Last 3 ACCA exams - tips to pass

granniecaz

I'm just wondering if anyone would have any advice...

I am currently studying my final 3 ACCA exams - repeating P2 (2nd sitting), P4 & P5. Know that there is a huge workload for each subject but wondering if anyone has study tips/advice. I have written up notes from the study texts and attended about 90% of lectures for all subjects. Know everyone always says to keep practicing questions - but is there any other secret tip anyone can provide to try and pass all 3 together?!!!

I am just desperate to be finished them now at this stage

Theflyingegg

Not much can be said other than to study, study, study and practice, practice, practice.

If you're looking for some side help I find the free and popular ACCA study site Opentuition helpful.

FuzzyDunlop100

granniecaz wrote: »

I'm just wondering if anyone would have any advice...

I am currently studying my final 3 ACCA exams - repeating P2 (2nd sitting), P4 & P5. Know that there is a huge workload for each subject but wondering if anyone has study tips/advice. I have written up notes from the study texts and attended about 90% of lectures for all subjects. Know everyone always says to keep practicing questions - but is there any other secret tip anyone can provide to try and pass all 3 together?!!!

I am just desperate to be finished them now at this stage

Two suggestions
(1) Replicate the exam conditions when practicing questions; get our your watch and stick to the time limit per question -you just can't afford to go over the time allowance on any question (diminishing returns & all that...)
(2) Read the examiners letters/comments from the last few years. They all have their pet peeves so you have to avoid those at all costs.

5 to go

Same story, was going to go for P2, P4 and P7 but I'm going for two now. I got my P4 notes together but three exams were too much for my liking. Know the feeling that you want to get finished.

At this stage everyone knows how to pass. And at this stage everyone has an insane amount of notes and preparation done over all the exams. Maybe it's time when you actually spend more time reading the question, write a little less waffle, don't stress about getting all the tough marks...but still write a good solid exam. Sounds obvious but the biggest problem is time pressure. At this stage you know where you can do less but write a better overall paper.

I've stopped stressing about the papers, won't be long before you are finally done. Still, practice makes perfect. Good luck!

SBWife

I took and passed p1,3,4 and 5 in my last sitting. My advise is to know the theory inside and out, I had distilled it all down to about 2 pages of notes for each exam to be reviewed on the morning of each exam. Otherwise practice as many questions as possible, I think your better off practicing questions by topic then trying to replicate the exam eg. For P2 pull out 3 consolidation questions and do them one after the other checking your answers after each one, in terms of timing by the 3rd you should be approaching the speed you need in the exam. Do the same for the forex risk management etc. In p4.

One mistake I see people making in prep at this level is spending a lot of time concentrating on understanding the past question solutions rather than starting out with a blank sheet of paper and answering the question prior to looking at the solution. It's easy to delude yourself into thinking that you understand something when you are looking at the answer. If you really can't do a question you'll learn more by going to your notes, books or the technical articles and using them to answer the question than just looking up the model answer.

Make the most of your time, be prepared to review the smaller topics when you have an extra 10-15 mins, stuff like flash cards still help for these complex papers. You want to try and get to the point where you're thinking about the question and applying the knowledge in the exam hall not thinking about the knowledge itself.

HTH

granniecaz

Thanks for all the suggestions! These really are good tips

Fairly on top of my notes so I do have plenty of time to keep going over them and doing practice questions so fingers crossed

Nemanrio

Sorry to hijack the thread but didn't think it would be worth a new thread tbh.

I attempted both P1 & P2 in June & I failed both.:rolleyes:

I've decided to repeat them again but am not optimistic at all about it.

For P1 I am struggling trying to remember all the information from different array of topics & reatining it for an exam that may be a couple of months away! So, my question is,how should I approach learning all this content?

Any tips for P2 would also be appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

Theflyingegg

Nemanrio wrote: »

Sorry to hijack the thread but didn't think it would be worth a new thread tbh.

I attempted both P1 & P2 in June & I failed both.:rolleyes:

I've decided to repeat them again but am not optimistic at all about it.

For P1 I am struggling trying to remember all the information from different array of topics & reatining it for an exam that may be a couple of months away! So, my question is,how should I approach learning all this content?

Any tips for P2 would also be appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

Go on opentution's ACCA forums there is people there who have failed even more times than you have and sought advice you might be interested in some of the replies.

Personally I'm doing p1 in June so can't advise yet.

granniecaz

I would advise to just keep going over the theory for P1. I failed it the first time I sat it. The second lecturer I had really helped - he advised to sit down with questions and to just answer using bullet point answers - that way you would then know if you were hitting the main points that needed to be discussed. I have to say that it really helps you focus on the main answers and I passed the second time around. Some parts of the course are common knowledge really, others just learn the theory so that you can apply it to the case study in the exam.

McTigs

I passed P1 in June but with only 50% on the nose thinking I had really nailed it..... with hindsight I maybe didn't fully read the questions in the exam as I must have gone off the mark on at least a few of them.

I'm doing P2 now.... I just did F7 in June too so that is standing to me. I hope to have all the course covered by Sunday then it's just full on question practice for 6 weeks.

As some body said above, attempt a question as far as you can, then consult text and notes to see if you can finish it. Only when you have exausted all other avenues should you look at the answer. Easy to fool yourself in to thinking you are learning by looking at an answer and understanding it.

0028673

P1 is a strange exam... I was certain that I failed it in June. I had not covered the course sufficiently and I felt that the exam did not go well. To my surprise I got 75% in the exam.

Looking back on it my approach to the exam helped.
For the Q1 I read the first 3 lines of the Case Study just to get a feel for what type of company it was, industry, position in the market etc.. I would than read the questions and as I read the questions I made a note of what answers may be relevant to the case. This provided me with a checklist as to what to look for and also helped me in structuring my answer.

I than read the case study and rather than underlining the whole paper I just marked off pieces which I thought were relevant to the questions i.e. A, B,C.

I used as much info from the case study as I could. Commenting on it's possible implications be it good or bad.

P1 is not the most technical exam you will sit, exam technique is important as most of the topics involve common sense.

I used Open tuition notes, revision kit and Griffith college notes that I borrowed from a friend.

You have plenty of time, just keep going through as many exam questions as possible to get a feel for the Examiner's style and answer approach..