Keep failing F5- how to study??? help needed

@annamanna said:
Hi All,

I hope someone can help me…..I keep failing f5. I sit the paper so many times. I am ashamed to say how many. I don’t know what I am doing wrong. Can someone please help me? I need some indications of how to approach the subject. I am devastated with the lack of progression……I should have all the exams done by this time.

Hi Anna,
First question are you scoring 40+? If you are then it is clearly more likely to be based on your exam technique than a lack of understanding of your material.
Do you finish the F5 paper when you sit it? If not try to follow the 1.8 minutes per mark approach as it is easier to get the first few marks on each question then spend a lot of time getting a couple of marks on a question and then struggle to finish the exam.
From my time in F5, I remember that a lot of people concentrate solely on the numerical side of F5, i.e. How to perform the various costing methods, etc… However, if you can try to understand the technical details, i.e How it works and try to explain it to someone simply as if you can do so this shows you understand the concept, not just the numbers and therefore can apply it to any question.
Another thing I recommend id reading technical articles, which for F5 are found here : (https://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en/student/exam-support-resources/fundamentals-exams-study-resources/f5/technical-articles.html)
They often can simplify difficult areas and help you to support your understanding. Also, occasionally more recent articles can appear in your exam too.

These are the key tips examiners are offering with regards to F5:
1. Understanding the reasoning behind calculations and how these calculations will be useful to management:

Questions which are testing a management accounting technique will usually try to make the link between the technique and its use as a performance management tool.
You must make sure that you have revised the syllabus thoroughly and have the knowledge required of these tools as exam changes mean that the syllabus can be examined in a lot of breadth.
You must make sure that you are applying your knowledge to the information in the question and using evidence from the scenario in your answer.
You must practise the written elements of CR questions in full, as this is where the examiner will test your understanding of the scenario and performance management implications of the question.

2. Managing your time effectively and identifying easy marks available:

There will be easy marks available in all sections of the exam and students who answer these questions usually perform well.
Students who do not manage their time and miss easy marks make it much harder for themselves to pass the exam.
You must make sure that you are using your exam time effectively to identify any OT questions in Section A or parts of questions in Section C that you can easily tackle and plan the order in which you will answer questions in the exam.
Make sure that you try to answer all the OTs in an exam.

3. Reading the question and understanding the requirement:

For OTs:

Read the question carefully and if it is a narrative OT read all the distractors carefully. Ensure you follow the instructions in the question on how to answer the question as different question types will require different interactions.

For CRs:

You must read the question very carefully and identify the instructional verbs used, remember there may be more than one thing to answer within each requirement. You must use the mark allocation to work out how much depth you need to go into in your answer.
Make sure that you are answering the question set not the one that you would like to answer.

Common pitfalls pointed out by the Performance Management examining team include:

Student’s failure to make the step up to Performance Management from the Fundamentals of Management Accounting exam – this is due to a lack of ability to interpret the calculations performed with reference to the scenario given.
Poor interpretation of data – this would be due to lack of planning and understanding the requirements of the question.
Poor technical knowledge and failure to closely read the question.
Not enough practice of the new question types shown in the specimen exams and past published exams from September and December 2016 to ensure familiarity with the new exam format.

Make sure that you are always thinking about these key skills during your revision and that each time you practice a question you are thoroughly reviewing your answer afterwards to identify if you need to work on any of these areas.

I hope that helps and if you have further questions, please ask.
Many Regards,
Samir

@annamanna said:
Dear Samirrules,

Thank you so much for your replay. Yes my scores are around 40s/high 30s. I have a feeling that I have good understanding o the subject. My problem is that at the exam I cant pull out the correct info from the questions. Also often when I am doing questions at the exam I get easily lost and mess up a lot of things.

Should I practice more past papers and revision book? I find that I am good in theory but not so good in calculations. My biggest pitfall are variances. I absolutely cant get my head around them. And as my unfortunate they came up few times in last papers.

Also I am good at planning but the execution of a plan is hard. I get very easily demotivated.
But now I want to study really hard as I have wasted so much time and so much money. I am very sick of it. I am planning to do f5 and f6 in June.

Thank you for listening to me. Much appreciated.

Hi Anna,

That’s alright, if you have further questions, please ask.
Yes, yes and yes, practice is the key to passing these exams as I showed above if you practice more but also read how the examiner answers the solution, there is often key words or phrases that they are looking for. Variances unfortunately are likely to come up in every F5 paper in some way or another and are a key part of the syllabus so you will need to practice them, the approach I used was from the Kaplan book and I found this to be easier,
This tabular approach makes it easier imo, however, until you get the concept and practice it may be very difficult. Another thing I would recommend is do one paper at a time but one every three months, this will help you to really understand the syllabus.
Otherwise, make sure you have an up-to-date revision book either from Kaplan/BPP/approved supplier and try to go through the whole book and if you are unsure/get it wrong, note the question down, understand why you got it wrong and then retry it later and hopefully then the concept will stick.

Good luck to you

@chrisj1 said:
Hey, I got 38% in my last F5 exam. I agree getting your head around all the variances are hard.

Thank you for the links! 🙂

No problem, glad I can help and good luck to you on your future exams.

@annamanna said:
Thank you for all the tips. I really appreciated it. Its very hard to stay motivated after failure and everyone is passing the exams. Sometimes I think I will never make it…..
Chris1- are u doing again in June18? which country you based?

Thanks

I can understand how frustrating it can be when you fail the exams but you got to keep trying and concentrate on your own progress and not others but I am sure you will make it. You got to keep on trying and practicing and I know you will pass the exams, you got this far and eventually you will get further. But, yeah try one at a time as this will help and allow you to focus and pass each exam.

I know its been more than 2 years now have you managed to obtain F5 exam?

As I am struggling too

I am in the same position. September 2020 was my fifth attempt and I got 49. I feel devastated

Tried F5 and F9 3rd time and no joy! I do be so afraid of that 12 O’clock text message from ACCA because after that text you can’t sleep out of excitement if you pass, you can’t sleep out of misery if you fail??

Question that stroll through your mind after a failed result. How I am going to say this at the office Monday morning , Should I quit ACCA , I am not smart enough, people who pass these exams are different, etc etc

Than you start looking for motivation-basically other people who failed & still not giving up)???

So, I am not giving up till pass, there is only one way out of this qualification & that is to have the cert in my hand.. starting from this weekend making a detailed plan and keeping a close check on weekly goals. I am going to treat this like a work deadlines

Any one out there in their 40’s , getting marks around 40’s and working close to 40 hr a week . How do you cop with ACCA study and full time job .

Hi @namah have you passed F5? I am in the retaking the 3rd time in December and I am married with a 1 year old daughter can you please advise how did you prepared?

– attempt past papers… do them and do them again – I go over past papers a million times! I scour the internet for them.. quizzes and mock exams! It helps understand the meaning behind definitions and concepts.. look at the answers, read the examination marking..
– try different methods of studying; watching YouTube videos, revision cards, going through the text books etc
– the key is repetition… you will remember information and how to answer questions by memory..