ACCA LW exam technique

How the LW exam is built

Corporate and Business Law is a two-hour, on-demand computer-based exam worth 100 marks, with a pass mark of 50%. Section A has 45 objective-test questions worth 70 marks: 25 two-mark and 20 one-mark questions. Section B has five six-mark multi-task questions (MTQs), 30 marks in total. All questions are compulsory. The English (ENG) and Global (GLO) variants share this format, according to both syllabus and study guides; this guide draws its examples from the ENG examiner's report.

The biggest single block is a six-mark MTQ, about seven minutes at 1.2 minutes a mark. Section A is worth roughly 84 minutes and Section B about 36. LW is a reading exam as much as a law exam: the time goes on reading stems and options precisely.

Where LW candidates lose marks

The examiner's report is consistent across both variants on the broad picture.

• Application in Section B. Candidates "fared better" in Section A than in the analysis and application questions, and the report says those skills "traditionally have not been to the forefront of candidates' abilities". Section B answers are shorter than discursive ones, "but they cannot be provided without the same underlying knowledge".
• The harder two-mark items. As you might expect, one-mark questions were answered better than the more complex two-mark ones.
• Skipping difficult areas. Some candidates appear to ignore harder parts of the syllabus. The examiner calls this "risky in the extreme, especially when such topics appear in Section B".
• Reading too quickly. The ENG report uses Questions 3–6 to illustrate close reading. Questions "are not all immediately transparent and require close reading". The stem said "public" companies, not public limited companies. One option said "every" company must appoint two directors. In a liquidation question, members passed the resolution, which pointed towards a members' voluntary liquidation, but the fact that the company could not pay its debts made it a creditors' voluntary liquidation. In a share capital question, two options seemed contradictory until you saw why one was phrased negatively.

The LW technique that works

1. Judge each statement on its own. A two-statement item ("Which of statements 1 and 2 is/are correct?") has four possible answers: statement 1 only, statement 2 only, both, or neither. Decide statement 1 against the rule, then decide statement 2 separately. Do not assume that because one is true the other must be false.
2. Mark the words that change the law. Absolutes and qualifiers such as "every", "must", "can", "only", "not" and the exact type of company or person in the stem often decide the answer. The examiner notes "the potential advantage of such close reading of the question and answers".
3. Find the deciding fact in a scenario. In the liquidation example, several facts point in different directions; the report's point is that you must "decide which is the essentially determinant element". Ask which fact the rule actually turns on, then answer.
4. In Section B, apply the principle to the facts given. The scenarios are short and the questions are subdivided and focused. Identify the legal principle each task tests, then apply it to the named parties rather than choosing the option that sounds most like a textbook definition.
5. Revise the whole syllabus. The examiner's warning about avoided topics is practical advice for your study plan: a topic you skipped can turn up in Section B and cost a whole six-mark question.
6. Use the one-mark questions to bank time. As general exam craft, answer the one-mark knowledge items briskly and confidently, and spend the time saved on two-mark items and the MTQs, where close reading pays.

Check your LW technique

The interactive check after this guide turns these habits into decisions on LW-style items: reading a two-statement question, spotting a qualifier, finding the deciding fact, budgeting time for Section B. Each habit gets its own score, and your latest result is saved on this device and to your account if you are signed in. For a first run, answer as you would in the exam room, quickly and without second-guessing the tool. Then read the debrief, work on the habit that scored lowest, and run it again.

Before the exam

In the final week, sit a timed ACCA on-demand Practice Test and review every two-statement item you got wrong, asking which word you misread. Confirm that your booking is for the ENG or GLO variant you have prepared for, and revise the law for that variant. On the day, note your start time and read the first few stems slowly: they set your reading pace for the rest of the paper.