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Hello everyone,
I started ACCA in September of 2016, and passed the F1 in December of that year. At the same time as I started ACCA, I started a full-time job as a junior accountant, up until September of this year.
In June, I sat F2 and F3, and due to not feeling motivated at all after December up till June, I failed both exams.
I self-study, and don’t personally know anyone doing ACCA.
I finished school back in 2012, and due to health issues, I was unable to finish university studies between then and the start of my journey with ACCA.
My motivation and confidence are both quite low due to not accomplishing anything after finishing school, and I’m finding it really hard to keep my chin up at times with studying for exams.
Do you have any tips? All advice is welcome, I want to finally be able to prove I’m capable of something!Good luck with exams everyone!
Hello Gabywaby, thanks for sharing your experience and story. I think a majority of ACCA students have in one way or another, experienced similar struggles.
Personally, it boils down to motivation, keeping inspired all the same can be tiring. What I tend to do is to keep at it, keep trying, until I pass. There are lessons to be learned here, and they are meant to teach us, make us better persons.
Read and listen to the videos on here more than twice and then practice exam questions.
Try to meet other ACCA students, join linkedin, there is a group there giving great advice and insights. When you are feeling low, just remember you gotta get through that feeling because there were others who have been there and managed to make it, and so you can do it too.
Never compare your ability because we are all different learners. Comparison is a recipe for depression.
Anyway, are you taking any exams this coming December? Focus your energy on practising questions and reading examiner’s comments.
First off, I would say for F1-F4, as you can take them on demand at any time, that there’s no need to take more than one at a time. You can still take them close together if you like but might as well have at least a few weeks in between and allows you to really focus on one exam at a time. F2 and F3 are the foundation for many of the later exams and you will cover everything in these exams again in more detail later on so it’s important to get a good understanding of the basics early on. I would actually recommend taking F3 before F2 as some questions in F2 assume you know basic financial accounting which you might not if you’ve never studied it before.
Secondly, you’ve had problems motivating yourself which everybody has from time to time, but to complete ACCA you will need to be disciplined and push through this to succeed. I know this easier said than done though!
Reading between the lines it sounds like you didn’t really start studying properly until just before your exams? You need to approach it with a bit of a different mindset. You don’t have to dedicate your life to studying but you do need to be consistent. Little and often is good.
I take an exam every 3 months, but most of the time I’m not studying every day. An hour or two 3 evenings a week, a lunch break or 2 when I’ve not got meetings, and a few hours at the weekend if I’m free. Then when it gets 3-4 weeks before the exam I step it up and I avoid doing too much at the weekend so I can study more, then I get study leave from work which I use all in the week before the exam to completely focus.
That’s what works for me but it might not work for you! You need to figure out where to fit study into your life and get it done when you can. It’s not always going to be fun and you’re not always going to want to do it, but you need to find that time, put some music on, banish outside thoughts and concentrate. An hour can be plenty, if you’re focused during that time.
Are you retaking F2 or F3 soon? What was your study pattern like last time round and what are you going to do differently next time? And were you close to passing or a way off?
@gabywaby said:
Hello everyone,I started ACCA in September of 2016, and passed the F1 in December of that year. At the same time as I started ACCA, I started a full-time job as a junior accountant, up until September of this year.
In June, I sat F2 and F3, and due to not feeling motivated at all after December up till June, I failed both exams.
I self-study, and don’t personally know anyone doing ACCA.
I finished school back in 2012, and due to health issues, I was unable to finish university studies between then and the start of my journey with ACCA.
My motivation and confidence are both quite low due to not accomplishing anything after finishing school, and I’m finding it really hard to keep my chin up at times with studying for exams.
Do you have any tips? All advice is welcome, I want to finally be able to prove I’m capable of something!Good luck with exams everyone!
Hi Gabywaby,
Firstly, congratulations on passing F1. It’s a shame you didn’t pass F2 or F3. Don’t worry about the self doubt and lack of motivation, can definitely understand that especially after coming back from a long day after work.
The first thing I would say is what is your approach for the exams. If you can are you able to plan a day in the future let’s say 3-4 months later where you can commit a date and then work towards it. The first thing I would do is take one exam at a time, this may be longer but I feel it maximises your chance to pass.
Additionally, I understand with you self studying it may be difficult to understand what needs to learnt for each module, opentuition can help here as there are lecture videos you can watch here :
https://opentuition.com/acca/f2/acca-f2-lectures/ For F2
https://opentuition.com/acca/f3/acca-f3-lectures/ For F3This will help you to understand the content and give you an idea of what needs to be known for each exam.
Another key thing I believe is important is if you got an exam kit for each module, you can pick one for around £20 from Kaplan for each module and I think it is crucial for me when I passed those modules and often has similar multiple choice questions as the exam itself. Have you used any of these kits as if you haven’t I would recommend it, (other providers like BPP also sell their kits, but I haven’t used those.)Honestly, just keep going and if you have any questions or need any advice, drop me a message and I will try to help in any way possible.
Please keep going and I am sure you will be successful and keep you chin up and good luck.Hi Gaby
Saw the post recently I know it’s been long ago but wanted to ask how is your progress so far in ACCA?
Thanks
nirvana25 – above is the only post by gabywaby on the OpenTuition site, so it is unlikely that there will be any response after nearly 2.5 years.
I understand I was looking on the net and saw this post and thought maybe she can give any update in her studies for motivation 🙂
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