TARC ACCA 2005

FIFTY THINGS TO DO TO GET YOU THROUGH THE EXAMS

• Make your script attractive; leave a line between paragraphs. That way you are subconsciously asking the marker to give you a mark for each paragraph, saying this point is worth a mark. It also helps to prevent you repeating yourself and focuses your mind on picking up the marks.
• Time management is key to success. Put a clock on your desk at home when you do a mock exam. This will give you the discipline to stop when you should. Candidates always spend only two minutes summing up - it takes at least seven, and this makes the next question more time-pressured.
• Go to the toilet before the exam, whether you feel like it or not. It will put your mind at rest that you have done it. Remember, you can waste much time in a big hall waiting for an invigilator to take you to the toilet. If you are struggling for time before you've just lost another five minutes.
• You should sit a minimum of three mock exams before every exam. Four is better.
• The exam time is inelastic, it won't change. Don't think the paper is too difficult and that if only you had another 15 minutes you could turn this paper into a pass - it won't happen. You don't need to finish each question, just attempt every part of each.
• Don't stay up too late the night before and set two alarm clocks for the morning of the exam. You must have heard the story of the student who phoned the ACCA to ask what subjects had featured in that morning's paper. She had stayed up late studying and then overslept. The student wanted to know what topics were in the exam paper so she could tell her boss how hard it had been and how she expected to fail, so the company would pay for a re-sit.
• Find out where the exam hall is taking place. One student phoned the ACCA in a panic because he couldn't find the exam room. He had gone to college expecting the exam to be held there - duh!
• The marker is human, they detest small diagrams, you've got an A4 page... use it.
• Exam candidates who leave the exam early have less chance in passing. Remember: time is king.
• Your tutor is there to help, ask them questions.
• Sleep with your tutor (a suggestion from a tutor!). --- better don’t do this,it won’t help !
• Pray to your God for help.
• Take the dog for a walk, relieve the stress.
• Get the cost of capital formulae tattooed on your arm.
• Throw away your manuals.
• Throw darts at a picture of the examiner.
• Spread a false rumour about the scrapping of a key topic.
• Post off the entry to the exam hall (we hear that helps).
• Take some sickkies so you can do some extra revision.
• Read exam tips.
• Always carry some pre-folded paper to use as a wedge under a wobbly desk.
• If planning to use earplugs make sure you sit your final mocks with earplugs as well. Otherwise the sensation will be new and unusual (like being able to hear yourself think)
• Don't fall into the trap of thinking that an exam always finishes on the hour if that is how the mocks were timed. The real exam might finish on the half hour and there have been many otherwise sensible people fooled into finishing an exam 30 minutes earlier than they need to (in one blonde tutor's case this happened twice!).
• Take milk and bread into the last exam... to line the stomach for when you hit the booze straight after.
• Ask for more paper/booklets at the start so that you are not waiting for the geriatric invigilator at a critical moment.
• In written papers ask for graph paper in a loud voice to cause confusion among others.
• Wear lots of layers... it might be too hot or too cold.
• Play battle music if travelling to the centre by car - the Ride of the Valkyries, perhaps.
• Take a torch with you in case it's too dark for your solar powered calculator (real story).
• Always make sure you have plenty of cash with you on the day of the exam. This way if the trains mess up you can jump in a taxi and make it to the exam hall on time.
• When starting a question note on the question paper the time you should finish it: knowing it should take 45 minutes is no use it you can't remember what time you started the question.
• Only wear skimpy clothes to put off candidates of the opposite sex- but only if you are sure the exam hall isn't air-conditioned.
• Don't forget to keep turning the pages - if not you might miss out a question on the back page (one unfortunate tutor was talking from personal experience, luckily in a mock exam).
• Arrive early, but don't mix with nervous characters. Keep your own counsel.
• If blind panic sets in, flex a big muscle - like your thigh - by picking up your leg and swinging it forwards and backwards. This action kick-starts the 'fight or flight' mechanism the panic created in your body and enables you to calm down more quickly.
• Keep thinking: 'This qualification is worth having.'
• Be active in the exam. Drive on and on, and always remember, you only need to get it half right.
• Save your writing hand - carry bags, etc, in your non-writing hand on the morning of the exam.
• Remember that for the exam you need a spare pen, pencil, rubber, two coloured pens, Tippex, 12-inch rule, eraser and calculator. Also remember your exam notification and have proof of identity.
• Leave huge gaps after questions, you will finish your booklet quicker and panic other students when you ask for another. Other students who request another booklet early have been leaving huge gaps!
• Do a dummy run if you're going to an exam hall you've not been to before. Go on the same day, same time, one week before. Don't go at 8 o'clock on a Sunday morning!
• Switch your mobile phone off and make sure you leave all your notes in your bag, not in your pockets.
• Remember, the examiner won't mark you down if you have a different view from him. He wants reasoned arguments supported by logic.
• Don't always start with question one just because it's first. Choose a topic you are comfortable with to help get you into the right way of thinking.
• If a question has several unrelated parts tackle the shortest part first, rather than doing them in order. You are more likely to run over time on long sections which will lose you lots of easy marks by not getting the chance to tackle the other shorter requirements.
• Do not start to write until you are certain you know what the examiner is after. Many students miss the point of the question by rushing in too quickly.
• Expect there to be areas in the exam that you will not be able to answer.
• If you are not attending a course or getting mock exams marked for you, ask someone that has passed professional exams to mark questions for you. The feedback, especially on written questions, will be invaluable.
• Decide before the exam what type of personality you are. Know your strengths and weaknesses so that you can focus on questions that highlight your strengths rather than picking questions purely on technical grounds; for example, written versus computational, or which section to tackle first. Written marks can still be picked up even if you cannot do the computational areas. Keep writing - you will not gain marks for a blank piece of paper.
• Don't panic! If your brain goes blank this means that you are stressed, so sit back, breath deeply and think of something you enjoy. Then go back to the paper and start looking at the easiest question first.

posted by Unknown @ 5:57 PM