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....

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

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.

Lose a Stone for Christmas/Pounds for Pounds

I didn't post last week as I wasn't very well.  I don't know if it was something I ate that disagreed with me, or I picked a 24 hour thing, either way I got in from work and went straight to bed.

This week saw the start of my exams, so chocolate has been a staple part of my diet, somehow I only managed to put 1/4lb back on.  Maybe stress is a weightloss accelerator.

I have two more exams before my next weigh in, so fingers crossed for both my remaining exams and my weigh in.

Goal: 14lbs

Lost last week: 0.75lbs

Total lost: 8.25lbs
Still to lose: 5.75lbs

Goal: 14lbs

Lost this week: 0.25lbs GAIN

Total lost: 8.00lbs
Still to lose: 6.00lbs

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 I have been mostly sitting exams, well two anyway.

The plan was that I would get into town about an hour early, go for a coffee, go to the loo (they were 3 hour exams, plus reading time, plus be at your desk 15 minutes before the exam) and aim to be at the test centre 5 or 10 minutes before I had to be.

As with every plan I ever make, it didn't happen, at least for the first exam.  I got stuck trying to cross the main road to get to the bus stop, I got to the island in the middle of the road and became stranded!  The traffic was non-stop and I just watched as the bus arrived at the stop down the road and then got closer and closer until it just sailed past me.  The road immediately became clear and I was able to get the rest of the way across.

For the next exam I left a couple of minutes earlier and there was no traffic.  I got into town and treated myself to a Chai Latte (and a bacon muffin, hehe) at Costa Coffee.  

Saturday I decided I was going to have a drink.  I have been really careful since I started on my Sertraline tablets, to begin with I avoided all alcohol, then I started having a glass of wine with food and I was fine with that, and it was enough.  Saturday, though, I really, really wanted a 'proper' drink.  I had a bottle of Smirnoff Ice, the big bottle, 75ml.

What a mistake.

I didn't feel poorly, but I did revert back to the pre-antidepressant me.  I felt evil and was picking fault with everything.  Everything I watched or read was wrong and had to be told so.  I took myself to bed at 7.30pm so that I didn't start commenting on facebook posts and upsetting people.

But I am glad that I did it, at least I know now that I shouldn't do it.  And finding out that it is not good whilst I was alone (which to be fair for 99% of non-working hours I am) at least meant that I have not alienated the few people that I do still see.  I will still have the occasional drink with meals as I found that it worked for me.

Today I have been very good and prepared some of my lunches for the week.  I need to save money if I am ever going to be able to afford the photo shoot that I have promised myself.  As the photographers (link here) is 'oop north', as well as the cost of the shoot itself, I need to have train fare and money for a hotel, so all donations gratefully received.

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?