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Hi all
I’m starting ACCA professional level in 2016 and plan on doing P1-P4 and P7.
Obviously the first quarter exams will be too early as I still have to apply for my F-level exemptions etc. so, I’ll probably write my first exams in June 2016 and was planning to attempt 2 papers in June and 2 in December and leaving one (and any failed) papers for June 2017.
With the new 4 exams per year being implemented, would most students alter their plans? I’m surely thinking of it. One can, for instance, write P1 in June, P2 in September and P3 in December, then P4 in March 2017 and P7 in June 2017.
I’ll still finish at the same time, but would writing one subject at a time increase one’s chances of passing first time round? Or would it be better to stick to the plan of 2 modules per exam period and maybe doing repeats in the “new” slots?
I don’t have any experience in how much work and hours the topics entail, so any feedback from those that have done a few/all would be much appreciated.
I don’t think that what I am about to say will help you that much with decision. But I am also wondering on how I will complete ACCA. So here is what I am thinking:
Roughly working on the assumption I will need 150-200 hours per subject at the P level papers,
1) take 1 exam at every sitting – this will mean I will never get any break from study as it will be take an exam and then strait back to the books for the next subject.
On the plus side I will just be concentrating on just one subject which should improve my changes at exam success as I will have no other distractions 🙂
2) take two exams in the June/December exam sitting as I always have and use the others as a re-sit if required – the positive here is that I do actually take a break from study after each exam sitting but the negative is I am spreading the workload between two papers……I am sitting two papers in December and then I have booked P3 for March. I have thought no further ahead than that for now
Hi,
As some one with three papers to go and had started with sitting two papers per sitting I think I can assist.
I sat most of the F level papers two per sitting did three per sitting once with two resits (would not recommend that to anyone who is working full-time and have a toddler at home).
Since starting the P papers I have done one per sitting at first because it was recommended that you sit P2 on its own since it is such a big paper. With ACCA changing the rule and you now can sit the P levels in any order P2 can be combined with P7 as there is a lot of over lap.
I did P3 in june and will be sitting P5 in Dec.
The materials for these papers is vast and requires a lot of practice. A good thing to do is to stroll through the forums for the paper that you are going to do and see what other persons have to say about it to give you an idea of the level of difficulty and the common issues that you may face.
I say to you its best to sit one paper per sitting giving it your all than sit two papers and fail both. I believe its why you see a lot persons failing a paper 5 times and more.
Thanks for the responses guys.
@lavinia, the little breaks in between does make sense. I’m just worried about the papers being so close together. My undergrad was always structured with at least a week or so between papers. Just got to adapt I guess.
@latoyah, thanks, I’ll keep the P2 and P7 combination in mind, but I’ve read that P7 is very complex paper? This is also reflected in the pass rate. What would you suggest one combine with P1?Latoyah did you pass P3 the first time and if yes what were your techniques?
Agree with Latoyah lot’s of overlap between P2 and P7. I did both at the same time and it worked out very well.
If you look at it that in P2 you are putting together the accounts and in P7 auditing them, you can see the overlap. In P7 the only core knowledge you need is the rules relating to the accounting standards.
I did not find P7 complex at all, but then I work in a professional environment (though Law rather than Accountancy) and so all the other areas you need to know are things I encounter in my day to day work (money laundering for example).
A lot of overlap with P3 and P5 as well, though I know you said you are doing P4. something to consider if you are not fixed on P4.
I passed my exams before the March/Sept exams were available, but if they were I think I would do one a sitting with for example P2 followed by P7 whilst it is still fresh.
The only exam I took on it’s own was P5 (my last exam). I had taken F5 ages before and P3 about a year so had to go over a lot of old notes at the start. But I could afford to do that as I was only taking the one exam.
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