Exam Week - December 2014

This week I sat my two re-sits, two exams that I had failed in June.

The same complaints as before, the size of the desk which I measured this time, it was approx 45 cm x 60 cm, which when you consider that you have 2 A4 booklets (an A4 page is 21cm x 30 cm), plus pens, pencils and at least one calculator, there really isn't much room.

There were still the disturbances from people going to and from the toilet, luckily I wasn't sat right by the door for either of the exams this time.

For the first exam, the candidate sitting immediately to my left spent the entire 3 hours either talking to himself, chewing his gum really loudly or coughing.  I think the candidate to the right of me seemed to drop everything he had on his desk onto the floor at least once.

The second exam was a lot quieter, coincidentally, the average age of the candidates was a lot higher, there was a much higher proportion of people in my age group, usually they are all much younger.  The room was also a lot colder for this exam despite being more people in the room.

However, whereas for the first exam we were all sitting the same paper and therefore all finished at the same time, the second sitting was three different exams, one of which was just 2 hours.  Obviously the candidates sitting the 2 hour exam were allowed to leave once their time was up.

So why is that not considered a disturbance, yet someone leaving a 3 hour exam before the 3 hours is up is considered a disturbance?

The exams themselves were the first of the new format, part multichoice and part traditional questions.  And I am not sure whether I liked it.  I am looking forward to the exam review in PQ magazine to see what tutors and experts thought.

From the mutterings around me as people exited the exam hall, no-one seemed particularly happy.

Changes to exam format.

Before you all keel over in shock, yes this is an actual post about my ACCA studies.

This sitting (December 2014) sees the first sitting of the new format exams, and I think the examiners are making it harder for people to pass, I am not sure if this deliberate or just a side effect.

I am sitting two exams this time - Financial Reporting and Financial Management - and both now have 40% of the marks coming from multiple choice questions, 20 in all.

Initially we thought this would make things easier, but it is not so.

Previously, because the markers viewed your workings, you could receive 'method marks', if you used the right method but the wrong figure, you would lose, or, more accurately, not be given a mark for the wrong figure, but if you carried that wrong figure through you would still get marks for using the correct method.

With the new multi choice questions, although you still have to do all the working for each question, these will not be seen by the markers so your answer will either be right or wrong, 2 marks or zero marks.

The remaining 60 marks, the exams are marked out of 100, will be from traditionally marked questions.

50 marks are needed to pass each module.

This could be interesting.

Exam Week June 2014

Today was the first of my three exams for this sitting.  I won't dwell on the actual exam too much except to say I will be re-sitting it at some point in the future.

It seems that a lot of people did not turn up to sit the exam, there were so many prepped (tiny) desks that remained empty.

It didn't cut down on the disturbances however.

Two people arrived 15 minutes after the exam had started and were allowed admittance disturbing everyone around them.

The candidate to the immediate left of me, muttered to himself for the entire 3 hours of the exam, on occasion loud enough for people 4 or 5 seats away to glare at him.  He also nodded his head, well almost his entire upper body, whenever he felt he was going in the right direction with his answer.

When he wasn't muttering or nodding, he was furiously jamming the end of his pen into his opposite palm, clicking it on and off, on and off in rapid succession.

As well as this, there was the usual constant procession of people to and from the toilet.  Most of the candidates were half my age, so if they can't go three hours without a trip to the toilet at their age, I think a trip to their GP is needed.

About two hours into the exam, I don't know what was going on outside, but it sounded like table tennis was being played with a cannonball and metal paddles.  This went on for the next hour.

As expected, at 1.05 mobile phones started vibrating.  Any phones taken into the exam room SHOULD be switched off, but most people seemed to put them on vibrate only.

Still, only another 2 to go....

Sunday Night Mash Up

Well my poor little Fiat went back to the garage last Saturday thanks to the engine leaking diesel and I still haven't had it back.  After driving the replacement Proton now for over a week I am becoming more accustomed to it, and the boot is huge!  Great for shopping.

I started the second of my courses this weekend for the June ACCA sitting, and I do not like the tutor, so much so that I am considering swapping from the weekend course to the weekday course, I just need to see if work is ok with it, and then whether there is space on the weekday course.

Today has been a lovely day weather-wise.  Sunny and windy, perfect drying weather.

I woke up just before 5am (as usual) and at 6am gave up and decided to put a wash in.  When it finished out on to the washing line it went and a second load put into the machine.

I was tidying the front room when I heard a noise outside (I had the back door and all the internal doors open to air out the house) but thought nothing of it, a short while later I went into the kitchen and looked out of the window to see all my washing on the floor.  The post holding the line had snapped.  I was not impressed.

So the washing ended up at Mum and Dad's on their washing line.

I still feel poorly today, I feel so drained all the time.  I have these tiny electric shock type feelings shooting through my head at random intervals.  Every little bit of physical exertion affects me much more than it should, I could have cried when I was making the bed, I had to have a sit down part way through as it was.  Even going up the stairs wears me out and when I first get out of bed, I walk like Bambi on ice!  I do wish that I could have a couple of days in bed without feeling guilty, but that is never going to happen!

I hope that I get my car back soon, and that I feel better soon!

Sunday Night Mash Up

Not a lot to report this week, back to work after a week off, and as always, when you go back to work after any sort of time off, you can't see you desk for work!

Yesterday I took my car back to the garage as it is leaking fuel from the engine, but not in the place that Puntos usually leak from, oh no, that would be far too easy, so I had to leave it with them.  They first lent me a Fiesta to use whilst they had my car.

It wasn't as nice to drive despite being a few years newer but for a couple of days it would be fine.  I got home to be told that it had no brake lights, so back I went.  I was then given a Proton, on the motorway it was fab, but urban handling let it down. (Hark at me, I blame too much Top Gear).  This was even newer, but I still preferred my Punto.

I've got the Proton till they sort out the problem on the Punto, so tomorrow I have to sort a temporary parking permit for work, I don't think it will be a problem.

Today I was back at Kaplan for my second tuition day of this sitting.  This is the topic (Financial Reporting) that I really struggled with at AAT so I am trying but it still sounds like gobbledygook.

Today has been the warmest day of the year so far, I think it reached almost 18 degrees here so it was obvious that I was going to be sat in an underground room all day, never mind.

Nothing planned for this week, so lets see what happens!

A sunny day in Birmingham!

I've just remembered!  I was interviewed this week for a magazine article on what it is like being single in 2014.  More about that to come soon.

ACCA - My Journey So Far.

Last weekend I finally received the results of the ACCA exams I sat at the beginning of December.  I had passed 2 of the 3 so I am happy with that.  I have 3 Skills modules left (the exam I failed plus 2 others) until I can officially call myself 'Part Qualified', I then have a further 5 Professional modules until I am fully qualified.

For anyone thinking about starting to study ACCA, I have some info and tips for you.

Check your exemptions.  If you are AAT qualified you will be exempt from modules F1, F2 & F3 (I won't list all the modules here but they can be found on the ACCA website), if you have a relevant degree then you will be exempt from further modules, you would need to look into that as it will vary from degree to degree.  From what I have observed in classes, AAT will prepare you better for studying ACCA.

You can sit the exams in any order.  If you do need to sit F1-F3 you have to do so before you move on to the next set, or Skills Modules which are F4-F9.  These can be sat in any order, I studied F6 & F8 first, then F4 (the exam I failed in December) & F5, leaving me F4 to resit and also F7 and F9.  I have tried to work it so that I do a 'wordy' paper alongside a 'numbers' paper.

Study in a way which suits you.  There are various different course providers, all offering different study methods such as classroom learning or distance learning, tuition course, revision courses and question based days or QBDs.  I need a classroom situation as I do not have the discipline to self study.  If you choose classroom study but can only attend 1 block of classes I would suggest the revisions blocks, I am sure that I learn more on these than I do on the tuition blocks.

Revise as little or as much as you know you need to do.  I was advised to create a study plan once revision courses started.  Work out how many weeks or days to the exams and decide how many questions you are going to attempt in each of your home study sessions.  I didn't do this.  I also listened to others in my group saying that they were doing 3 hours revision every night and 6 hours each day at weekends.  If this works for you then go for it, I personally think that this is too much, particularly if you are working full time as well.  I won't embarrass myself by saying how much revision I did, but it worked for me.

Don't put too much pressure on yourself.  Unless your contract states that you cannot have more than a certain number of resits, you have 10 years to complete a maximum of 14 exams for which there are currently 2 sittings each year.

But most of all, enjoy your studies, I actually looked forward to classes more than work sometimes!

Sunday Night Mash Up

This weekend I finally received the results of the three ACCA exams which I sat at the beginning of December, I passed two (F5 - Performance Management and F8 - Audit & Assurance which is the one I failed in June) and failed one - F4 - Corporate & Business Law.

The Law module is the one that I struggled with right from the off.  There are no calculations and no definites, it is all too woolly.  This precedent says you can do this, this precedent says you can do the opposite.  But I have to pass it as it is a compulsory module so the resit will be in June.

Also this weekend I finally bought a car!  I am collecting it next Saturday and I can't wait, although when I am going to read now is beyond me, those two hours each day that I spend on the bus are my reading times.

I am going to do a post about the car dealers as they were lovely.

This weekend saw me start my 1940's diet experiment (it has been a busy weekend), so have been prepping and baking and cooking, I now have a week's worth of meals and snacks.  Hopefully I will lose a bit of weight, feel healthier and save a bit of money.

Sunday Night Mash Up

I am trying to think if anything has happened this week and nothing springs to mind!

We had a bit of snow on Thursday but not enough to settle even though it was coming down on and off for most of the day.

Friday I had my first ever trip to Aldi,  in this country anyway I tend to shop in Aldis when I go abroad but the stores in Europe seem so much different to those in this country.  I picked up a few bits but I am not convinced that I could do a full shop there not least because it is so far from home.  Maybe i should buy a shopping trolley.

Dad went away for the weekend, much to the dog's disgust.  Mum fed her, brushed her, played with her and talked to her, as she does every day whether Dad is here or not, and I called in to walk her every day.  When Dad got home earlier today, anyone would think that she had been shut in the house all by herself since Friday lunchtime!  She was crying, squeaking, nearly wagging her tail off and trying to climb on Dad's lap.  She is such a drama queen.

ACCA exam results week has FINALLY arrived, they are due out next Saturday, it seems so long since I sat them.

Fingers crossed.

Sunday Night Mash Up

This week saw the start of 2014, so HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It was also back to work after my Christmas leave, but with the schools and colleges being closed, the bus journeys this week have been short!  Although Monday and Tuesday it was a Saturday service which meant an extra couple of miles on an already lengthy run.

The weather has been bad this week.  I am not a fan of Coventry, but frankly, having seen the conditions that elsewhere has suffered, I am quite pleased that I am in the centre of the country.  The worst we really have seen are a few slightly flooded roads, a few battered fences and some downed wheelie bins.

Friday night I felt like a bit of a gamble.  I have an online account with William Hill and have done for some years.  I am useless with the horses and football too, but I do like the slot machines (or one armed bandits as we used to call them). I managed to turn my original £50 stake into over £2000!  You could have knocked me down with a feather.

Unfortunately, never being one to be able to stop whilst I am ahead, I carried on playing and ended up withdrawing 'just' £1200, still, it all adds to the car fund.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I will be the grand old age of 43, I have no idea what presents, if any, I am going to get.

I still have over a month before I receive my ACCA exam results, it seems so long since I sat them.

Sunday Night Mash Up

Monday saw my final exam of this sitting, you may have seen my post from Tuesday about this.  Now I have the long wait for my results on the 8th of February.

Tuesday was our department Christmas lunch, it was also Secret Santa day.  Or should that be 'Secret Santa for now but we will work out who bought what by the end of lunch day'.  I received a book of horror stories, bookmarks and a handmade necklace (black heart, black cord, silver fittings), I was very pleased.

Friday night was our office Christmas Party.  We held it at the Village Hotel, it was a Willy Wonka themed event, we entered the room by crossing a bridge over a chocolate river, the compere was dressed as Willy Wonka (the Gene Wilder version, not Johnny Depp) and some of the servers were dressed as Oompa Loompas.

There was a quiz to take part in, on the screens (which were showing Charlie and The Chocolate Factory on continuous loop) a question was flashed up at regular intervals, mostly about identifying different sweets and biscuits.  And we won!  The prize was a bottle of perry, so a round of brandies later and we were all drinking, for intents and purposes, brandy and babycham.

After the meal we moved back out into the bar area where the disco was set up, I have no idea what time we left!

I had treated myself to an Upper Deck room and paid for a snack pack.  The bed was so comfortable I wasnted to bring it home with me.

I discovered once I had got back to my room that I had lost my phone.  I contacted reception the next morning and it had been handed in, so thank you to whoever did that.

Saturday morning I was a little worse for wear to say the least, but the Full English Breakfast and jug of coffee helped!

I am not looking forward to weigh in on Tuesday.

Exam Week 2

So this week has seen the second sitting of my ACCA journey, and my feelings about the exams are the same as previously.

Three hours is far too long.

If you know your stuff, then the answers will flow and you can be easily finished in under two hours.

If you don't know your stuff you answer what you can and then stare at the walls, the floor, the person in front of you until the end of the exam.

You should be allowed to leave when you have done what you can.

If the ACCA insist that the exams remain at three hours, then you should be able to leave when you feel you have completed the script to the best of your ability.

It can't be any more distracting to other candidates for someone to leave than it is to see them apparently asleep at their desk.

Constant trips to the toilet.

Most of the candidates sitting the exams are early twenties, in some cases late teens, and yet they seem to find it impossible to sit through the exam without going to the toilet at least once.

This is a photo I took after the exam, you can see the corner of my desk at the bottom of the picture, the door you can see is the door out to the toilets.  And yes, it was annoying when people were constantly passing me.

Tiny Desks

The desks really are small, the question paper and answer paper are both A4 size and there isn't room on the desk to open both out fully, they have to be folded back on themselves.

Still, they are over now, thank goodness, results are due out on the 8th February.

Sunday Night Mash Up

Tomorrow sees the first of my three exams for this sitting and the closer it gets, the less confident I feel!  I will be getting into town nice and early (in case there are any bus issues) and treating myself to a coffee before I check in to the exam hall.

Not much to report this week really.  I have had a few laughs, I have had a few strops.  I have got annoyed at some blog posts I have read, but I daresay people get annoyed at some of mine so no harm done, and I certainly wouldn't criticise anyone for getting their views out there, we are all entitled to an opinion.

There was a horrible accident in Glasgow this week.  A helicopter crashed into the roof of a popular pub and unfortunately eight people were killed and many more injured.  It was just an awful thing.

On a happier note, the busy period for us compers has started.  Yes, Advents.  Hundreds and hundreds of competitions to be entered on a daily basis until the big day.  I am selective and don't enter them all as many are not relevant to me, but I think it takes as long to sort through them as it would to just enter them all.

Good luck to everyone taking part in the advents.

And good luck to everyone sitting or resitting the ACCA F5 Performance Management exam tomorrow.

A final note for tonight, I bought some fish from Iceland called Basa, I had never heard of it but thought I would give it a try and it was lovely.  I am just having the second piece out of the box of two and whilst eating decided to google it to find out more about the fish.  I discovered it is a catfish, or at least of the catfish family, and I have gone right off it and left most of the piece I had cooked.  I don't know why catfish is such an issue, I love shark and swordfish.

I blame Jeremy Wade.

Sunday Night Mash Up

This week I have been in Birmingham again on the second of my revision courses for ACCA.  It was a four day course this time and I felt so drained at the end.

Tomorrow I have a Question Based Day (QBD) in preparation of next Monday's exam.  I don't really rate the QBDs but they are included in my course fee so I go.  On a QBD you sit an exam, but you do it question by question to exam timing.

You do the first question, that is then whisked away for marking whilst you complete the second.  You then get the marked papers for the first question back and then do the third, and so on.

Now in an exam, you can do the questions in any order, in fact this is encouraged.  So you choose your strongest topics and work down to your weakest.  In a QBD if you can't answer a particular question, there is no coming back to it, you just sit there panicing!.

Because I have been in Birmingham, nothing much else has gone on.

Apart from last night was the much awaited and much hyped Day Of The Doctor.  And I was a bit disappointed.  It seemed such an opportunity lost.  And, spoilers sweetie, why was it that John Hurt's Doctor appeared to be regenerating?  Wouldn't he already have done that?  Surely it should have been Matt Smith who changed?

This week, apart from tomorrow, I am back at work so normal service resumes.  Tuesday is weigh in number 3 for the Pounds for Pounds charity weight loss, I am not expecting a weight loss this week, I will be happy with staying the same as last week!

Sunday Night Mash Up

This week has seen me in Birmingham on a revision course for one of my forthcoming ACCA exams and it was hard going.  I have another revision course this coming week and 2 weeks on Monday is my first exam of this sitting!  Oh, poo.

The Birmingham Christmas Market has opened this week too which makes getting to the train station fun.  You know that scene in every zombie movie ever where there are 100s of zombies stumbling along and one or two humans are trying to blend in? That's how I have felt.

I wasn't actually trying to blend in, but I physically could not move any faster than a shuffle and I was penned in on every side.  It was not fun.  I eventually managed to nip down a side street and away from the crowd.

Only five more evenings to get through, I will try not to kill anyone.

I have to say though, although the market is called the Frankfurt market, I did not hear one German accent, or see one German registered vehicle.

There was a Belgian Hot Chocolate van, noodle bars, falafal, stalls selling ostrich burgers, jerk chicken, none of which I believe are German.

The beer stalls were doing good business, I do think it is the novelty of being able to walk around with a pint in their hands that was attracting people, it certainly wasn't the price.

Majority of the craft stalls looked like they had all gone to the same warehouse to fill up.

I imagine that it would nice to walk around with friends, and stop now and then for a drink or something to eat, but when I am on my own and it is between me and home I have to say I am not impressed.

Sunday Night Mash Up

This weekend saw the final ACCA weekend of this sitting, I now just have weekday revision.

This was the smallest group of the sitting (my previous classes have been 40+ people and we have been squashed into tiny rooms) and we were in the biggest room in the building.  Admittedly due to the layout a lot of the space was wasted, but it was still a big space.

I was on the 5th floor of the hotel this weekend, the theme was orange, I have now stayed on every floor except the 1st which I think is mostly conference rooms anyway.  I am not sure why thread is to be associated with Birmingham, I would link it more with the weavers of Coventry.

The beanbag chair in the corner was very uncomfortable.

I am going to be at a loose end at the weekends now and will have to find something to occupy them.  I may even have to do some housework!

Sunday Night Mash Up.

I am just back from a fab weekend in Norfolk but I am absolutely worn out now.  I had thought about extending my stay until tomorrow, but seeing as all the morning trains are ALREADY cancelled because strong winds have been forecast I am glad that I didn't.

There were also some issues with the hotel this time, but they really do deserve a post of their own, so look out for that in the coming weeks.

I spent a pleasant few hours in Norwich yesterday, wandering around the castle and the shops, but spent far too much money.

Travelling across London today on the tube was awful, I have never seen it so busy.  And what is it about the tube that makes people want to canoodle? On the escalators.  On the trains.  Everywhere.

Also this week I had to submit my final assessments for both my current ACCA modules, after some fighting with the scanner and various internet issues I managed it.

It is payday Wednesday (yes!) and also Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary, 44 years.

Sunday Night Mash Up

Another weekend in Birmingham, another colour in the hotel.

This weekend was the last weekend of my ACCA tuition for this sitting.  This time I was on the 6th floor of the hotel and the colour is green!  You can't really tell from this photo, but the bed was massive.

And I had some great views over the city.

But boy, did it rain.  I had to go out to pick up an order from New Look which was about half a mile away from the hotel.  These were my jeans when I got back.  I actually struggled to take them off, they seemed to have stuck themselves to my calves.

I managed to dry my jeans out for today, but my trainers were still wet.

Today was the Birmingham Half Marathon which made getting from the hotel to college a bit of a challenge as most of the roads and crossings had been cordoned off, we even had to tell the security person that we were going to college before we were allowed past the barrier and down the alley way.  

This was the square in front of the library before the majority of the runners arrived

This was at lunchtime

Well done to everyone who took part.

I also discovered this week that someone who unfriended me a year ago on facebook is still looking at my profile.  How do I know?  Because they accidentally caught the 'add friend' button whilst they were doing so, they immediately cancelled the request but the notification was sent to my phone.  If someone is going to stalk me, they need to be a bit more subtle about it!

Sunday Night Mash Up

Last night I spent the first Saturday night at home for four weeks and it felt odd!

I have had three weekends in Birmingham studying for my ACCA and one long weekend in Wymondham so when I left Baskerville House after class yesterday I had to remind myself that I was going back to the station as I automatically turned towards the hotel when I left the building.  I had actually thought about checking myself in somewhere but decided it was an unnecessary expense considering I am supposed to be saving for a car.

And it wasn't until I woke up this morning that I realised that I would have to make my own breakfast too. In the various hotels I have been having sausages, eggs, croissants, petit pain, butter, jam, lattes or any combination of the above.  Today I had toast.

Next weekend I am at home, with the three weekends after in either Birmingham or Wymondham.

Nothing much else has happened this week.  There are things going on at work which obviously I cannot talk about, but which are not doing anything for my mental well being.  I was feeling better after I had my anti-depressant medication doubled, but over the last couple of weeks I feel that all the progress I had made has been lost.  I even considered phoning in sick on Friday but that wouldn't have made any difference to the problem, just made it harder to go in tomorrow (Monday).  Hopefully things will be resolved soon, fingers crossed.

I have finally made a decision with regard to my fancy dress costume for the Ghostbusters themed Hallowe'en party, I am recycling an old one!  I wanted a Statue of Liberty costume but being bigger than a size 12 I couldn't find one, so watching the film again, for research purposes you understand, I reaslised that there was a maid in the hotel where the team go to catch Slimer.  I have a maid's uniform from a previous Rocky Horror themed party, yeay!

Sunday Night Mash Up

This week has been a bad week.  Everything, and I mean everything, has really gotten on my pip.  I have lost count of the amount of times I have had to bite my lip to stop screaming at someone.

There is stuff going on at work, which obviously I cannot talk about, but that isn't helping either.

I have been in Birmingham again this weekend studying for my ACCA, it was a Sunday only weekend, but I had still booked a hotel for the Saturday night as it is so much easier than trying to get over from Coventry on Sunday by train.  I stayed in the same hotel as last weekend but it has now changed brands, and boy is it obvious, there will be a separate post about that as I cannot do it justice here.

I have been enjoying the module we studied today which is Performance Management, however (you just knew there was going to be a 'however'), today we spent the best part of three hours drawing three very simple graphs.  I know these days that we no longer draw graphs by hand, Microsoft Office has seen to that, you enter your data into a table, press a couple of buttons and presto! There is your graph.

But they are not rocket science.  

I am by far the oldest in the class.  I am also one of the few who has not been to university.  But, without wishing to sound big-headed, I do feel that I am one of the few with any sort of basic skills when it comes to doing stuff on paper, rather than on a computer when really, everything is done for you.  I have not drawn a graph since I left school, and I left school in 1987, and yet I was left twiddling my thumbs whilst everyone finished.  Some students couldn't even work out the scale of the graph, in fact for the second and final graph, the tutor actually told us how many squares on the graph paper to use per thousand.

I have a weekend off from studying next week, I am off to Norwich for a four year old's birthday party and I am really looking forward to it, I just hope the weather holds up.  And also that I can remember where I put the train tickets.

Saturday I had my hair cut at Enigma Hair & Beauty, this place is great and I cannot fault the staff.  I love my new hair apart from the fact that it REALLY highlights my grey.  I am torn between dyeing it but have no idea what colour, or just to grow old gracefully and leave it as it is, what do you think?

Exam Week

This week I sat my first two ACCA exams - F6 Tax and F8 Audit.

I arrived at the test centre to find lots of nervous looking people sat in the sunshine with text book in one hand and a cigarette in the other.  I pushed through the pall of cigarette smoke into the building to find lots of nervous people with a textbook in one hand and a marker pen in the other. Really, what are you going to learn in the 20 minutes before the exam.

The desks were little, I mean really little.  There was not enough room to have the question booklet nor the answer booklet open, they had to be folded over.  Much of the exam time was spent corralling pens, pencils, rulers etc back onto the desk.

We weren't allowed to have sweets on our desk or about our person as these could have answers secreted in the wrapping.  All labels had to be cut off any drinks bottles, I am surprised that we were allowed tissues and hankies.  BUT, we were allowed to have our passports on the desk (we needed these as our ID), how much info could you store in a passport?  We could also have our registration paperwork on our desk, the reverse side of this was full of tiny, tightly packed text, an enterprising cheat could have quite easily made their own version with hints and tips included.

Going into the exams I was more confident about the Tax exam, but this seemed much harder than the questions that I had already studied and answered but I managed to answer every one.

The Audit exam I was not looking forward to, but this seemed much more straightforward and common sense, which means I have either done really well or I have missed something major on each question.

Both exams I finished well within the time allowed and then had to amuse myself as much as I could, or try and nap without snoring, dribbling or farting.  

Why can't we leave the exam room once we have finished the exam?  I really can't see that it would cause any disruption to those still writing, after all we have to cope with invigilators walking up and down; students walking in and out from the toilet (with an invigilator with them); rustling of papers; people sneezing and coughing.  And those are just the 'in room' disturbances.

I can't speak for other test centres, but mine is in the city centre.  Within a 5 minutes walk there are at least 3 bars, several takeaways and restaurants plus the main shopping area, several car parks and the dole office.  It's not a quiet area, there is even a cafe right below the exam room.

During my first exam, the next but one building had a fire drill, we could hear the alarm and all the evacuated staff tramping none-too-quietly past the building in which we were all trying to concentrate.

During my second exam there was a lorry blasting its air horn on and off for a good 15 minutes.  I am assuming by the crashes, rattles and bangs shortly after this that it was making a delivery.

So why would leaving an exam early interrupt people?  In previous exams we have not been allowed to leave in the first 15 minutes or the final 30 minutes, why can't the ACCA adopt this policy?