[Alice]

Congratulations to all those who passed, especially those who are now affiliates. I managed to pass P7 on the second sitting. I achieved a 55% mark, which I was over the moon about!

For those looking for advice-here’s my top tips for how I gained my 8 marks between sitting one and two.

You probably know the P7 material-there isn’t a lot of it. So it’s the other bits that will make the difference.

BEFORE THE EXAM
1-Know the accounting standards. I didn’t bother remembering names, or standard numbers, but you must be able to recall the requirements. I spent at least half of my study time looking at the standards rather than P7 specific knowledge. They WILL come up and if you know, for example, the rules of income recognition, this will help you know what to write, and give you a basic structure for your answer.

2-The examiner for P7 is tricky, and won’t always word things as you expect. Even if you don’t get to practice all the past questions, make sure you read as many as you can AND the examiner’s comments that go with it. It gives you an insight into the examiner’s thinking and helps you to understand both their style, and their expectation.

3-Read the examiner’s comments for the previous two sittings. Bettings are that if they were unhappy about a particular knowledge area (for example), they will ask it again. Make sure you can answer it well.

4-Sometimes short study periods can be as productive as long ones. Use a train journey to learn financial instruments. If your cooking dinner, learn the structure of an audit opinion. Go through ratios in your head while your running. Give yourself 20 minutes to learn one small area. Once you’ve got it. Stop.

DURING THE EXAM
1-I wrote the word WHY at the top of every page I used. Why am I looking at board minutes? Why is a certain behaviour unethical? Why is the audit opinion qualified? Why have you reached a certain conclusion? You need the detail to get the marks, so whatever helps you to remember to expand your points, do it.

2-Know your strengths. I like to know what’s coming up in the exam and not be surprised when I get to the final question and only have half an hour left to think, panic and write. So I spend a good 30 minutes at the beginning of any exam reading the questions, highlighting and generally making a mess of my question book. It is not what you are told to do, but it works so I do it. By now, you should now what works for you so listen to advice, but incorporate the bits that will help you and don’t be swayed by anyone telling you change everything that you know works.

3-Manage your time. Have a plan, whatever that is, and stick to it. If you have sent the 20 minutes you gave yourself on a question, move on. It’s important. If you spend longer on a question than you planned it has to be an active choice, rather than an accident.

Good luck to all those sitting in September. Keep going!

[Author]

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