Interview with ACCA F6 Genius Hunt winner Jacob from Ireland

Can you tell us more about yourself?

I am originally from Kerala, India studying and working in Dublin, Ireland . I did not have any accountancy background when I started ACCA. I joined it because of pure interest in the field. I passed 9 papers so far and did most of the papers by self study.

How do you balance between studying, job and private life?

I have two kids and my wife is working as well. It wasn’t easy at the beginning but I got used to it gradually.Thanks to the tremendous support I get from the family.
The private and social life do suffer a lot specially towards the last couple of months each sitting, but I know its only for another year or so.

Do you get support from your firm?

My current job is not in Accountancy field. So there is no time off or tuition fee from my employer. But still the firm is very supportive in terms of leave requests and duty adjustments for my tuition and examinations .

Which Study Texts and/or Revision Kits and other resources did you use, or found the most useful in your studies for this exam?

I prefer Kaplan materials. They are not much detailed but the layout, language and points are easy for me to understand and follow. Opentuition helped me a lot especially in my home study.

You have scored such high marks, 88 in Paper F6, many students must wonder what is your study technique?

I don’t spent much time on a daily basis. I never had a time table for studying. During the first couple of months all I do is to make my own notes in my own words for every chapter. I make sure I understand everything but only study them thoroughly in the last month when I do my revision. I do as many practice questions as I can and make a detailed note whenever I come across a new situation in a question. I spent most of my time on notes preparation. I read them occasionally like on the way to work or during my breaks. Towards the end all I need is those notes which covers most of the syllabus and most of the scenarios which could be asked in an examination.

What do you think was the most important factor in your success in your ACCA exams?

First of all the genuine interest in the field. I wanted to know as much a I can about accountancy because when I started I knew nothing about it. So I didn’t skip any portions I made sure I understood everything and practiced most past papers during the revision .

How did you find out about OpenTuition and which OpenTuition resources helped you towards your success.

I heard about it in the accountancy forums , and it did help me a lot whenever I wasn’t sure about something.

Thanks for your time and congratulations!