How many ACCA exams to take in one sitting?

Navy blue · 18-08-2020 7:50pm #1

Hi guys, I have just signed up for the ACCA qualification. I have just finished the ATI course so have 4 exemptions out of 13 exams. I hope to do my first exam sitting in December. I am just wondering how many exams people feel is possible/optimal? Due to my age, I am hoping to get through the exams as quickly as I can and I am coming fresh from study for ATI (but have never done anything at this level of difficulty) Would three subjects in one setting be likely too difficult? Would I be better starting with 2 and seeing how I get on? Thanks in advance.

salad_man · 19-08-2020 12:28pm

hi - 2/3 of F level exams together is certainly achievable; more or less equivalent to level 8 degree college exams; certainly no easy task to get through but a consistent level of study on each should bring success

Once you get to professional level ( last 4 exams) it becomes a bit tougher. I sat each of them separately and got through them. There is cross over material between some professional exams [ ( SBR & Advanced Audit) and ( SBL & APM) ] so i know people who have completed these papers @ same sitting

Sitting 2 professional exams is certainly achievable if you are willing to put substantial work in within a short space of time - i chose to concentrate on 1 at a time and it served me well

HeinekenTicket · 20-08-2020 4:32pm

I'd recommend one and no more than two for your first ACCA exam sitting.

The ACCA exams at the level you are now at are a completely different ball game to the ATI exams - way more content to cover in a shorter period of time and the exams are not as predicable.

If you do the ACCA tax exam in December, you'll be using the same tax rules as applied to you ATI exams so that would be a good first one to attempt. You'll get a good idea of the workload required for the ACCA exams generally and can better assess what you can handle for the March 2021 sitting.

Navy blue · 21-08-2020 10:56am

Thanks so much for the replies. I think I am going to try 2 in December, I will include Tax as hopefully I will be familiar with some of it. Hopefully I won't find it too overwhelming :eek:

MartyMcFly84 · 30-08-2020 2:27pm

I think it really depends on the individual and personal circumstances.

The jump in level from foundation to the skills level is very notable and then again in the professional level exams.

Some who work for larger accounting firms get a considerable amount of time off to prepare for exams. This may facilitate multiple exams at one sitting.

In my personal experience I found I needed to put a considerable amount of work into each exam.

For me after say F4, taking on 2 at a time was not manageable able to maintain a sustainable quality of life me and and loved ones. I worked in industry though and not practice so I didnt get much time off, and combined it with my annual leave for study time.

I took the approach of doing one subject at a time and making sure I passed. I failed my first skills level exam and that was an eye opener. I studied more than I ever had before and still failed. It felt like I had wasted weeks/months of my life.

I knew from that point I would have to take them really seriously put everything I had into them. So me personally one exam at a time worked and I didn't fail again.

Some can do 2 at a time (not for me) , I think 3 at a time would be a massive amount of work and would take over your life. But it all depends on personal circumstances and how much time you have available to dedicate to it.

If its all your are doing 3 is possible. If you are working also, 2 is a big ask. If you have kids or partners, other life obligations 1 might be the way to go. Just my 2 cents anyway and best of luck!

Navy blue · 31-08-2020 10:28pm

Thank you again for the replies. That’s a fair point Marty about other obligations, I have two young kids and work full time (not in an accounting role at the moment so will have to change jobs sooner rather than later) and have a fair bit of a commute too, so I have a lot going on! I decided to just do the one exam in December and see how I find it. I chose taxation to begin with and hopefully there will be some parts familiar to me from my ATI studies. If I find it ok, I might try for 2 in March, but am happy with my decision to just do the one to start with. Even the amount of lectures for that one subject are quite demanding so two would be a stretch even from a lecture point of view.

Thanks again for all the advice.

MartyMcFly84 · 01-09-2020 5:06pm

No problem! See how you get on, some of the courses have a broader curriculum than others, tax is a good one to start off its self contained.

My one recommendation would be to leave financial reporting to the end and do SBR right after. There is a lot of transferable knowledge.

I made the mistake of doing financial reporting as my first skill level exam then didn't do SBR until over 2 years later and the knowledge was not fresh in my head anymore and had to relearn a lot of it.

Now there are 4 exam sittings sittings a year, if you did one per sitting it would take just over 2 years.

However, You need to have three years work experience anyway before you can qualify. So you could space your exams over this time (3 years) to make it a manageable work load. It also means you are not stressing out with exam workload to get them done in a short period of time, then have to wait around for a year or more any way to get the work experience.

Maz2016 · 02-09-2020 10:36pm

Can I jump in and ask a question (hope I’m not hijacking your post) I’m interested in doing the ACCA’s. I was thinking of doing it online and saw Dublin a business school do it. Where did ye guys do it? Also I was thinking of waiting until January to start, is this possible? I am also just finished year 2 ATI

MartyMcFly84 · 02-09-2020 11:38pm

You can start whenever you like

There are a number of schools that prep you for ACCA exams. I did mine in a number of places.

DBS
Professional Accountant Training (PAT)
Accountancy School
City Colleges

Of these I would recommend PAT and Accountancy school the most. PAT is a much smaller school so there can more room for personal attention. However I had some really good lecturers in Accountancy school also.

Most schools run courses to prep for each exam sitting. They have different timetables , which ended up being the reason why i choose one school over another in some cases as it worked better with other things I had going on at the time.

All of these schools offer the courses online also these days.

Maz2016 · 03-09-2020 7:41am

MartyMcFly84 wrote: »

You can start whenever you like

There are a number of schools that prep you for ACCA exams. I did mine in a number of places.

DBS
Professional Accountant Training (PAT)
Accountancy School
City Colleges

Of these I would recommend PAT and Accountancy school the most. PAT is a much smaller school so there can more room for personal attention. However I had some really good lecturers in Accountancy school also.

Most schools run courses to prep for each exam sitting. They have different timetables , which ended up being the reason why i choose one school over another in some cases as it worked better with other things I had going on at the time.

All of these schools offer the courses online also these days.

That’s great, thanks so much

Maz2016 · 03-09-2020 7:41am

MartyMcFly84 wrote: »

You can start whenever you like

There are a number of schools that prep you for ACCA exams. I did mine in a number of places.

DBS
Professional Accountant Training (PAT)
Accountancy School
City Colleges

Of these I would recommend PAT and Accountancy school the most. PAT is a much smaller school so there can more room for personal attention. However I had some really good lecturers in Accountancy school also.

Most schools run courses to prep for each exam sitting. They have different timetables , which ended up being the reason why i choose one school over another in some cases as it worked better with other things I had going on at the time.

All of these schools offer the courses online also these days.

That’s great, thanks so much

Navy blue · 03-09-2020 3:23pm

Maz2016 wrote: »

Can I jump in and ask a question (hope I’m not hijacking your post) I’m interested in doing the ACCA’s. I was thinking of doing it online and saw Dublin a business school do it. Where did ye guys do it? Also I was thinking of waiting until January to start, is this possible? I am also just finished year 2 ATI

I'm doing mine in Griffith College in Cork, they have a college in Dublin too

Maz2016 · 03-09-2020 6:41pm

Navy blue wrote: »

I'm doing mine in Griffith College in Cork, they have a college in Dublin too

That was another option I was considering. I’m in limerick. Griffith are in limerick too but heard they weren’t great

Navy blue · 04-09-2020 10:07am

Maz2016 wrote: »

That was another option I was considering. I’m in limerick. Griffith are in limerick too but heard they weren’t great

Oh really, that's disappointing to hear. In what way did you hear they weren't great? I think they are the only ACCA accredited learning partner in Cork so I didn't have much choice!

Maz2016 · 04-09-2020 1:47pm

Navy blue wrote: »

Oh really, that's disappointing to hear. In what way did you hear they weren't great? I think they are the only ACCA accredited learning partner in Cork so I didn't have much choice!

A colleague of mine started it in Griffith limerick but didn’t find the tutors good. Then transferred to Dublin That May just be their experience though

Maz2016 · 27-07-2021 9:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058105732/how-many-acca-exams-to-take-in-one-sitting

Hi @Navy blue Just wondering how you are getting on with these? I am starting in September. Decided to take the last year off. I have the 4 ATI exemptions thankfully

Andrew93 · 28-07-2021 3:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117670778#Comment_117670778

I'm also interested in hearing how you got on. Just finished my level 8 degree this year and am planning on starting the ACCA exams this year from October.

Navy blue · 29-07-2021 3:09pm

@Maz2016 and @Andrew93

All going ok so far. I started last September and quickly decided that one subject per sitting was the most I could manage, so I have three exams done and passed all three so far. I have been doing an exam every three months, which is really more like 2.5 months by the time you breath after your previous exam and get organised, so doing two or more just isn't an option for me when I am working full time and have two young kids. It might be doable if you were studying full time, but any more than one would be just too much of a committment. I started off studying with Griffith College, but didn't find the lecturer particularly good and their online set up during Covid wasn't great either. So after the first exam, I just decided to self study. I use the BPP textbooks and revision packs and then I supplement that with Open Tuition notes and lectures. I may need to rethink that strategy for the Professional level exams, but for skills level, it's fine. I've decided not to sit any exams in September as I just knew I wouldn't get as much study done over the summer so am going to do my final two skills exams in December, I don't mind doing two in that sitting as I have longer to prepare for it.

Best of luck to you both!

Andrew93 · 29-07-2021 4:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117678925#Comment_117678925

That's great to hear that you've passed the 3 you've attempted first time. Do you find that the 2.5 months is sufficient time to prepared for the exams? I was hoping to do 1 every 3 months too but not sure how it would work out due to me working full time (39 hours) and having a 4 month old baby at home.

However, I do want to get through as many as possible before she gets that bit older and requires a lot more of my attention and time.

Maz2016 · 29-07-2021 8:11pm

@Navy blue @Andrew93 Thanks for the replies. Glad your getting on so well Navy. I am going to start in Sept. I will do one as well and see how it goes. I work full time too, fair play to ye trying to juggle kids as well.

heretothere · 07-10-2023 9:56pm

@Navy blue @Maz2016 @Andrew93 Hi, just wondering how you are all getting on with your exams? I just registered with ACCA and still waiting for access to log in. I will be going straight into the Strategic Professional exams. I have exemptions from the rest, I studied with ACA but had to take some time out and haven't done an exam in 6 years now!

Any one any insight into the best order to sit them in? How do you study, is there much study guidance available from ACCA themselves for self learning or is it necessary to go with a college? My employer has said she will pay for all.

I'm thinking I'll do 1 at a time. I'm in no rush to get them, I just want to finish.

Navy blue · 07-10-2023 10:56pm

Hi Heretothere, I finished my last exam in June and passed so I’m finally finished.

For the strategic professional exams, I would definitely start with Strategic Business Leader. It’s the easiest of the professional exams and gives an over view of the other exams. It’s a case study based exam and a lot of it is common sense and you can use a bit of waffle. There is fair chunk in SBL that is also in the Strategic Business Reporting course so I would do it straight after while the information is still fresh. Then I don’t think it matter what order you do them in. I did Advanced Audit and Advanced Performance Management. They have the lowest pass rates of any of the subjects but I personally didn’t find them that difficult. The advanced subject have a lot less computations and a lot more theory so I actually found them easier than the strategic level exams.

I passed all my exams first time using self study. I used the BPP or Kaplan books and then used Open Tuition lectures for any aspects I didn’t quite grasp. I suppose it depends on your study style, but self learning suited my lifestyle better (working full time/kids etc). For the professional level exams I found exam technique to be as important as knowledge so definitely get a book of exam questions and work through as many as you can, under exam conditions were possible. Then compare your answer critically against the model answer. You get the feel then what kind of answers they’re looking for. I found the exam tutorials on the ACCA website really good. They talk you through how to answer questions, how to pick up the active verbs etc.

Certainly with SBL, there is no need to go to a college, the content is fairly straightforward and shouldn’t tax you too much. Maybe see how you get on with that one and make a call then for the others. As I said, they’re more theory based at this level so I think tuition is less required than at strategic level. I personally found SBR to be the toughest of the professional exams but I know some find the more theory based subjects like AAA and APM more difficult so I suppose it just depends on the person.

Best of luck with it, I’d be happy to answer any more questions.

Navy blue · 07-10-2023 11:21pm

Hi Heretothere, I did my last exam in June and passed so I am finally finished.

I would start with Strategic Business Leader, it is the easiest exam and it gives a broad overview of the other subjects so it is a good one to start with. It is a case study based exam and is fairly straightforward. A lot of it is pretty much common sense and you can get away with a fair bit of waffle! I would then do Strategic Business Reporting. There is a fair chunk of overlap on those two courses so I would do SBR while the information from SBL is still fresh. For my optional choices I chose Advanced Audit and Advanced Performance Management. These two subjects have the lowest pass rates of any of the exams but I personally didn't find them that difficult. At the professional level, there is a lot less computation and a lot more theory so that suited me better. In a lot of ways, I found the professional exams easier than the strategic level.

I used self study from start to finish, I found it suited my lifestyle better (working full time/kids etc) I used either BPP or Kaplan books and exam test papers and then Open Tuition lectures if I needed some more clarification on something. I found at the professional level, exam technique was as important as knowledge. Get one of the exam books and work through as many exam questions as you can (in exam conditions were possible) then critically compare your answer to the model answer. You very quickly get the feel for what kind of information they are after. The ACCA website has questions and answers disected by a an exam marker so you get an idea what makes a 'good' and 'not good' answer. I found some great tutorials on youtube on how to answer questions, how to figure out what they are actually asking and the difference between the active verbs in the questions which was really helpful. The ACCA website has a past exam library which allows you to answer questions in the same platform as the actual exam so get using that as quickly as you can. The exam platform can be glitchy, so it's important to be confident with how it works.

You definitely don't need to attend college for SBL, as I said, it's fairly straightforward and there isn't a huge amount of content. I think they have recently made it even easier by giving you the case study in advance and making the exam shorter. When I did it, the exam was 4hours 15 mins long which was tough going and you had to absorb a lot of information from the case study in that time. It is easy to miss important information when you are reading the case study under pressure so this has removed a lot of that difficulty. In fact, looking at older questions in the exam pack, I think the exams have gotten easier in recent years. So maybe try self study for SBL and see how you feel after that. I know some people prefer to be in a college type environment whereas others like me, prefer the flexibility of self study.

But my absolute main piece of advice would be to get through the content as quickly as you can and get on to the past papers. Exam technique is absolutely vital.

Best of luck with it, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have or give any advice where I can.

Navy blue · 07-10-2023 11:27pm

Sorry about the double post, my first comment was showing as having posted so I re-wrote the whole thing... grrr.

How many ACCA exams to take in one sitting?

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