopefully on Monday I will have passed F9 and then I have to repeat P1 and take my two option papers. I based how many I could do in any one sitting with my work load at work, and what my partners workload would be over the coming months, so that it would free up as much of my time as possible.

Be under no illusion though that it is tough tough going. It requires discipline, motivating yourself after a stressful day in the office, after doing dinners, cleaning, putting kids to bed, having all ready for next morning and then sitting down to two hours study, when all you want to do is go to bed.

I am nearing the end of it now and I can tell you, I will not be sorry to see the end of it....

Best of luck with it.

crebel81

Hey,

Like others on here I also did the acca exams through homestudy. I started in June 2008 with F4 and F5. Waiting on the results on Monday for my P6 result and hope to finish the lot in June with P7. I also have a young daughter. but with plenty of planning and organisation, as well as an understanding partner, it can be easily achieved.

I would aim for at least an hour every night, and increasing that as you come closer to the exams.

In my opinion, I find Kaplan alot easier to comprehend than BPP but thats just my experience. One thing that made things alot easier was the amount of study leave i got which generally 2 weeks per exam. Downfall of course was that I was on a miserable salary which comes with a trainee accountant role.

Anyways, best of luck to everyone going this route.

Nothing is impossible

sboyle01

Could someone tell me what study text they used for paper p2. I see the stllabus has irl and int streams. I checked the bpp ireland order form and they only have the int study text. Is this the same content as the irl stream?

SBWife

I used the Kaplan books plus kit. It has international and UK, Ire is essentially UK plus a basic understanding of the companies acts.

sboyle01

SBWife wrote: »

I used the Kaplan books plus kit. It has international and UK, Ire is essentially UK plus a basic understanding of the companies acts.

Ok. Thanks. Its just I remember a massive difference in the UK and IRL P4 study texts. Also I can't decide to do P2 or P3 next. Which has the least content and did you find one easier than the other?

SBWife

P4 is Advanced Financial Analysis there is no Ire or UK paper.

For the financial reporting papers F7 and P2 the Irish and UK standards are very similar. There are no Ire books published but following the UK materials and reviewing the Companies Acts worked for me.

I did P2 the diet after F7 it directly builds on this material so my advise would be to do it as soon afterward as possible. It has a reputation as being harder than P3 but I throught they were much the same.

Lovbnmoma

Hi guys, thanks for the info. I was looking into BPP this morning but havent really looked into Kaplan, someone else told me recently that they prefer the BPP but i suppose its different with everyone. I am exempt from F1 to F3 so i am thinking of doing F4 this summer and then onto F5 and F6 this winter. I was just going to purchase my books with BPP and start studying now so do you think that will leave me with enough time for the June sitting? I am waiting on hearing from my boss re paying for some of the course but i highly doubt he will.

SBWife

You have plenty of time for the June sitting (especially given it's a couple of weeks later this year) I'd consider doing one of the more numerate papers as well as F4 at this time.

BPP are the only publisher who do materials for F4 Ire, but in general I'd take a look at the Kaplan books as an alternative.

Lovbnmoma

Thanks, so would you do maybe F4 and F6 together then? What other papers are numerate aside from Taxation? Oh and another question is would you bother getting the revision kits along with the textbooks? They are quite expensive with bpp so i was just going to order the textbooks.

SBWife

The more numerate papers are: F5, F6, F7, and F9.

For the IRE papers the BPP kits are primarily a reprinting of the past questions but for F6 they are updated to the current tax code (actually the year prior's because that is what ACCA uses for the exam). Therefore the kit isn't necessary IMO for F4 but definitely a requirement for F6.

Lovbnmoma

Thanks again, i have just ordered the two study text books so hopefully ill have them soon so i can get stuck in. Actually looking forward to getting back down to study, i must be mad!

Pass_Word

Lovbnmoma, you must be

Hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread; there didn't seem much point starting a new one for this..


I'll be away for the June 2012 sitting so the plan is to sit two or three exams in Dec 2012 and study what I can now, just so it doesn't all come as a shock to the system after 8 months off :eek:

Out of F6, F8 and F9 can anyone recommend which subjects are do-able by home study, and is sitting all three in Dec is a recipe for disaster?!?!
(So far most people I've spoken to recommend going to classes and particularly to Julie Hawkins in DBS for F6)

sboyle01

I am on P2 now and the most difficult exam I did was F9. Really had to work hard for the 50 marks. F6 and F8 was not nearly as difficult in my opinion.

loveacca

Pass_Word wrote: »

Lovbnmoma, you must be

Hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread; there didn't seem much point starting a new one for this..


I'll be away for the June 2012 sitting so the plan is to sit two or three exams in Dec 2012 and study what I can now, just so it doesn't all come as a shock to the system after 8 months off :eek:

Out of F6, F8 and F9 can anyone recommend which subjects are do-able by home study, and is sitting all three in Dec is a recipe for disaster?!?!
(So far most people I've spoken to recommend going to classes and particularly to Julie Hawkins in DBS for F6)

F8 would be the handiest for homestudy, Julie Hawkins is the best at F6. You could attend classses now for the F6 or F9 and see if you can defer the revision course to the December sitting. I have heard of students doing this before.
IMO you are right to do some work over the next few months

theg81der

Anyone any idea whether f5 is doable at home or if not where to study it? I just have to do f5 and f8 would I be mental to try to do both in June?

loveacca

theg81der wrote: »

Anyone any idea whether f5 is doable at home or if not where to study it? I just have to do f5 and f8 would I be mental to try to do both in June?

F5 and F8 are very doable in the 1 sitting

mor12

loveacca wrote: »

F5 and F8 are very doable in the 1 sitting

omg! what a terrible username

Maclyn

Hi,


Has anyone used the online classrooms?

Thanks,
Maclyn

theg81der

loveacca wrote: »

F5 and F8 are very doable in the 1 sitting

Any idea about what tutor to use or is there any chance I`d get by with opentuition?

sboyle01

theg81der wrote: »

Any idea about what tutor to use or is there any chance I`d get by with opentuition?

Personally I wouldn't rely on Open Tuition on it's own. Good help but doesn't seem to cover the whole syllabus. I buy a text book from Kaplan along with using Open Tuition.

Brady124

Hey Guys,

I am sitting P2 and P6 in June, I failed last time by such a small amount it was criminal! I will do the revision classes in May but will just study at home untill then. Is there anyone who is studying either of these papers that would like to do a small study group. As although I dont mind studying too much, I am not exactly running to the desk after work each night.
So was thinking if anyone else was in the same boat, might help each other make sure we getting through the work.

As after these I am done, so really just want them out of the way at this stage. So really want to give them a crack, this time and make sure I pass.

If anyone woudl be on for soemthing like that, give me a PM back and maybe we could sort something out.

Thanks,