P2 advice

Hi

With only a week remaining until the exam, I am sure you are all preparing well. I just wanted to go over some general tips regarding this paper.

Firstly, use your 15 minutes reading time very wisely. I advise going through the groups question and creating your group structure and referencing the various adjustments that will be required to the SFP, SOCI or CFS. If you do not wish to attempt section A first, I still advise going through the above. It will save you time and ease your nerves for the rest of the exam.

Secondly from my tutor’s advice (Who is an ACCA supervisor of examiners), do not be alarmed if you know you have made mistakes. For example, you may have incorrectly calculated the NCI at acquisition and therefore your goodwill figure will also be incorrect. However you will not be penalised for both errors. You will possibly just lose one mark. Also, I advise that you shouldn’t waste time adding up your financial statement at the end because its more than likely that it won’t balance and there are no marks available for the total figure anyway. Nobody has ever managed to balance their financial statement in the exam. Well that is what I’ve heard from my tutor. Use a disciplined approach in answering section A, e.g, line by line, date by date. This way you will get marks as you go along. The examiner will most definitely include some very complicated adjustments but again do not panic as he/she is not going to expect every student to get it right, however a basic understanding will gain you marks. This last point is relevant to the whole paper.

Finally, I’m sure you would be relieved turning over the page and moving on to section B. In this section, any part of the syllabus could come up. Its that simple. I don’t even look at the exam tips when it comes to this section because they are irrelevant. Go over your current issues notes and remember you will get a mark for every point you make but if you expand on it you will get extra marks.

Good luck!