Interview with Danni, June 2015 P1 Genius Hunt Winner, who scored 86%

Please tell us in which country you live, and what work do you do.

I live in the UK, I work full time at a small accountancy practise, I am a client manager. Outside work, I care for my grandad.

How much time each week did you spend studying, on average?

It varies but at least 7 hours, towards the exam it’s more like 15 hours. Whenever I get an hour my head is usually in a textbook or past exam paper!

Which study resources did you use?

For this exam (p1) I solely used opentuition notes and lectures and a bbp revision practise book. I also used the past exam papers and read all the technical student articles on the Acca website.

Did you get support from your firm?

Yes, I get time off for the exam and if needed study days before. I have 2 very experienced mentors that are always happy to help if I find an area difficult!

What was your approach to your studying?

I always do the lectures first (regardless of provider). I then go through all the lecture notes and write them up into my own short form notes that way I’m studying them twice before practise. If there’s any area the second time round that I don’t feel I understand I may use a textbook to fill in the blanks. I then practise past exams and questions for around 3 weeks before the exam. I make notes where I go wrong and keep practising whilst still reading notes I have made along the way so it all stays fresh.

What would you say was the most important factor that helped you to achieve such a high mark?

For P1 is was reading the student articles because for the June 2015 exam the questions were very relevant for the documents. The hints and tips from Mike Little were my guide on which to focus articles to particularly focus on.

How did you find out about OpenTuition, and which of our resources did you use?

I found it on the Internet when I Googled pass rates for the December 14 exams. It was link to the forum discussions for how people found the exam, that’s how I first found it.