The magnificent seven

November 2024

Award-winning tutor Andrew Mower shares his seven ways to quickly and efficiently progress through your accountancy exams.

Over the years I have helped thousands
of students to qualify as accountants
across qualifications including ACCA,
ICAEW and CIMA. So here’s my seven top tips for
getting through the exams as easily as possible.

1: Form good habits

This is key – right at the start of your journey
become a ‘good student’.

  • Study in small, achievable chunks. Little and often is best – try to study before work so you are fresh and focused.
  • Focus on the process of studying, not the outcome (passing and ultimately qualification).
  • Reward yourself for completing small goals. Completed a module? Treat yourself!
  • Create a study environment that makes it appealing and easy to study. A nice tidy desk is a good start.

2: Create a plan

Long term: Plan out which subjects you plan to sit, when you will study and sit the exams.

Think carefully about subject combinations and how soon you sit one after the other. For example in ACCA, Financial Management (FM) leads really nicely into Advanced Financial Management (AFM), and so I always encourage students to sit them as close together as possible.

Short term: Once you know when your exam is, it is crucial to schedule your time properly in the weeks building up to exam day.

Create a study plan with everything in it – work, social events, family time and when you will study.

It’s also important to schedule breaks and days off. You need to give your mind and body a rest every now and again, this is a marathon not a sprint.

3: Communicate with your employer

Ask what they can offer to support you through these times – they may allow you to work flexibly to fit in study before work, or work reduced hours in the build up to the exam day.

You should also ask about taking time off in the final few days before the exam, and of course exam day itself. The last thing you need is to be stressed, with a busy period at work just before the big day.

4: Understand the core concepts

Many students still see exams as a memory test – they memorise a topic and then recite it in the exam and hope that they pass. This sometimes works, but it is risky (and difficult!).

Instead, you should take the time to really understand the concepts you are learning.

Linking it to real-world examples is a lovely way to do this – listen to business and finance podcasts and read relevant media to see how what you’re learning translates into the business world.

5: Practise to time

Any good tutor will tell you the same thing: the key to passing these exams is question practice.

It prepares you for the style of question the examiner will throw at you, and helps you understand the topics being tested and how to answer them.

A scary number of students don’t do this with a timer, though. Exams are nearly always time- pressured – you have a lot to do, without much time to do it.

6: Look after yourself

These exams are stressful. Some people’s jobs depend on them passing (depending on your employer).

It’s vital that you give yourself breaks. There can be in the short term while you are studying, or longer term there could be an exam sitting where you don’t sit an exam to allow for a holiday.

You must allow yourself time to exercise, socialise and spend time with friends and family.

Schedule it in and you can easily still do these without compromising your study and progress.

7: Research your study options

There are several ways of studying for these exams. Students have personal preferences depending on their situation, so it’s important you explore options.

Self-study: This is usually the lowest cost route, and often involves reading lots of material yourself and trying to understand the concepts.
Live classes: This is the traditional route of learning, with students attending courses in a classroom with other students, or attending a live online class with a tutor there in real time.

On-demand courses: These are online courses with pre-recorded video content, which allows you to study at your own pace but with a tutor guiding you through the content.

This is still really flexible, but makes it far easier to learn and understand the core concepts – and know which topics are important for the exam.

  • Andrew Mower offers study ideas, mindset advice and exam tips on LinkedIn (Andrew Mower) and YouTube (@andrewmowerAFM). He also has his own ACCA online courses (available at amalearnonline.com)