F8 & F9 together for Dec 2012???

F5 and F9 are both mathematical exams. They relate to each other a little but F9 is more complicated. F8 is completely different – theoretical. I personally don’t like this kind of subjects – it’s harder to get the points because sometimes you may go completely wrong and spend your time writing down irrelevant things. Go through the notes or lecturers and see what suits you the most. Good luck anyway

It’s a bad idea to take F8 AND F9 together. f9 is very difficult, f8 and f5 would be good, f9 and f8 would be better than f5 anf f9 together

i am taking f8 & f4 is this right for me?

you should take f5 and f9

I’ve tried F4&F5 in Dec2011 and failed. In Jun2012 I’ve tried F4&F5&F7 and passed all of them) I didn’t revise F4 and F5 at all (well, maybe F5 just a little bit).
Now, dec2012 I’m trying F6&F8&F9. Dunno yet how would it be, but F6+F9 is definitely ok if you have plenty of time. You should spend much time (for me it’s a month) reading F9 and understanding the sence of financial management, coz if you understand it – everything else is just simple technique – NPV, WACC, CAPM, company and securities valuation.
F6 is pretty technical (dunno about UK or International, but Russian is!) and you have to solve a lot of questions to be prepared. Anyway I think that you should always try as much as you can!)

All previous exams are on ACCA web-site:
https://www.accaglobal.com/en/student/acca-qual-student-journey/qual-resource/acca-qualification/f8/past-exam-papers/international-stream.html

Structure is always the same – 1st scenario-based 30 marks (find dificiencies and offer controls + test them), 2nd knowledge based 10 marks (e.g. methods of sampling in Jun2012), 3rd-5th 20 marks each, covering all syllabus (Jun2012 – ethical threats, external auditor, audit committee, assertions, working papers and management letter structure, audit report draft, going concern problems).
In F8 they always try to cover all the syllabus, so you should know anyway the assertions, components of internal control, corp.governance principles, sampling types, audit stages, audit risk definition and formula, audit report structure, understand the nature and logic of internal control, understand the methods of substantive audit over payables/receivables, inventory, fixed assets, cash.