INTRODUCTION:
ACCA, a prestigious qualification of accounting and finance well-acknowledged and rewarded globally, is a combination of 13 complex modules covering diverse accounting and finance areas. These thirteen modules comprehensively cover a wide range of financial and accounting topics and are further categorized into three ACCA academic levels. The first level, known as Applied Knowledge, is the fundamental level that consists of three modules (Business & Technology, Financial Accounting, and Management Accounting). The second and intermediate level is named Applied Skills, consisting of six modules (Taxation, Corporate & Business Law, Audit & Assurance, Performance Management, Financial Management, and Financial Reporting). Lastly, the third and most advanced ACCA academic level, known as Strategic Professional, consists of four modules: 2 essentials and 2 options. The two essential modules are Strategic Business Reporting and Strategic Business Leadership. Alongside the essential modules, students can choose two modules from the given options, which are Advanced Audit & Assurance, Advanced Taxation, Advanced Performance Management, and Advanced Financial Management.
To clear this qualification, aspirants are obliged to clear all three ACCA academic levels, which is quite a challenging task and needs determination and consistency to be achieved. Through this blog, we will be providing you with seven essential ACCA tips that will help you achieve ultimate success in this academic journey.
TOP 7 SKILLS TO CLEAR ALL THE ACCA ACADEMIC LEVELS:
These three ACCA academic levels are quite comprehensive and challenging; to achieve success in clearing these levels, students need to stay focused and consistent with their hard work. Some of the essential ACCA tips that can help you achieve your goal of academic success are as follows:
1: FAMILIARIZE WITH EXAM SYLLABUS AND STRUCTURE:
It is essential to familiarize yourself with the ACCA exam structure as each module has a different approach to examining your academic knowledge and skills. Some modules are objective-based, while others are scenario-based or have comprehensive case studies.
Other than that, the curriculum of each exam is very distinctive, as each course covered in all the ACCA academic levels covers a different area of accounting and finance.
If you have a good understanding of the ACCA exam structure, you can prepare yourself according to the demands of that exam; this way, your efforts are not wasted, and you can perform well in exams.
2: MASTER TIME MANAGEMENT:
Usually, students are so focused on covering the syllabus that they miss out on the main skills that can help them a lot during these competitive exams. ACCA exams are quite detailed and time-pressured; only the students who are good at time management can manage the pressure during exams without affecting their academic performance.
Therefore, students are advised to master time management skills by practicing mock exams under exam conditions and time limitations. This way, they can divide the time for each question and allocate it according to the complexity and mark weightage of that question.
3: LEVERAGE ACCA-APPROVED RESOURCES:
To achieve success in all ACCA academic levels, you need to use reliable study material that is up to date with the ACCA curriculum and aligns with exam standards. However, with the popularity of ACCA, the number of study resource providers is increasing, but amongst them, finding a credible one is the real task. Therefore, ACCA aspirants are advised to go for ACCA-approved study resources only.
Investing in reliable exam kits, revision kits, and tuition can help you accelerate your academic journey and achieve the utmost academic success. Hence, if you find the ACCA qualification a bit complex, using these resources can help you perform to the best of your abilities.
4: FOCUS ON APPLICATION:
This qualification is highly focused on application rather than cramming theories only. Understanding the theory is, however, an essential part of the learning process, but in ACCA, you need to lay more focus on developing technical skills to apply the theory to real-world scenarios to generate outcomes/solutions.
Most of the exams, especially from the ACCA academic levels: Applied Skills and the Strategic Professional level, consist of case studies and scenario-based questions. Therefore, solely learning the theories can not help you much; knowing the application to come up with an effective solution or reasoning is essential.
5: PRACTICE PAST PAPERS/MOCK EXAMS:
Practicing with Mock exams and past papers can be great sources to prepare for ACCA exams. If you religiously practice with mock exams, you not only familiarize yourself with the exam structure and nature of questions but also master time management, answer construction, and problem-solving.
Therefore, if you aim to complete ACCA academic levels successfully and with an extraordinary performance, take at least 3-4 full mock exams per module.
6: ANALYZE EXAMINER REPORTS:
Assessing and analyzing examiner reports can help you know what common mistakes to avoid during exams and what the best practices or approaches are that you should incorporate in your answers. You can also compare your approach with the examiner’s feedback to improve your answering techniques.
7: STICK TO A REALISTIC STUDY PLAN:
Achieving success in completing the ACCA academic levels can be tiring and challenging, but a well-structured, realistic study plan and consistency in following it can help you accomplish your goals.
Make a plan that is realistic and achievable, don’t get overexcited that later you have to give up on your plan or restructure it.
CONCLUSION:
ACCA academic levels are indeed a bit complex, but they are not something out of this world; if you are passionate about this qualification and determined to achieve your goals, you can easily complete these levels with exceptional performance. Some of the ACCA tips that you can integrate to improve academically are mastering time management, structuring a realistic study plan, focusing on the application of the theory, using ACCA-approved resources, familiarizing with the curriculum and exam structure, practicing mock exams, and assessing examiner’s reports, etc.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Q1: What are the consequences if I fail an ACCA exam?
Answer: There are no such consequences attached to it; in case you fail an ACCA exam, you can resit the paper in the next attempt. Also, there is no limit to attempts, which means you can take as many attempts as you want, but for each attempt, you will have to pay the examination fee for that exam.
Q2: How to know which ACCA exam I should take next?
Answer: ACCA offers you a recommended order to take ACCA exams, starting from the easier modules to the difficult ones. To follow this order, you can go sequence-wise according to the ACCA academic levels.
