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Dear Kim Smith, Seeing your Alerts on Open tuition site made me feel , God when will i reach to the level so that i can get Taught by him. I just passed my PM paper and Before Tax, I wish to attempt FR and AA together. Becz Kaplan site says they both are connected and should be given together if not in order.
So, I will be studying with you and i am very excited about it.
One thing which was A little bit scary , I saw pass rates and it was not higher than PM paper.
I was just wanted to ask why is AA passing rate so low ? ,
I understand PM is the first Skill module exam and alot of college students get exemptions, So its first exam for alot of students. And they under estimate whats the exam is going to be.
But for AA , What is the reason ? So, I can be cautious from starting.
I will be starting your Lectures soon.Thank you so much, I appreciate you guys so much.
Like is the AA harder than Rest of exam and i should be taking the passing marks as warning signal ?
WELCOME to my AA forum! Today is Easter holiday so I will reply properly tomorrow. In the meantime please take a look at my exam progression article here https://opentuition.com/acca/plan-your-acca-exam-journey
You certainly don’t have to sit FR with AA.
I read the article properly and It was amazing. I will not he attempting the exam this time, So, I will have enough time to prepare both exams, Like one and half month extra. But still i will look at the Acca Links and formulate a study plan.
I will be looking forward to your reply for What makes AA exam passing rate so low.
Also, Examkit is Mandatory but should i get a Study text too ?
To be true, I passed all the exams except F1 by opentuition completely.I think you have answered the last question for yourself – study texts are not a necessity – though some students can afford and like to have them for reference. For AA it is important to get into good question practice asap – and regardless of whether or not students have a text, I would encourage them to “fill-in-the-gaps” in their knowledge by using reliable resources (e.g. IAASB and ACCA publications and technical articles that are easily found for free on the internet) or ask a tutor (!)
One of the main reasons for AA pass rate being lower than other applied skills exams is because it has the highest proportion of questions requiring written answers. And although candidates are not penalised for poor spelling and English grammar, they must have sufficient competence to write intelligible answer points. If English is so poor that the marker cannot understand a sentence having read it three times, they are perfectly entitled to move on to the next sentence and not award credit to what cannot be comprehended. It is not the task of a marker to guess what a candidate might have been trying to say.
Another reason is that AA is often held out to be a “theory” exam – which it is NOT. You only have to read some posts on my forum to see that some students are mistaken in believing that they can rote-learn their way to a pass in AA – if they persist with that view, frankly, I cannot help them.
Thank You so much , thats very helpful.
Another thing i wanted to ask. As i am willing to do two exams this time and i have never done that before, I am quite confused and many be little anxious about how to approach it.
should i keep both FR and AA study in parralel like one chapter in both books in one day. and complete the syllabus together.
OR
Put all focus on one exam and finish its syllabus in one month and them keep it in revision phase and revise occosionally and keep all focus on second exam and finish its syllabus and
then Do exam kid of both one by one.
With PM exam i leaned the hard way that question practice is very very important. so to have atleast one month for question practice for both exams.
You are very honoured teacher , a FCCA member. and A very very experinced teacher. You know what is right and what is wrong for students , You have seen all kind of students through all kinds of stages. What do you advice on tackling two exams together. and may be few tips. Like both FR and AA have same assumed knowledge but are certainly different exams going in different directions. So, May be different study guide for both exams. I need your advice SO, i can clear my way to become acca member efficiently. It will require time and hard work but i am ready.
You may be interested in this post from a prizewinning student who prepared to sit AA and FM for the first time together https://opentuition.com/topic/my-approach-towards-clearing-aa-with-85 and this student who sat a number of papers together (though not FR and AA) https://opentuition.com/topic/my-acca-journey-12-exams-in-1-5-years
Most importantly you need a study plan from the outset to ensure you have enough time to study and revise for both exams – you can download one from section 5 on this page https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student/exam-support-resources/fundamentals-exams-study-resources/f8/planning-your-study1.html
Although you can study for both alongside each other – then revise both alongside – I don’t recommend you do just one chapter of each at a time – otherwise, if you get behind schedule you may not have covered enough of either to be properly prepared for either of them.
Both FR and AA assume knowledge of FA – so if you started with FR you will revise FA knowledge – you could cover all the topics except consolidations (which are not relevant to AA). Then, if still on track to attempt 2 exams, study AA – then revert to complete FR study.
Repeat for revision question practice.
But really there is no “one size fits all” and even depending on individual interest/motivation, you may prefer to swap more between the two subjects. However, it’s a known fact that most students prefer FR because it “has numbers” (it’s much more satisfying to get an SoFP to balance than to study one’s own written answer against a published answer) so you may need discipline to keep up with AA alongside a numbers exam.
Yeah, I already started FR , So as you are suggest I will finish FR till consolidation and it will refresh FA assumed knowledge also and them i will complete AA and then i can deal with consolidation. After I can get on Practicing questions. It was actually great plan to follow and to ensure progress.
It looks like AA is more like PM for section C, is it so ?
Thank you so much for such detailed answer, This is a great help.
I don’t know what you mean by your last comment – there are only Sections A and B for AA – A is OT-case Qs (30%) and B is constructed response (70%)
Oh, I was mistaken. I saw the specimen exam, It very different. There arn’t alot of Mcqs in AA. and Section B is 70 marks.
Thanks, I will be writing you if i stuck somewhere or didn’t understood something through my journey. Glad to have someone as experienced and wise as you , As my Tutor.
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