Forums › Ask ACCA Tutor Forums › Ask the Tutor ACCA SBL Exams › Need some advice- Take P1 and P3 or the Strategic Business Leader
- This topic has 5 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by Ken Garrett.
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- July 26, 2017 at 3:14 pm #398856
Hey Ken!
Hope you’re having a nice day.
I needed some advice
I am a fairly smart student. I started work recently at Crowe Horwath. And I am done with all my F papers.
I have completed my F papers with really good scores and I studied P2 last semester at college and I will be attempting the exam in September. I am also currently studying P7 at college and planning to attempt in December.
I was initially really set on waiting for the paper combination and giving the Strategic Business Leader exam in December 2018. So I’d do P4 in June 2018. Plenty of teachers have told me that I’d rather just give P1 and P3 and be done with it. It never convinced me but today while talking about it with a colleague, a screw turned in my head and now I want to give the P1 and P3 in March and June 2018 respectively.
This screw has turned in my head plenty of times and there are so many decisions that I have gone back on despite thinking I was so sure of my choice. I guess you can call my change of decision my gut feeling.
As a student, I love theory and logic. Proven by my scores of 81 in F4, and 80 in F5 as well as 73 in F9. While in F7 and F6 I scored 63 and 64.
The conditions before these exams were the same. I was not working.
I have heard that theory and logic are of good use in P1 and P3. However this time I will be working. I am confident if I try my best I will be able to pass the papers. I have already set out a mental plan in my head as well.
I will study P1 with OpenTuition since it is mainly just theory so I probably dont need a physical teacher.And with this, I’ll do P3 with my college as I do like a physical teacher.
The question is,
Is it worth pulling myself the extra mile to give the exams? Or would it be better to wait until the conversion?
Would the new exam be really tough?I am confident I can pass P1 and P3 and I will be taking a full week of leave from work before each of the exams to ensure a pass.
Thanks for your help!
July 26, 2017 at 6:16 pm #398928We have sample exams for SBL, but don’t really know how tough th9s exam will be ie pass rates are unknown.
I would be tempted to go for P1 and P3. Even if you are not successful what you have studies there will be useful for SBL. So why not give it a go?
July 27, 2017 at 1:11 pm #399015>So why not give it a go?
Well the risk is that I’ll fail one of the exams and then I’ll have to take the new exam and hence waste like 6 months.
>but don’t really know how tough th9s exam will be
Well thats what I was really hoping you can shed some light on. If you were to analyse the paper, how would you rate it in terms of difficulty, or difficulty you think a student would face, when attempting the exam?
My teacher at college told me that new paper is as tough as 4 ACCA papers. That you’d rather do those other 4 papers than go for this new paper.Also, I wanted to ask,
If I do decide to take P1 and P3, In what order do I take it?
My current plan is that once my P2 is over, I’ll start watching the lectures of P1 and attempt it in December along with P7. If I pass, I’ll study and attempt P3 in March but I’ll also take classes for it (classes go until May) and so if I fail the paper, I can attempt once more in June.I have noticed though that P1 is very long but I have been told its straightforward when compared to P3. Such that I’d be able to do it with another subject. While I’d rather do P3 with a fresh mind because its more “interesting”.
Would you advise this? Or is P1 too long to cover in 3 months while working and studying P7 as well.
Thanks!
July 27, 2017 at 2:30 pm #399026Until we see pass statistics it is impossible to predict how difficult the paper will be. The syllabus is more or less a combination of P1 and P3 and the exam is 4 hours. Despite all that ACCA has published, we have little idea how hard it will be to pass. I have no idea why your lecturer thinks it will be x 4 of an ordinary exam. ACCA does not want tp put people off.
Most people do P1 then P3 or both together. You have to pass both if you are to avoid SBL, so it is important to give yourself the maximum number of attempts.
July 28, 2017 at 7:39 am #399110My lecturers did have a seminar with the ACCA people and even the ACCA guys did say that the students should be encouraged to finish off P1 and 3 rather than wait for the new paper.
I think the 4x is just a number from him but the way he spoke about it made me think he was fairly confident that it was going to be pretty tough.
My other lecturer also did mention how the exam needs you to have the industry knowledge so yeah
But yeah anyway. I think another thing I can do is talk to my college and change my P7 class for P3 and then attempt P3 in December. Then go for P1 in March. And then I’ll consider taking P7 in June but I’ll only start studying it after the P1 exam so as to make sure I pass it. If I dont pass the P1 exam, then I’ll give that in June again. If I do then I’ll be considering whether I need a little rest or not.
At the end of the day, I’m only 19 and I’ve already started work. So I dont think the pace at which I finish off my professional papers is really that significant right? Even if I do finish it in June 2019 I’ll only be 20 WITH two years of good experience.
July 28, 2017 at 11:58 am #399144Good going for 19!
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