Top 10 Tips to Pass ACCA Papers

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is one of the world's largest and fastest growing accountancy body. It offers one of finest professional qualifications for the accountancy and finance studies. The ACCA examinations are not very easy to pass because they require high standard of learning, knowledge, and skills. We will discuss some of the most important tips that will help you get through the ACCA examinations.

1. Planning

You need to remember the famous saying "if you fail to plan, plan to fail". Proper planning before appearing for the ACCA exams is of utmost importance. When planning, take into consideration factors such as the number of exams, the amount of time required for preparation, family commitments, and work routine.

2. Knowing your syllabus

Get a thorough understanding of the syllabus. This will help you to focus on the topics that are examinable. The depth to which you need to learn a certain topic is also highlighted in the syllabus. This is referred to as "intellectual level". You should also familiarize yourself with the format and structure of the exams. This will help you in planning your preparation.

3. Setting Objectives

When studying for the ACCA exams, you should set small achievable objectives on a daily basis. Set targets like completing one chapter or attempting one past paper. Set targets that will help you focus on factors that are important for succeeding in the exams. You should try your best to achieve your daily targets.

4. Focusing on the Concepts

The ACCA examinations do not merely test your rote knowledge. They test your knowledge as well as your ability to apply the knowledge to real life problems. Therefore, you need to have an in depth understanding of the topic you are learning and its application to the real life problems.

Although your knowledge will help you get a few marks in the ACCA examinations, you must be able to apply your knowledge to given scenarios to get passing marks. Therefore, you should start building your concepts, along with the getting knowledge, right from the beginning.

5. Practicing for your exams

You should also remember another famous quote "practice makes a man perfect". Gaining knowledge and building concepts is not enough. Practicing the application of your knowledge and skills is as important as gaining knowledge and building concepts.

Practicing past exam papers in exam conditions will help you in managing your time, building your concepts, handling the stress, familiarizing with the format and structure of exams.

6. Using reading time effectively

ACCA examinations give you 15 minutes time for reading the question paper and planning your answers. Use this time effectively. You should use this time to carefully read the questions, understand question requirements, plan your answers, and draft brief answer plans. In case of professional stage examinations, you can use this time to decide which questions you want to answer from the optional questions.

7. Understanding the question requirements

One of the most unfortunate reasons of failing in ACCA exams is not properly understanding the question requirements. Carefully read the question requirements and make sure you fully understand them. If you feel that two requirements are asking for the same thing, you should get alert and reread the requirements more carefully.

8. Answering the question

While answering the question, stay to the point. Don't waste your time writing unnecessary details. Remember time is precious. You should keep in mind the requirement and the marks while allocating time to a particular answer. Remember to answer the question in the format the examiner has asked. Some questions specifically ask you to answer a question in a particular format (for example a report, a memo, a draft, a letter etc.).

9. Answering all questions

You should not leave any question unanswered. You should attempt a question even if you are not sure that you completely know the topic. You can still score some marks on the basis of intelligent guessing. If you feel that you will not be able to complete a question in time, you should simply jot down the important points in the form of bullets so that the examiner will know that you were aware of the answer and you will be awarded some marks.

10. Reviewing your answers

If you had properly managed your time during your exam, you should have some time remaining at the end. Use this time to review your question booklet to make sure you have not missed any question part. Then go through your answers to see if you have made any obvious error. Correct your mistakes and try to improve your answers in the remaining time (if any).