APM or AAA?

Dear tutor,

I am a little bit confused as to which Options paper to choose. Please help me. Apologies in advance for a long post but I wanted to make sure all information is included.

For my options exams I am planning to ATX and either AAA or APM.

The pros and cons for both papers:

Pros of taking AAA
1. I am considering taking AAA because I was thinking to get ACA qualification (more prestigious) after getting ACCA membership and if you pass AAA then you are exempt from Audit and Assurance exam in ACA. (so two birds killed with one stone)
2. Easier syllabus than other Options. Not too sure if that’s true(?)
3. Took AA exam quite recently, in Mar18.

Cons of taking AAA
1. Few people told me that there is no point to double qualify. ACCA is a good qualification and I should be happy with it. Which is fair point.
2. I don’t want to be and don’t plan to be an auditor.
3. In AA exam I scored 10 points less than in PM exam (but I took AA together with FM and I took PM on it’s own).

Pros of taking APM
1. ACCA advises students to choose Options papers depending on which fundamental exams students scored the highest in and quote, “if you have gained experience in the workplace which relates to the Option exams…”
I have years of Management Accounting experience (and I am enjoying that role A LOT) and PM (F5) was the exam I scored the highest in all my fundamental papers but I passed it 7 years ago!!! 😮
2. This paper is something, I think, I would find useful in my career.

Cons of taking APM
1. I passed PM long time ago so I am not sure if that would have an impact on my APM performance and if I might struggle with the advanced level.
2. I read about APM and it seems that a lot of people struggle with it. I read that there are people who take this exam 4-5 times and in the end they just switch to other Options paper. So I wonder if this paper is indeed so difficult or people simply choose it because it is a better choice than, let’s say, tax or audit but they don’t really enjoy APM and hence don’t score well?

So my questions are:
Do you think it is worth to double qualify or should I just forget about it?
Is APM exam indeed so difficult? Would I struggle after 7 years of passing PM?
Is AAA syllabus easier than APM?

This indecision is giving me a headache for months now. I know that after qualifying I will be able take other exams as part of my CPD but at this very moment I just want to finally qualify hence I would choose APM (as per ACCA’s advice) but the time gap since PM and the comments from other students about APM scare me a little bit. So if AAA is not that bad, then I would take it.

I am confused.