ACCA EXAMINATION TECHNIQUES

MAY 15, 2004 ISLAMABAD BY

Ali Mehfooz
ACCA, CPA, APA, B. Sc. (Hons.)

Time Management Before the Exams

1) Identify testable material... Review course outlines and make a list of what material will be covered on each exam. Speak with professors or teaching assistants if clarification is needed. 2) Assess your situation... Do you have a good understanding of the testable material? Are you caught up on the readings and other course responsibilities? List any outstanding tasks for each course.

3) Realistically determine how much time you have for catch-up and studying... Use a day planner or a weekly schedule to help you determine your available time. Identify time for catching up on course work and studying. Plan for other activities such as prayers, meals and breaks etc. 4) Make studying a priority... Are there things that you ordinarily do that can be less of a priority during the exam period? For example, can you put work on hold or at least decrease the number of hours worked? Remember not to cut back on sleep, meals, and exercise - these contribute to quality study time.

5) Prioritize among and within courses... When determining how to spend your study time, identify your course and content priorities. You may decide that it's best to spend more of your study time on the courses that are required for your program than on electives. Also, certain parts of courses may warrant more time than others if they are considered especially important or if they have not yet been tested. In other words, don't just start with any course and continue until you run out of time, but plan what you'll focus on while studying.

6) If you need to make cuts, be strategic... You may find that you don't have enough time to prepare as fully as you would like. If you have to omit material, try to minimize the damage. For example, if you have good lecture notes for a chapter that you haven't read, you might decide not to spend the time reading that chapter and instead cover the required readings that the professor did not cover in class. 7) Set a reasonable schedule... Be realistic: don't plan to spend 16 hours a day studying; how much would be quality time? Determine how many study hours are reasonable in a productive work day. Identify blocks of time for studying and allocate time for meals, exercise, recreation, and sleep.

8) Practice good time management before the exam...

Give a reasonable time during your revision period for practicing of exams questions and the best way to do it is to attempt the Past Exam papers but putting your self in a situation like an examination.

Time Management During the Exams

1) Know the maximum time available You should know the time which is available to you in an exam before the examination, and it should not be a surprise to you that the exam you are going to sit is for 3 hours or less then 3 hours. 2) Give a reasonable time on selecting a question Always start with a topic on which you are fully conversant. So before actually starting the exam, give a look at all questions. At this stage you only need to look at the requirement part of the question and need not to go in detail. Try not to spend more then 10 minutes in this exercise.

3) Realistically determine how much time for each question according to marks available... This you can do is by doing a simple calculation. From the total time available reduce 10 minutes for selection of question and 10 minutes as a safety caution and divide the reaming figures with the maximum marks available. Multiply this figure with marks of each question to reach the time, which you have for each question. Be stick on this time for each question. If you run out of time to do one question, move to next one, you might save time from other question and then you can come back. 4) Gap analysis during the exam... You can also do the Gap analysis during the exam to see that how much time is remained as compared to the remaining marks. And at this time you can revise your time targets accordingly. But do not waste much time on this exercise. Only one or two time during the exam you should do it.

5) Prioritize among the questions... You are best judge of your abilities; you can prioritize among the question, save time on one question and use it on other question. You might be good in theory question and then use the time saved in these to the numerical questions. 6) If you need to make cuts, be strategic... If you do find yourself running out of time, then it is better to attempt to write something on each question than leave one out completely. You may accrue more marks from two half answers (which probably contain the major points about each subject), than from getting a good score for one and zero for an unattempted question. Dont forget to leave some space after a question so that if in the end you have time, you can put some details.

8) Practice good time management in the exam... Consider how many questions you need to answer, how heavily they're weighted, and how much time is available, and then develop a plan. For example, for three equally weighted essay questions in three hours you may want to allocate approximately 45 minutes per answer, with some time at the beginning to read over the exam and some time at the end to proofread. For a multiple-choice or True/False exam, monitor your time periodically to assess whether you're going too quickly, taking too long, or on schedule. If you're spending too much time on a question, attempt an answer and mark the question; come back to it later if there's time.

Guidance on attempting the Case Study Questions

1) Go the requirement portion of the question before starting ... Read the requirement part of the question first, this way you will and idea of what is required from you and your reading will be focused on the relevant areas. 2) Underline or highlight the key words or phrases After reading the requirements, read the Case study and underline the key phrases which are relevant. 3) Decide exactly what the question is asking Workout the instructing words, such as discuss, evaluate or contrast. Is there more than one part to the question? Does it specifically ask for examples?

4) Spend a some time in planning your answer e.g. jot down any keywords which you associate with the topic; plan the essay structure: how will you order your themes into a logical argument, where will you include examples, how will you link to another component of the question? 5) Be relevant to the case in hand. When answering the questions be relevant to the case study, even if the question is very general, link it with the case study.

6) Focus on Quality then Quantity. Dont be misled into thinking that marks will be given purely for the amount that you write: they wont. Examiners are looking to see that you have answered the question, and not merely writing all that you know about the subject. Check back to the question from time to time, and make sure that you have not wandered from the point. 7) Keep an eye on the time If you are answering a question on one of your better subjects, make sure that you do not run on too long, as this will give you less time to answer the others.

10) Include introductory statements and concluding paragraph When writing the answer, remember to include a strong introductory statement, demonstrating that you have understood the question. Finish with a concluding paragraph, which is not a replication of the essay title, but is an indication of how your answer has taken the argument forward, and identified any implications arising from it.

Guidance on attempting the Theory Questions

1) Go the requirement portion of the question before starting ... 2) Underline or highlight the key words or phrases 3) Decide exactly what the question is asking 4) Spend a some time in planning your answer 5) Be relevant to the case in hand. 6) Focus on Quality then Quantity. 7) Keep an eye on the time 8) Write legibly.

9) Allow your self some time in the end 10) Include introductory statements and concluding paragraph 11) Use the Bullet point instead of long paragraphs Instead of writing long paragraphs the best way can to write you arguments in for of bullet points. DO NOT WRITE A SINGLE WORD for a point; Instead always write a complete line.

Guidance on attempting the Numerical Questions

1) Go the requirement portion of the question before starting ... 2) Underline or highlight the key words or phrases 3) Decide exactly what the question is asking Workout the instructing words, such as calculate, evaluate or analyze. Is there more than one part to the question? Does it specifically ask for examples?

4) Spend a some time in planning your answer e.g. jot down any keywords which you associate with the topic; plan the structure: how will you order your logical argument and assumption, which part you dont know and which part will you link to another component of the question? 5) Always keep calculators with you in the exams. 6) Mostly more technical formulas are given in the question papers, so dont need to memorize these. 7. Focus on Techniques and approach instead of the answers. Examiners will give you marks for your approach and techniques hence try to focus on your approach rather then on the answer.

8) Follow the set patterns For most of the numerical questions there are set patterns, try to follow them. e.g. in a tax paper when you are required to compute tax able income, there is a set format for that. If you master yourself on the format, then you will need to put the figures in the format. 9) Do not waste all your time on one part, which you dont know. If you dont know a part in the numerical question, leave that part and solve other parts by putting some figure (assumed figure) e.g. in a consolidation question, you might now know how to calculate the Minority Interest, here you can give your statement that you have assumed this figure as MI and solve the rest of the question. 10) Always clearly state all of your assumptions. Do not assume that examiner will know these, you have to put them in the paper.

11) Keep an eye on the time 12) Write legibly. There is no point in doing some excellent calculations if the examiner cannot read them 13) Allow your self some time in the end 14) Include conclusions Clearly write your conclusion, it can be in form of a figure or a statement.

Guidance on attempting the MCQs

1) Do Good Time Management ... You should know how much time you have for one MCQ and do not spend more time then that on a single MCQ. 2) Methodical Approach For MCQ test exams, work through the questions methodically, but if you cannot answer one, mark the place, pass on and come back to it.

3) Confusion after attempting a MCQ Opinions differ as to whether you should go back and change an answer that you are not sure of, or to stick with your first choice. There is no real solution to this problem. If you do not know the correct answer, then your first or second guess is equally likely to be right, so this is something that only you can decide in each case. 4) Attempt all MCQs If you really do not know the answer, then a guess is better than leaving it blank (there will always be a chance that you guess right, whereas a blank will guarantee zero marks). However, make it an informed guess: look at the options, reject any which are obviously false, carefully relate the others back to the question, and choose the best remaining option.

Guidance on General Marking Schemes in Exams

1) Marks available with marker ... If you look at the marking schemes given in the solutions by the ACCA, you will see that always, more then the maximum marks will be available with the marker. It means that you have a choice to do a little mistake and even then get a maximum marks. However, this does not mean that that marker will give you more then the maximum marks in a paper. 2) Examiners approach toward theory questions It can be seen in a marking guideline of ACCA exams that markers give full mark to a theory question if the point is elaborated clearly. And half marks are given for writing single words instead of explaining it.

3) Examiners approach toward numerical questions As explained earlier, examiner will give marks for each part attempter and the technique used. There is no negative marking if you have done a part wrong and due to that answer of other parts is not correct. 4) Subjective Marks In some cases examiners are given authority to give marks according to the material of the answers. These are those cases in which the Questions have more then one possible answers. So you need to worry when you are conceptually correct and try to put concepts in you own words.

GOOD LUCK