On returning from my holiday in France I was very pleased to discover that I had passed my financial reporting exam. It was a good mark but my lowest to date despite so far being the course that I had put the most hours into (too many hours to admit to!). I spent even more hours studying financial reporting than tax which until then had been the subject I had found the most challenging.
The exam is extremely time pressured. A number of qualified accountants have told me it is the most difficult of all the exams to complete in the required time. In fact the questions are so long it takes about half an hour just to read the questions. There is no time to think about which question to do first you just need to get stuck in immediately.
The very good advice I was given was that you must at least complete four questions to pass. Those that only complete three questions generally fail. To prepare myself for the exam I did lots and lots of exam questions. At first I completed them without a time constraint so that I learned the material and the techniques. Nearer to the exam itself I completed question after question timing myself so that I was able to complete them in the required time. The weekend before the exam I hid myself away and just did question after question ignoring the hot weather and distraction of the very noisy aircraft flying over the house from the local air show.
As with all exams it is very easy to just concentrate on the calculations but to be successful in financial reporting you have to understand each Financial Reporting Standard and be able to answer questions in an essay style. In fact this is an area you can pick up marks if you have revised well.
It is also worth remembering that when answering the questions not to linger too long on parts of the question you do not know very well. It is best to put something and continue with the rest of the question as marks are awarded for methodology and workings and not just the correct figure at the end.
Later this year I will be putting my financial reporting knowledge into practice when I have to prepare financial statements for one of the companies my employer runs. Thankfully in real life you have more than 45 minutes to complete each statement! Mind you anything less than 100% correct may upset the auditors.
Good luck to any of you that are doing the Financial Reporting exam in December.
Thank you very much for your advice 'cause Thanks again. G'luck to you for your next exam.
Posted by: Energierecht Ukraine | 06 March 2010 at 11:46
Hi there,
I am thinking of sitting for P1 & P3 in June 10, I have done self study for all my F exams and passed first attempt, could anybody please advise from their experience that is it really beneficial to take the revision courses?
Posted by: NIPUN | 21 January 2010 at 09:28
hello, i'm an ACCA student an will sit for June 2010 exam, plz can gv me any advice on hw to pass thru d paper just once. Thankx.
Posted by: lola | 10 January 2010 at 20:50
For those taking F2 in december, you need to learn exam techniques, and study the exam kit like a CSI. Sift through looking for challenging problems. And for variance analysis esp fixed overhead variances and contribution variances you need to derive pneumonics!!! best of luck!!!
Posted by: dapo ajay | 01 July 2009 at 22:17
Hi there folks. I would really appreciate it if someone could give me an answer to this question. I have just completed the F7 exam and my initial joy of thinking I would scrap through were replaced with worry when I reclled that in question one (Groups) I didn't transfer the the answers in my workings to the IS and SOFP. Will I lose all the marks? Please advise on how the marking scheme
Posted by: bill | 09 June 2009 at 17:34
Hello,
I am planning to join ACCA. I have previous qualifications which qualify exemptions for all F papers except F6 and F7.
Can someone provide me a detailed advice how should I plan my studies i.e how much time it needs/when are the exams held/which books to refer to etc.
Appreciate your quidance.
Best regards
Posted by: IPFM | 07 June 2009 at 10:06
I'm planning to take F2, F4, F6 and F7 - somebody pls advice on this combination?
I've passd F1 and F3, but I've been having problems with F2. Any advice?
Posted by: Victor | 18 February 2009 at 23:35
Could I introduce a bit of perspective here for those who, like me, have a very limited amount of time to study due to juggling a full-time managerial role, a family and ACCA study?
I've just passed P1 and P3 at the first sitting, as I have all my other ACCA exams, without ever having done a SINGLE practice question for any subject - it can be done!
I make a point of never putting pen to paper until the exam itself - I mostly use BPP's iLearn CDs to study the material. So don't despair if all this talk of repeated question practice fills you with dread, I'm living proof that there are other ways of doing it.
I'm not saying this would work out for everyone, just that you should approach studying the way it works best for you, and don't be put off by thinking the repeated question practice route is the only one.
Posted by: Tracy Williams | 16 February 2009 at 19:36
I just enrolled for my ACCA skills moduled papers - F6 and F8 for June 2009 exams.
Pls any advise on how to a study and pass the exams one touch since am combining work and study.
thanks
Posted by: Godwin | 16 January 2009 at 21:52
Hello,
I too found the way to pass was to do as many past papers under timed conditions as possible, marking myself fairly, but strictly, using the marking scheme if there is one supplied.
The first attempt was always a 20%-30% effort, i.e. a fail.
It is a slog, but the benefit was in doing the hard areas that I did not want to face.
However, with practice, the scores became 35%, 40%, 45% and so on.
On the day of the exam, the practice always paid off.
Posted by: Paul Connolly | 08 January 2009 at 12:18
i am about to enrol for the acca exams please i need advice on how to read and pass the exams.
Posted by: anyara elizabeth | 18 November 2008 at 12:10
Deborah
You don't need to remember the exact title of each FRS but you need to know what each one refers to. The questions tend to give the FRS No. and title which should help jolt the memory regarding what it covers.
Since there is no choice of questions I tend to revise the whole course. You never know which questions will be asked and while some try to guess, this is often wrong.
Keep up the practice questions and don't neglect the theory which makes up a high percentage of marks in this paper.
Good luck.
Posted by: Angela Jeffrey | 05 November 2008 at 11:41
I am going to sit the F7 exam in December - would you advise me to know every FRS or the ones that are most likely to come up? I have approx. 12 past papers that I have looked at before I will be attending a revision course - is there anything else that you would recommend me to do in order to pass?
Posted by: Deborah Houston | 28 October 2008 at 15:38
Francis
To pass F7 I suggest you do as many exam questions as possible and practice them until you can do them in the required time. Also learn the material because this exam is not just computational. Potentially lots of marks can be picked up from the essay style questions.
Posted by: Angela Jeffrey | 06 October 2008 at 11:01
Thank you very much for your advice 'cause I'm gonna sit the F7 exam this Dec. Thanks again. G'luck to you for your next exam.
Posted by: Huy Nguyen | 26 September 2008 at 03:14
just a brief request, i am an acca student and i am actually sitting my F7 paper in december this year could you kindly give a brief advice on how i could effectively study and pass my exams?
Posted by: Francis Gitau | 12 September 2008 at 10:23