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Hi everyone,
I wanted to share my last bit of knowledge before I pass out from this course and throw away some of my materials. I've just finished my last unit, tax, and would probably do relatively well, based on what I see. I have got 4 HDs, so I think I'm reasonably qualified to comment on the whole structure.
Please keep comments constructive. I will add useful material to this post, based on what you guys say, so feel free to contribute.
Content Page
1. Difficulty, length and interesting-ness ranking
2. Order to take exams in
3. Doing Multiple Units – Should I do it? Which subjects?
4. Exam Tips
NEXT POST: PART 2 & PART 3 ON THE FOLLOWING POST
DIFFICULTY RANKING
Extremely Hard Tier: Global Strategy and Leadership
Difficult Tier: Financial Reporting, Taxation (If not Tax Accountant), Ethics and Governance
Normal Tier: Audit(If not auditor), Taxation (If Tax Accountant)
Easy Tier: Strategic Management Accounting, Auditing (If Auditor)
GSL is a special snowflake, so I won't comment much on it here, but in a different section. Tax is hard for someone who hasn't done it, as there's a lot of rules, and they make it very tricky. FR is hard by nature, and E&G is long, with a lot of things to remember. However, all these are relative.
Generally, the 4 core with written parts are harder
LENGTH RANKING
Super Long Tier: Taxation, Ethics and Governance
Long Tier: Audit, Financial Reporting
Normal Tier: Strategic Management Accounting
Short Tier: Global Strategy and Leadership
Obviously, if you value your time, don't do tax and E&G together. It'll burn you out. By far, Tax has the most material to cover, so watch out for that. E&G is one of the most boring too. I strongly recommend that you do E&G and Tax solo, so you don't burn out.
INTERESTING-NESS RANKING
Interesting Tier: Global Strategy and Leadership, Strategic Management Accounting.
Ok Tier: Tax, Financial Reporting
Boring Tier: Audit
Mind-Numbing Tier: E&G
GSL and SMA are *VERY* interesting and very useful, especially if you run your own business. You can even apply the principles in there in your life.
Audit is basically running through audit principles, which is boring, and E&G is by far the most boring. You need to learn governance codes, which will really test your dedication to study.
Order to take exams in
I did it in this order:
1. FR
2. Audit
3. SMA
4. E&G
5. GSL
6. Tax
Not a very smart order. This is what I should have done:
1. FR
2. E&G
3. SMA
4. GSL
5 & 6. Electives
Reasoning is that FR is relatively stand-alone, and will prepare you for the whole difficulty of the course. Its a good primer of what to expect, and gives you confidence, as you have completed a relatively hard unit. E&G has some relation to GSL, but not as much as SMA, so SMA comes directly before GSL. You will need as much advantage with GSL as you can. Trust me.
Why push electives to last? Reasoning being GSL is extremely hard. You don't want to waste your time completing 5 units, then discovering you can't pass the course becasue of GSL. GSL is a true gate-keeper. Despite veterans of 3-5 units taking it, the fail rate is still 30%. If you can't pass CPA after 3 units, your loss is less, and the psychological pressure is smaller. Also, you'll be less burnt-out by taking it as unit #4 rather than #6.
If you cannot pass an elective, say tax, you can at least switch to an easier one.
Multiple Units
I must admit that I did each unit singly, so please contribute in this section. If you want a lot of free time, you need to do it singly. Being married, this isn't an option to me at all. If you do multiples, this is what I'll do if forced to do it:
Sem 1: Tax
Sem 2: E&G
Sem 3: SMA & FR
Sem 4: GSL & Audit
The reason for this is Tax and E&G are killers. However, E&G is related to GSL, which is a unit you will need plenty of help with. Also, no matter what you do, try to do SMA before GSL, as there's a lot of material that both units share
Exam Tips
Exams are hard. Many of the questions have pitfalls that are placed there on purpose. The fail rate is always around 30%, statistics are shown when you get back your results. FR has an average fail rate of 44% for the last batch (Sem 2, 2012). CPA is a tricky one. These are the main issues
1. Time – This is very important. This will be your worst enemy in 5 of the units (The exception being tax) I like to do the written questions first, as MCQs usually can be done quickly.
However, a major pitfall here is that most people will spend HEAPS of time on the first question, which is usually worth very little. Here are some tips:
a) Time yourself strictly. If the exam has 60 marks, go 3hrs/60 marks = 4minutes a question. For the first few questions, time yourself VERY strictly. Write down the time you will finish each question next to it.
b) If you are not confident in a question, skip it.
c) If you spot a high-worth question which you know you are confident in answering, do that first. Use your reading time to spot these. Written sections usually have 3 big questions, choose the one out of the 3 you know best. DO NOT skip all over the place, ie. doing 1a, then 2c, then 3b. You will miss questions, and then fail.
2. Referencing – I do not tag my books, but I studied hard enough to know quickly where everything is. If you have the time to tag, I honestly feel that you should spend the time studying instead. Also, the content page is heaven-sent. Use that instead of wasting your time referencing. Tips:
a) Use the content page. Each module has a content page at the start, so use that and flip to where ever you need.
b) ONLY refer when you are not sure. For questions that you are sure, just answer and move on. Time is your major enemy, and if you refer for every single question, you WILL FAIL. DO NOT DO THIS FOR THE FIRST FEW QUESTIONS. This is where most people fail.
3. Preperation
a) Do the MCQs provided online. Do the MCQs provided online. Do the MCQs provided online. I cannot stress this enough. Do the MCQs provided online. The MCQs usually show you all the tricks and traps of the examinations. The MCQs online are VERY hard, despite what CPA says. You WILL do badly, but take joy in doing badly, as you uncover all the tricks that will make you fail.
b) The questions in the modules itself will help significantly if your exam has a written component (All the non-electives). It helps you practice writing your answers for the exam. You will get them wrong more often than not, but they're meant to be very high level. Work with the questions rather than go against it, look at the answer page, cheat, write the best reply. Its supposed to help you, not test you.
The ones I highly recommend are the calculation and presentation ones, for example, the AASB financial statement presentation in FR, or ABC costing in SMA.
For electives, I didn't find them important. However, just look at them as examples when you need it.
b) Do not waste time on readings, and all the extra stuff online. The only exception to this is the UK FRC in E&G. Read that.
I'll try to finish part 2 and 3 soon. Hopefully by the end of next week. Feel free to post your CONSTRUCTIVE thoughts.
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有图无文，懒人出行——葡萄庄园一日游。 (2008-8-10) Tiger_Karen 
工作一年了 (2008-12-17) psveind 
发表于 2015-11-27 17:25
