Taking Two Exams in Sep 19 Sitting – Advice

Hi @mp93,

Usually I personally don’t recommend giving 2 papers in a single sitting but your situation is different.
To what you have mentioned, you have already prepared for AA and TX in the past.
AA for supposedly June’19 and TX previously for the December’18 sitting.

So from what I believe, it should not much of a problem giving both of them in Sept’19.

However, there are somethings that you might want to bear in mind.

Coming to TX first, you studied TX 6 months back so you will have to jog your memory on that one.
You gave TX for the Dec’18 sitting that means in between the Finance Act for TX have been changed and you will need to prepare in accordance with the new one.
Then, you will have to see with how many scores did you miss out that pass in your previous attempt. If you scored 45 or above then you will have to focus on question practice ( but need to make considerations for the changes due to the Finance Act).
If you had scored below 45 then you will have to polish your concepts as well alongside question practise.
But I think this should be taken care of by the on demand course that you have mentioned

Now talking about both of them, you need to make sure you do maximum amount of question practice for both( grab an exam kit ACCA approved Content Provider), strike the right balance to prepare for each one and make sure you make a structured study plan.

If at any point you think you are not able to balance the two papers and are doubtful about that pass for any one of them, then better to delay that paper.

It is always preferred to delay an exam to the next sitting and give a successful attempt rather than sit unprepared and give an unsuccessful one.

Hope this helps.

All the best!

Hi Matt,

Glad to be of help:)

With that plan, you seem to be going in the right direction. Just make sure you stick to it. Stay motivated, determined and focus.

Starting the revision phase Mid July is great. The sooner students head on to practising questions that better it is because these are skills level exams where they test the application of concepts, making question practice the key to success!

Make sure to do some question practice while you are studying the topics to ensure the concept really sinks in your head.

And yes, if you have any queries you can always return to the OT forum. You can also utilise the OT lecture videos and notes (they are absolutely free!) for your preparation.

All the very best!

Hi @bushk,

My apologies for the delay in response, I wrote the reply but didn’t submit it (…my bad)

Firstly, don’t worry about your F8 result, you will do well. Focus on the next papers and forget about your previous ones(leave the worrying for the result day!). Because you surely wouldn’t want that stress to impact your F5 & F7 preparation, would you?

Secondly, tackling two subjects for one sitting is undoubtedly challenging and for that reason I personally recommend giving just 1 paper per sitting. However, that’s the students own choice to make. If you are determined to sit 2 papers then you must remain focus and be able to balance both well. Make a study plan and stick to it.

Now coming to a study plan…well, ACCA does provide study plan for students that are self-studying. Here are the links to them:
https://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-students/acca/f5/studyguides/2019_update_PM_study_support_guide_v2.pdf

https://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-students/acca/f7/studyguides/2019_update_FR_study_support_guide_v2.pdf

Had I been in your place, I would start off studying immediately. Ideally, would keep NO more than till the end of July to develop the understanding of the concepts by watching the FREE OpenTuition lecture videos and using their notes. After completing each topic would do some question practise from an exam kit by an ACCA Approved Content Provider (make sure you get one – something very important!) and also from the question practice available on the OT website.

Then the entire month of August would start with the revision(if you could start before then that would be even better) and get on with rigorous question practice while analysing the mistakes done and polishing the concepts.

If you are a full time student (like not working) then things shouldn’t be very difficult.

However, if you are working you will have to study full days during the weekends and at least 1 to 2 hrs or so during weekdays (I know, can be difficult with a tiresome work schedule)

Then let’s talk about juggling two papers. You must make sure you give equal attention to each of the two subjects. F7 is a way more technical paper than F5 but F5 has its own difficulties (kinda evident from the pass rates).

DIVIDING THE TIME BETWEEN THE TWO PAPERS:

You can do this two ways, depending on which one suits you better.

1) Keep separate days for both the subjects
You can spilt the week between the two.
One day for F5 and the next for F7.

Also, 1 day of the weekend for 1 subject and the other day for the second one
Like F5 for Saturdays and F7 for Sundays.

2) You can study both the subjects in one day but split your number of study hours between the two.
For example, if you are giving 4 hours in a day then 2 hours for F7 and the other 2 hrs for F5

You can also use the resources available at the ACCA website. Technical articles, for instance, are of a great help. At times the constructive response questions are very much related to them

If at any point you think you are not able to balance the two papers and are doubtful about that pass for any one of them, then better to delay that paper.

It is always preferred to delay an exam to the next sitting and give a successful attempt rather than sit unprepared and give an unsuccessful one.

Hope this helps.

All the best!

Hi @bushk,

I have posted my response for your query. It will get uploaded in sometime so you will have to come back and check it. Sincere apologies for that.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

J