Should ACCA Set a Maximum Number of Resits per Subject

What follows is only my personal opinion – not ‘official’ OpenTuition policy 🙂

I do think that allowing unlimited resits is wrong. However, the fact that the ACCA set an overall limit of 10 years surely does stop that.

(Although I must admit that the fact that they seem to start the 10 years again every time they have a full syllabus review does make a bit of a mockery of that! )

I do hope others will give their opinion on this.

The same as John’s comment above, this is my personal opinion and is in no way to be representative of opentuition “official” policy (We don’t have one on this matter so far as I am aware!)

Many years ago in Manchester I taught a student who was on the edge of a metaphorical cliff. In those days it was a requirement to pass the last 5 exams in one sitting (note this, those of you who wonder whether two exams on consecutive days is too much. In those days it was 5 exams on consecutive half days – 2 on Tuesday, 2 on Wednesday and the last on Thursday morning!). If you had one marginal fail, you were allowed to resit that paper twice. If you still hadn’t passed, you had to do all 5 papers again

This particular student failed auditing, did two resits and failed the paper twice more. Did all five again and failed auditing. Did two resits and failed the paper twice more. Never failed an exam in his life and now failed auditing 6 times. When he came on my course (the first time he had attended my course though he had been on others) it was his last attempt – he would be timed-out if he failed

He took all five for the third time and ……passed.

He’s now a partner in a firm North of Manchester and (last I heard) was doing well and was well respected by his partners and the firm’s clients.

The fact that this individual found that one particular paper (nearly) impossible to pass fortunately did not prevent him from being a competent partner in a firm of chartered accountants.

The world of accountancy would have lost out if he had failed in that last attempt and would have been a poorer place because of it.

Surely the student who fails is a reflection of the ACCA’s standards being consistently applied. But failure in the past should not prevent success in the future. On the contrary, the abilities of a student must be increased to a level which is then “acceptable” and success is achieved.

One more anecdote – again many years ago, I taught a student for the final financial accounting paper. I had previously taught him for many papers before – seven of the previous ten. When I met him on the final accounting paper, he told me that he had still never failed an exam and, for his first 10 papers, he had an aggregate score of 507. That’s 6 x 50, 3 x 51 and 1 x 54 – and he was upset with the 54 because he saw it as a waste of effort.

Now, which of those two former students is the better accountant?

Success in these exams is hard earned and whether you pass at the first attempt or only after a number of resits, the fact that you have passed is an indication of your abilities

John says that he agrees with the idea of a time limit (admittedly it’s a bit of a mockery). I’m not sure what a stricter time limit would achieve other than a number of disappointed, disillusioned “failed” accountants who are probably totally competent in their work but who lack the ability to pass an exam.

In summary, yes, keep the ten year time limit …. but keep it as a mockery ie change the syllabus and start the ten years all over again

I just compared the annual report of 2012 of both ACCA and ICAEW to confirm my suspicion as in my previous post. And guess what, my suspicion were true.

If anyone has still has doubt why ACCA will not put any limit on the number of attempts per subjects or time limit to complete the whole qualifications or most importantly, put some criteria to limit the student intake (to better quality, if I can say so); please just compare the student numbers and the percentage of the revenue generation from these numbers.

It seems that, ACCA is purely relying on quantity and they will keep this so called mockery on, if not take this mockery to a extreme level for more cash cow, like putting 7 years time limit on passing “P” level exams (as I read from other threads/blogs).That will be a final nail on coffin and whole ACCA qualification will be a mockery itself, I am afraid.

Anyway, my point here is that, not putting the limit on the number of attempts per subject or 10 years time limit to complete the whole qualification (and can be press the refresh button after 10 years and can be done all over again…..what a joke) is not bless towards students, but to ACCA .

I also think that, this policy is making a student lazy and not to take exams seriously (there are plenty points to support this arguments, but at this point, I just want to stick with this thread topic only). A simple fact that, although an employer looks for various skills in candidates, but certainly that employer will prefer to recruit someone who passed first time than who failed few times, if everything else same.

if i failed any subject more than 1 time i would have lost heart and given up. why not admire the brute determination of a person who keeps failing but keeps trying.you need people like that in any group be it acca or your local club.i am not making light of the situation but saying dogged determination is something that will never lower standard for anything

resitting numerous times doesnt show determination, it shows a failure to grasp only 50% of the (relatively) basic content and skills required to pass the exams. if someone finds it so hard to understand and apply the key accounting knowledge and skills then maybe they are not cut out to be an accountant?

when someone says they are taking a paper for the 8th time, i dont go WOW YOURE SO DETERMINED, I HAVE SO MUCH RESPECT FOR YOU. i say wow, maybe it isnt for you, maybe you arent suited to it.

i think it shows much more determination to pass every exam first time. failure isn’t an option. i was determined to pass, and i did.

Setting max 3 number of resits would cause that not many student would even think about doing Acca. It would be too risky to start. Imagine someone who pass all F papers at first time, and then fail last P level paper 3 times (maybe just couldn’t cope with stress, pressure to complete)
Time limit is also not sensible in my opinion, as there is always reason behind delay.
There are students who have plenty of time to study, don’t work or work a couple of hours per week, healthy, with no family commitments.
There may be also students that for certain period had to suspend studying or doing only few hours per week due to variety of reasons: full time work (tiredness), serious illness, small children, sth else happened.
Besides I think If someone want to finish this qualification and become professional he will be sooner or later, if not enough determined-will give up anyway…

doctors definitely do study and work at the same time. that’s really not relevant, the analogy was to demonstrate the quality of the professional is important, and it matters to the client. and the ability to pass exams is an excellent indicator of the quality of the professional.

i work on average 50 hours per week, so the fact that you work full time is not a reason why it is not possible to pass within 3 attempts.

this is all moot, in my opinion, because ACCA must make a lot of their money from these people resitting over and over again so probably realistically couldn’t actually afford to change the current setup to one where they make less money.

also it is unlikely that someone would pass eveyr F paper first time but then not be able to pass P papers within 3 attempts. maybe the ideal would be to have a maximum of 10 resits available across all papers or something, so that if someone struggles with only one paper, it doesnt mean they are dropped, and if someone has to resit every paper 3 or 4 times then they are dropped because it is clear they are not cut out for studying the ACCA.

i also agree that it would be useful for people that failed to see their marked scripts but maybe not logistically possible for ACCA. more expense on their side i suppose.

A lot of people that do this qualification do so as adults whilst juggling with a full time job. Surely the best accountants are not those that can show they can pass exams, but those that are able to provide the best service to their clients?

I personally think that students are far too hung up on using their ACCA qualification as some sort of ‘golden ticket’ to a career, where the reality is they will need to prove themselves both as someone who has the knowledge to perform their duties, but also the personality and aptitude, the latter is not something that you can learn, it is gained from experience

Modern accountants cannot just be technically brilliant to succeed, we lead, we set examples, manage people, business partner within organisations or with clients. This comes with experience as well as the accademics. The way the ACCA qualification is sat means they should let people retake, as students will be from different backgrounds with different responsibilites