F8 Study Plan

Hi,

I am an ACCA member who had failed F8 3-5 times, honestly I lost count and I learned the hard way how to approach the paper and the things I learnt helped me in other papers as well.

F8 Related:-
1) Read through the syllabus – What are they going to ask you? Cover all topics listed in the syllabus and make sure you know what they are talking about. This is helpful because now you know what they can ask, so no complacency later. ‘I didnt know they could ask me that!’

2) Finish the notes (class notes) twice and make your own notes down – There are some things that you have to make yourself, definitions and quick references. (ie FASSI – Threats to auditor, etc) You keep these notes on hand, go through them EVERYDAY because in your exam you have to apply the knowledge NOT call back the knowledge. Big difference between both those things.

3) Do the last 3 years papers (If possible 4 years) in an exam environment – This will show you how it feels to sit for a paper for 3 hours, you’ll learn things about how yourself, from how you deal with pressure to how often you need to clear your bladder, these details are important for the actual exam. Does not matter if you are redoing questions, you might just need to make the same mistake 3-5 times to learn. Instead of making mistakes at the actual exam, make them early so that the exam is application of knowledge rather than learning from mistakes.

Non F8 Related – STILL IMPORTANT

1) Attitude – Boring is for when you have passed your ACCA, not before. Use a different word to describe F8 and how it is going. ‘Dry’ or ‘Challenging’ whatever you like, when you say it is boring, your brain switches off. Keep yourself upbeat, you have a little time left, after your exam you can complain about F8 as much as you want. Your objective is to CLEAR F8, keep yourself motivated in every aspect possible.

2) Effective studying – DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT just open your books and expect knowledge to fly in. Have a plan, not for today but for the week. And then compare it to how you doing after every study day and see whether you have to add more material. Again, NEVER reduce only add hours because you have until your exam. After that, you can chill, be bored, pick your nose, do whatever you want to do. Until then you have to be studying. If you are on the toilet, read your pocket notes. If you are commuting, read your pocket notes. If you are not reading your pocket notes, READ YOUR POCKET NOTES.

3) Mind mapping and abbreviations – Know all the important one’s – from FASSI to PICOP. Those are mine, you should follow those or have your own.

4) Exam techniques – This is the difference for 90% of people. (FYI – I made that statistic up!) You do not have to be a genius to pass a paper, infact you just have to be an average complete professional. This mean presenting your paper properly as well as if one has insufficient time, he/she should jot down the points of an answer showing the examiner that he/she did know the points but did not manage the time properly. Debatable that this will enable you to be given marks, but knowing the examiner is a human, when a student gets 48-49, I am sure they have a quick look to see whether there is anywhere else they can award him a mark and if you have written no more, there is nothing to award you marks for. Last time I checked your name and being a nice person gave you no marks.

Exam techniques are also shown in the way you present your answer (answer planning) and key words, which is why definitions and covering all topics is important. When you ‘make up’ an answer, you are wasting your time. When you use key words, you earn more marks and utilize less time. Also, the examiner is not frustrated by reading your answers. Think of it as going on a date, if you are going to answer going in circles and never use fancy words, you are not going to get a second date.

5) NO DISTRACTIONS – Switch your phone off, tell you family and friends you are busy and will get back to them after your exam.

Trust me, from experience 1 hour of effective studying if better than 8 hours of distracted studying. When your exams are approaching you will fall in love, games will be fun, TV will suddenly be VERY interesting and even cleaning your room will be like a rollercoaster ride of fun. IGNORE IGNORE IGNORE.

Make a list of things you want to do, things to want to watch, people you want to fall in love with. And delay it for after your last exam. Trust me, people you made the saying YOLO did not sit for ACCA exams. After your last exams, you will realize how actually boring all those things were you wanted to do. Maybe not all things, but most. Point being, pre exam time should be USED for food, sleep and studying. Once you are done, you will never talk about how ‘boring’ F8 is again.

I hope I have helped. Best of luck.

Didnt even read your question to be honest. Trying to help Salman from last year.

Happy to hear that Shakeel. You have roughly 15 days left, make the best of it!