acca p6 uk december 12 exam tips

I took this exam in June 2012 along with P2 and P3 and passed them all first time so feel that I’m qualified to give an answer.
My tips are as follows:
Keep your work neat and tidy, the examiner Mr Fish has said time and again in his examiners report the need for tidy work neatly laid out. Have everything spaced out, underline and double underline your answers so it looks neat and professional.

Explain everything, remember this is an exam of your knowledge, not of getting the right answer. For every line in you final answer there should be a working or an explanation saying how you got to this number or why you are applying or talking about a certain relief or rule. If you are talking about rules and reliefs then keep it short and to the point – don’t waffle.

Read the question and FFS apply your answer, this is an application paper, you’ve already demonstrated your ability to number crunch at F level. For this paper you will need to apply your knowledge for what is asked in the question. Be careful not to go off into one explaining this relief and that relief when it is not applicable to the person/business in the question as you will score no marks.

Read the technical articles written by the examiner. I found these really good as they are the perfect balance between the blandness of classroom notes and the sheer mind numbness of reading and digesting the study text. The technical articles will not only give a good indication of what you need to know but they will be applied to a pacific situation that you can work through.

Do the option questions first, these usually are fairly simple (if you have prepared well) and will usually involving some knowledge and some fairly basic application. Not only will you get some marks on the board but if you have prepared then you should have no trouble answering these questions fairly quickly. Back in June I was ahead by 20 mins after answering the two optional questions, which of course you can use to good effect when working through the much larger, more technically difficult case study questions.

Don’t get stressed, easier said than done but getting stressed blocks the thought process. If you want to empower yourself then when you sit down at your desk look at the four people in front you, the five people behind you and know that on average six of yous will fail – don’t be one of them.