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ACCA December Exams

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Which is the best combination of ACCA Papers?

Many students have problems choosing which combination of ACCA exams to sit. We have conducted a survey, and over a 1,000 students participated.

Here are the results:

2 ACCA Papers – the best combination

2 ACCA papers best combination

2 ACCA papers

3 ACCA Papers – the best combination

3 ACCA Papers best combination

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. hi good and wonderful tutors I’m greatful for your suggestions I’ve been reading, thank you. I’m doing f9 for the first time and f7 for the third time please advice me on how to pass f7 as I want this sitting to be my last sitting so that I can continue and please advice me on how to pass f9 for the first time. Thanks.

  2. Hi open tuition. I am making a comeback to ACCA after 6 years. i got exempted from F1-3. and eversince i couldnt continue it. I am now clue less how to start my studies. Kindly suggest me,
    ….. Which paper out of F4 – 6 to start with
    …… Which books to start with Kaplan or BPP.
    ……. How many hours to study and the study methods.
    ,…… I want to sit in June 2015 with 1 paper.

  3. Hi, Dear Opentuition providers, I think your hard work of “Which is the best combination of ACCA Papers?” has been plagiarised by a Chinese ACCA course teaching institution which named “ZhongBoChengTong”. I saw a post in Chinese ACCA forum, and a guy from ZBCT left a post and said “They have done a research and survey….”. I have screenshot their post, if you need it, I can send it to your email. Please feel free to contact me.

  4. Hello ACCA tutors! i need some suggestions… I am going to sit for 3 papers in the June 2015 session, as i am a full time student… I have F8 left from the Skills level, so I think P1 would be easier to study along with F8. But I can’t decide which paper to choose between P2 & P3, as whichever one is left, I would have to sit for that with one/two of the Options papers. I want to know which is a safe/better paper to combine with F8 & P1, and what should be my strategy to cope up with the syllabus/preparation on time. Thanks in advance! 馃檪

      • Hey, your suggestion of P3 is surely a more achievable combination with my other papers, rather than P2, so I’ll go along with that 馃檪

    • Hi Sharif

      If you’re committed to doing three papers, let’s think about the three you would have left to do in December. P2 goes well with P7 so, if it is your intention to do P7 as one of your option papers, then leave P2 until next season

      That pretty well answers your question, I believe! You have to do F8, and if you leave P2 for December, then Hobson’s Choice says you’re facing P1 and P3 with F8

      Ok?

      • Hey Mike! Thanks a lot for your advice 馃榾

        I don’t want to take P7 as my option paper later on, as I think Audit is not something I’m very good at [this will be my third try if F8 :(] but P3 does seem like a better paper to study alongside F8 & P1, so I’ll go along your suggested combo anyways! 馃榾

      • Btw Mike, do u have any suggestion as to how many hours a day i should spend on each paper, or the least amount in a week maybe? 馃檪

      • Dear Mike
        I hope you have been well
        I just completed my exams for F5 and F6. The exams went well, thanks to open Tuition. The only paper i am left with in the second stage is F8, the rest are done as i hope to pass F5 and F6.
        I am wondering which paper i should attempt in part 3 along with F8 as i intend to sit for 3 exams in December 2015
        I am part time employed between now and December 2015 but i will be doing a full time job next year, my nature of job is such
        As i can devote more time between now and December, which papers should i consider taking along with F8? We don’t have September sessions in our country (Tanzania) as yet, at least for this year
        P1 seems to link well with F8. Its my plan to complete the remaining 3 papers (after i am done with 3 in December 2015) in June 2016 session next year

        Kind regards

        Imran

      • @challenges
        which papers should i consider taking along with F8?
        The popular answer for this would be P1 and i would also suggest P2 as F8 requires an understanding of the IAS and IFRSs and so does P2. and since time is not an issue for you this should be manageable.

  5. Hi ACCA tutors… i’m in a bit of a dilemma here… I want to sit for three papers in the June 2015 session, as i am a full time student.. i have F8 left from the Skills level, so i think P1

  6. hi,i would like some advice.

    i am left with one option paper. i am considering taking either p6 or p7 in december 2015 sitting. i took p6 in 2011 but failed with 46 but i never sit for p7. right now i do self study so i am not sure which paper should i take. is it possible to self study p7? i am thinking that self study p6 will be quite difficult considering the changes in ruling and the technical part of the paper.

    thanks

    • Sounds good to me. What are your chances? How can anyone answer that? You have around 5 days a week available to study? How many of those days are you in fact going to spend studying?

      Success depends a lot upon individual abilities, motivation, other distractions in your life, ability to retain information and techniques etc etc

      • @MIKE: Hi, I have just 2 professional papers remaining and I am confused between P4, P5, P6 and P7. I do not have much interest in tax and audit but have keen interest towards financial management (although performance management is tough for me). However, I have heard that the pass rates for P4 and P5 are very poor and it is difficult to pass them when compared to P6 and P7.

        Could you please advice me what would be best for me?

        Thank you.

  8. Hi,

    I have just 2 professional papers remaining and I am confused between P4, P5, P6 and P7. I do not have much interest in tax and audit but have keen interest towards financial management (although performance management is tough for me). However, I have heard that the pass rates for P4 and P5 are very poor and it is difficult to pass them when compared to P6 and P7.

    Could you please advice me what would be best for me?

    Thank you.

    • How difficult a paper is to pass is based on the what one is more comfortable with. e.g. i passed the F9 paper first sitting with not enough time dedicated to it since i was doing it with two other papers others would say that F9 is one of the most difficult F paper.

      My advice to you is not to focus on pass rates but on what you want at the end of the day. P4 and P5 are said to be the most difficult option papers while P7 relatively easy once you have mastered P2/the standards and remember your audit acronyms. However they are still the papers that i will be sitting as they are in line with what i want.

      the thing to so is look at the papers and develop a strategy on how to tackle it and pass. e.g. instead of sitting both at once sit them separately and ensure that you practice a lot of past papers or all the questions in the rev kit and then go back to the ones that you found most difficult.

      hope this helps

  9. Hi Mike,

    I have just 2 professional papers remaining and I am confused between P4, P5, P6 and P7. I do not have much interest in tax and audit but have keen interest towards financial management (although performance management is tough for me). However, I have heard that the pass rates for P4 and P5 are very poor and it is difficult to pass them when compared to P6 and P7.

    Could you please advice me what would be best for me?

    Thank you.

  11. Hello Mike,
    I registered for acca exams in dec 2009. Since then i didn’t participated in any exams due to workload and some other circumstances.
    Now i have a possibility to study (i have around 4 hours per day at my disposal for that).
    So, the question is: is it possible to pass all the exams during 4 years (what is the statistics?) And could you please advice on how it is better to organize the studies (exam combinations etc).
    Thank you a lot

    • I’m afraid as I’m not Mike. But, I can ease your concern regarding time limit.

      1. ACCA has changed the time limit so you don’t need to worry about it as long as you carry on the study.
      Take a look the link below,
      https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student/getting-started/rules-and-regulations-for-students/time-limits.html

      2. Regarding the time to be taken to become an affiliate and the combination of papers, I could say it varies according to knowledge, time spending for study and experiences that a candidate has.
      In my adventure, register for an exam and dedicate for the exam at least one every single exam period.
      I believe that ACCA wants to have more affiliates and members providing multiple choice questions for the fundamentals level, more chances to take the exams during the year and the expanded time limit which makes virtually unlimited.

      Buy a ticket to get to where you want go….

    • @Veronica if you have four hours per day for study then its a matter of you can breakdown that study time and how you learn.

      its normally recommend ans which i did is to sit two exams per sitting doing a computational with a theory so that you have a good mix. papers like F5 and P2 are usually 50/50 so you again it depends on your strengths and weaknesses.

      you didnt mention which papers you have done already assuming that you have not sat any papers as yet i would suggest the following:

      F1-3 do CBE taking a month to study individual papers and practice

      F4 and F5
      F7 and F8

      F6 should be done for a June sitting so it depends.

      Also you can take advantage of the four sitting a yr and do one paper per sitting minimizing your chance of failure. honestly you may now say you have 4hrs per day but when life intrudes that 4 is sometimes cut in half or less so you have to plan for that.

      • Why should F6 be done in june? im a bit confused. Is it easier in june? the pass rates are good in june than in dec?
        i had planned to sit F6 this dec while taking up F7 and F8 this june. i have not still applied.. so a bit confused now.

      • The tax laws change every yr and its usually advised that you do the F6 paper June in case you fail you will be working with the same tax rules.

    • 4 hours a day is a lot of time, obviously if you manage to dedicate them all to studying.

      Regarding statistics… please see them once to get an idea of the difficulty of the examination and then disregard them. Sometimes looking continuously at them especially in the last papers could be demotivating.

      About combinations, you can choose exams that are not sequential… so you’ll have a day or two for the second one…or maybe choose 1 theory and 1 computation but this all comes down to your personal taste.

  13. Hi,

    I took F5 and F6 in Dec, I didnt pass F6 and was hoping to retake this alongside another paper in June 2015. I know where I went wrong with F6 (leaving it to late!), I did think there was a lot more to learn in comparison to F5. Please could someone advise the best paper to take alongside F6?

      • F7 and F8 are certainly a good combination so that effectively leaves you with Hobson’s choice of F6 with F9 in June

        Don’t underestimate any of these ACCA exams and remember that F6 has new rates when compared with the rates and rules that you studied last December

  14. I got 48% in F5 and 41% in F6 during Dec 2013 exams.

    I am thinking of appearing for F7 and F5 in the next sitting while I re-sit for F6 in September 2015.

    Request suitable advice…thanks

    • Why not do the resits for June especially since the Tax rules change this yr. and even though F5 will be a resit don’t under estimate it as many persons sit it over 3 times before passing so i would recommend going back and seeing where you were not clear and practice as much pass papers for both exams.

      then focus solely on F7 for September.

      • Thanks for the advice.

        I am currently re-thinking about F7 as I am feeling more comfortable with F6 now.

        What is if with F5 that people always pray that they clear it in the first sitting itself and I have seen that re-sits usually do not fare very well atleast till the second attempt.

    • P2 is a big paper and based on the comments here and overall difficulty I did it alone and passed first sitting.

      P1 and P3, i see where a lot of persons combine these two together and pass.

      I believe that you need to look at how much time you have to study and if you are good at written vs computation and take that into consideration when making up your mind.

    • I believe its best to know your strengths and weaknesses when deciding what papers to sit next sitting. i know when doing the fundamentals i only failed the written papers even if its by only 2 marks i never failed the computational papers even if it is just hitting it with 50 on the dot i never had to repeat those.

      knowing that a paper like P2 other than the 35 mark consol. the rest is mainly writing it means working twice as hard.

      I believe its best to sit a paper once and give it your all than attempt two and end up fail one. face it if the F papers where hard wouldn’t the P’s be harder.

      which is why i’m glad that ACCA will now have 4 sittings per year. gives me two months to study and one for revision.

      • Yes you can – but it’s an additional expense 馃檨

        If you enter for P2, P3 AND P7 for June, but then only attend the exam hall for P2 and P7, then that’s how you can do P7 before you have even attempted P3

        But you waste the exam fee for P3

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