Congratulations, you have scored 86 marks in Paper P3! Can you tell us more about yourself?
I am from the UK and work full time as a group finance systems analyst for a large global company, I study ACCA in my spare time.
Many students are working just like you, how do you balance between studying, job and private life?
Simple fact is I don’t. I shut the world off for a few months and focus on what is important (work/study/family/gym) and remove what isn’t (computer/phone/games/pub) it is terribly dull but it is better than wasting another 6 months for a retake. Once the exam is over then I make up for lost time and party hard.
Do you get support from your firm?
I am lucky that my firm supports my study and offers both support and the necessary time off for the exams and revision.
Which Study resources did you use
Previous exam papers by far are the most useful. I went back 5 years and printed all the questions and answers out and read them thoroughly. After a while you can recognise patterns in the way both the questions and answers are structured.
You have scored such high marks, many students must wonder what is your study technique?
P3 was different to most other ACCA exams in the sense I did not practice writing answers out. Once I have read a question I would do an answer plan covering both the layout of answer as well as the topics/ models I would incorporate. I would then check this against the model answer.
After a while as you read questions you are able to link in the various analysis models easier and so start to visualise it all without the need to put pen to paper.
Trying to incorporate the question into a real world example is also useful.
How did you manage your time and planned your studies?
I spent a few hours a night and all day on the weekend for 2 months, this was covering two different papers (F7 & P3). The split was not even though, I would say about 75:25 between F7 and P3.
How did you cope with the syllabus when you felt it was boring to study a certain chapter?
I did not experience this with P3, other papers yes but P3 I actually enjoyed.
What is the best strategy do you think student should adopt for revision?
Start by reading the type of exam questions you will be presented with before you go through the lectures and study material. This way when you go through the material you are already relating the questions to the concepts. Starting through pages of material without an idea of how it all pulls together can be a waste of time and seem daunting at first.
Do you believe that past exam practice is the best way to past ACCA exams.
Without a doubt yes. Even if you get them all wrong you learn from your mistakes.
What do you think was the most important factor in your success in your ACCA exams?
Very supportive work environment. Also both my previous and current manager are a constant source of inspiration.
How did you find out about OpenTuition?
It was recommended by a colleague, the lectures and forums are both extremely useful.
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