Self-study tips for the December exam session

Hi Rajr,

Unfortunately this site doesn’t provide study resources for ATX, I uses the Kaplan study text which whilst a massive textbook is 50% F6 TX content.

Start off by refreshing your F6 TX basic tax knowledge as ATX underpins this, without knowing the basic rules you’ll struggle.

Understand the basic income , tax adj trading profits, capital allows proforma but remember you won’t be asked to reproduce one, you’ll be expected to perform snapshot, marginal calculations.

Once you got the basics, you need to learn the new stuff in ATX such as SEIS, share options, etc.

The key to success is precision & application of the tax rules so a good understanding of the rules is crucial.

Remember there are always easy marks to be had in every paper, there are at least 20 in ATX, 5 ethics, 5 NICs , 5 vat, 4 prof marks.

Best of luck.

Hi,

Given the tax thresholds change every year it wouldn’t be wise to refer to past ACCA published papers as confusion will set in with the differing thresholds.

Kaplan or any of the other ALPs exam kit questions is sufficient as these are past questions adapted to the current finance act so thresholds will be relevant for the exam you’ll be sitting.

Cover most of the questions in the exam kit & you’ll have a good coverage not only of the syllabus but of the style of questions set.

I would reiterate if your basic tax knowledge is weak then you need to remedy this by revisiting otherwise it’ll be a uphill struggle.

There is a lot to cover so 8 hours a week might not be enough time to cover syllabus & the questions.

Best of luck.

Hi,

As mentioned you need to strengthen your basic tax knowledge to stand any chance of attempting ATX questions.

Revisit the basics first, work through examples, the ATX textbook covers this to make sure you’re happy with it.

I went to face to face classes even though I knew enough to do on my own as I liked the reassurance it gave me, we went through topic by topic so you might want to do the same, i.e start off with Corp tax, then iht then income tax.

I can tell you that a IHT is always tested in ATX compared to TX exam, as with me as a whole question as well as part of another question, students tend to struggle with this part of the syllabus hence why tested so make sure you comfortable with this.

In conclusion learn the basics, cover the syllabus, you don’t need to know every little thing, practice plenty of questions that cover the syllabus & you should be fine.

Read the examiner’s report from this Tuesday”s exam once available on the website to understand the highs & lows of the exam.

In the exam start with your best question to build confidence & go from there.

Good luck.