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Hi,
I’ve failed audit in the last two sessions despite being well prepared (44%, 45%).
I generally over-run on time for the first 2 hours and rush for the last hour – I will try harder to use your 1.8 mark / divide mark allocations by two to get planning time. Generally, I find myself writing 5-6 lines for 1-2 marks and I am definitely not writing in a focused enough manner. Repetition is a problem too.
One area where I definitely waste time are materiality calculations. I often start a question thinking I have to calculate SFP and CIS materiality using the various % calculations (0.5-1% revenue, 1-2% assets etc).
This costs me 5 minutes. It’s useful but is rarely referenced in the official answers. They just divide the amount (described as material) in relation to the SFP or CIS to see if it’s more than 5% of assets or PBT to see if is is material, and then judge if it is pervasive.
My questions are, (1) in what type of question is it appropriate to do detailed materiality calcs? Never? (2) Should I always calculate materiality for planning and audit report questions?
Thanks very much. I want to pass in September and need to find some strategies to save wasted effort where I’m not picking up marks.
Q1 – “detailed” materiality calculations? Almost never!
Q2 – probably, yes
Strategy to follow to save wasted effort? You’ve identified it for yourself! Discipline!
At the end of the allocated time STOP! Move on
You say that you apply the 1.8 minutes per mark routine – that’s good
And the /2 routine – that’s good too
You find yourself repeating? Then don’t – UNLESS you have nothing else to say within the time allocation – but that suggests that you haven’t properly planned the appropriate number of points within the planning allocated time!
Get yourself a revision kit, calculate how much time you have for planning an answer, and then plan it! Then check to see if you have enough points for a pass.
If you find that you’re running out of time …. it sounds like you’re waffling.
Short sharp sentences – one point per paragraph, one paragraph per point
When you have read this post, open a book / magazine / newspaper and get someone to time you as you COPY from that source and get them to stop you after 1 minute 18 seconds
Have you written more than three lines? That’s the MAXIMUM length of a paragraph / sentence in your exam answers – and that’s with no time used up in thinking! Just writing!
And if in an exam your thought (worth 1 mark) is taking you into the fourth and fifth line ……. you’re not allocating your time properly
Try it and let me know how you go on. I expect to hear from you within the next 5 minutes
Haha I could manage 4,5 lines in 1.18 mins. Scary. And the sentence I copied wasn’t even finished!
I know the advice “write a little about a lot, not a lot about little”. It’s just hard to do the level of analysis you think you should and not write too much. I think I just need to split my points into (a) point identified (b) principle from IAS / IFRS and (c) what should be done based on the scenario. That’s 3-4 lines but I have to think more to focus on writing less waffle.
Thanks. I have a month to practice!
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