If you want the perfect college. i could think of merging this characteristics :
1) Take FTMS environment = comfortable spacing between table & chairs, ergonomic chairs, wide tables.
2) Take MCO dedicated lecturer = Like Haneef, Sheila & Chow they truly wish students best interest at heart.
3) Take KB = Low pricing.
4) Take Paac = max quota on student size.
5) Take KSA experienced lecturer = like Parmindar, Viknes & Phillip.
6) Take Sunway = brand & facilities.

Is there somemore ?

What is the relevance to your request ?
I have encountered countless students who have taken their P3 with different lecturers & i have garnered their views :
- their lecturer was unaware of what they are teaching (scope)
- lack the proper study material (content)
- uninterested in teaching since its more management & IT compared to accounting (motivation)
- lack the necessary experience (expertise)

If you want to study full time / part time you really should attend Parmindar class at KSA.
(At first, I really reluctant to go back there again & to my horror the receptionist boast that his combined class can easily reach 250 students)

This is what i had garnered from his >30 odd classes :
1) He is very animated fella (like to use hand gestures, suddenly screams to highlight his point)
2) Can make some very funny jokes at the right time (when he talk non stop for couple of minutes)
3) He can give you many practical examples which will stick in your head until exam day, i can still remember most of them :
4) He is quite focus (he will teach exceptionally long hours on important exam area)
- i still remember that he teach acquistion strategy in the whole day
5) He write his own answer for you to understand better (trust me examiner answer can be very )
- the beautiful thing is the answer is very student orrientated approach, the answer is very much alike what normally you will write in exam in 3 hours.
6) Very friendly fella (any time i ask him something he never rejects or push me away like SOME I KNEW BUT I WON'T DIVULGE HERE

Of course you will then rush blindly to him but like any other man he too has some shortcomings
By the way did i mention he is a very religious man (I think he is christian) = so he is quite humble but with the biz cunning attitude.
1) He is not systemathic : He will flip between different pages from past year to his notes to highlight some points (quite fast & confusing)
2) He is too darn famous : His class size is too big
3) The ugly culture in centre : You need to either come very early for places or have someone to book for you (since you are a part timer i don't really think you will like to rush to the centre do you ?)
4) He can easily sway & go off focus
- sometimes he will talk about his own family, his past employment, his childhood, his grandmother stories, his vision, his political view .........
5) If you have never been to KSA this is my good advice, be prepare to fight for anything from toilet cubicle, water cooler spot, class seats, lift & even potential lover attention (sorry this is my joke only on the last bit)

This post has been edited by Topace111: Dec 11 2008, 09:47 PM

I think many college are offering acca course to promote their market share (through market develepment strategy).
I don't think profit is their objective since acca course are rather inexpensive & its ability to generate huge influx of students because of its low requirement compared to other professional qualifications. ACCA policy its always like "Easy to enter, hard to get out".

By the way when i was chatting with a senior student she told me of michael class. It seems his revision was conducted in a large hall & the student size was equivalent if not bigger than parmindar revision class. However dhe said that they practice a numbering system where they will jolt down your seat number when you paid for the fees. In that way that person can come at any time s(he) wishes without the need to book.

Although i dislike Mco policy to charge high fees incrementally every year i applaud thier policy on the numbering system for revision seats.
Perhaps other "reputable" centre should take notes soon.

No problem as ACCA doesn't care as long as you keep in filling their coffers.
However i was kinda curious why you wish to skip f9 & go for P2 instead.
P2 was a lot more difficult compared to f9.

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Added on December 12, 2008, 8:07 pmI will try to break down my answer based on your question :
1) Fundamental or CAT
Fundamental means taking = F1, F2 & F3 which can be concluded in 6 months
Entry requirement = Diploma / LCCI / STPM if i am not mistaken
Benefit = Faster entry to acca fundamental level (F4 to F9)
Drawback = Lack the necessary foundation for later stages

CAT = T1 to T10 (choose 2 out of 3 from T8, T9, T10) which can be concluded in 1 to 1.5 years.
Entry requirement = SPM enough already.
Benefit & Drawback is opposite to fundamental

2) When start ?
Normally class starts on :
early january, revision on may & exam on june OR
early July, revision on novemenr & exam on december

3) Which paper to take first ?
Fundamental can choose.
Cat must folloe the flow they alloted to you,
T1 & T2
T3, T4, T5
T6, T7, + (T8,T9,T10 whichever 2 you wish)


This post has been edited by Topace111: Dec 12 2008, 08:07 PM

It is lame, ha ha
You should swap position with me, i just had 3 days straight for my core papers & i am still recovering from the mental exhaustion.
However if you really want synergy take f8 & P1 together, there are 3 area which are very similar to each other & account for almost 25% of each paper syllabus : Risk management, Internal audit, internal control.
However before moving to professional paper you need to finish all / taken together with fundamental paper.

Cannot access optional paper unless :
1) Finish / pass all the core papers
2) Take optional with existing core papers
(Hypothetical theory = If you pass P1 already, but failed P2 & P3 you can take P4 with P2 & P3)

Dealing with financial assets i follow this "FLOW", very effective to understand the whole process :
1) Is it publicly quoted, has fix & determinable payment & company have intent and ability to held for maturity. If all yes :
= Finc asset held to maturity

2) Not publicly quoted, has fix & determinable payment & company have intent and ability to held for maturity. If all yes :
= loans & receivables

3) Its held for trading or company electively designated it to be so :
= Finc asset at FV through profit / loss

4) None of the above or company electively designated it so :
= Available for sale finc asset.

If we cannot fulfill no 1 & no 2 , then we look at no 3 & no 4.
No 3 means you buy that finc asset for the purpose to resold for short term fluctuations in market price = you can use examples like derivatives, shares & options, warranties, swap or any speculative instruments.
However company can also "choose" to classify an asset which qualified as loans & recivables under this standard since company are given "choice" to select which finc asset to recognise.
Why company should do that, because this is the only standard that allows company to recognise any increase / decrease in fair value of instrument directly to Income statement (can adjust profit accordingly)

No 4 is the general "others" which if cannot fulfill any criteria hust select based on this option. Standard don't allow room for manipulations where company can abuse it if they can show that none of the criteria qualifies.

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Added on December 13, 2008, 10:34 pmTake F8, F9 and P1 lo.
Actually P1 is a very useful paper to help you in other papers as well.
20% of my P2 & P3 marks was related to P1. (indirectly)

One note for concern : Corporate governance & environmental has become such an issue i have encountered them anywhere after its introduction. It features heavily in F4, F8, P1, P2 & P3. If you have studied P1 you can recycled those knowledge to other papers.

This post has been edited by Topace111: Dec 13 2008, 10:34 PM

I shared your view that self study is quite important & over reliance on lecturer alone is very risky indeed.
Last time in my cat i take all papers at only 1 centre, as aresult i learn the hard way that some of lecturers are not competent enough.
This situation forced me to study even better as a result i scored eighty above (cat difficult is still ok for tax only = 90% similar)

However i notice a flaw in your comment which can be rectified further.
Evidently you take all your papers at single college (perhaps for bulk discounts, convenience or follow friends around.....etc)
In acca level 2 (f4 to f9) its quite difficult to self study as there is many changes in syllabus than you expected.

I can highlight some aspect you will probably face during self study :
1) Confusion = there are some very weird topics around which requires explanation

2) Lack of focus = Not all areas will be tested & you may study something which will never even be tested.

3) Changes in content = Areas like audit & reporting face changes every 2 sittings at the very least.

4) Lack of experience = This is the major point highlighted by many UK forumers (if you are interested), you may not know how to detect common mistakes made by student.
- In tax student always thought they will socred but always get lower mark than expected.
- In reporting many student think they will scored one evry a/c blance but its just an illusion
- In audit student always thought knowlege may carried them through but examiner is very peculiar about wording which student always get wrong

5) Wrong technic = You may know the answer but do you know how to structure ?
In audit examiner are very peculiar about the wording when you use audit procedures for substantive procedure ot test of control.

Of course you can self study but you need great discipline to do so. Normaly students aged <23 lack the ability to do so.
You have mentione dthe reason why you go for self study yourself = bad lecturer.
So the solution to your problem is to find "an even better" lecturer.
Because you paid for it you have every single right to ask & choose the best lecturer to suit your study needs. It doesn't mean the best lecturer in the market will be most suitable for you. Choose wisely & find where is your weakness is.

Beacuse i was weak in theory part in reporting i look for the best lecturer for reporting theory.
Because i need good technic for audit not only the knowledge & experience i find a suitable one.
Because i need a good lecturer who can explain the reasoning of models & framework of finance again i go for the appropriate one.

law is the most suitbale paper for self study but its the most boring paper in all acca.
If you enjoy the learning process you can understand it better & there is no better lecturer in doing that (that i know of) than Viknes in KSA & KB.

Since you will take in KSA, i think i can highlight what you will probably miss :
F4 = The lecturer will normally conduct his 1st term in biz law so you should concentrate on this area of syllabus.
F5 = I was not too sure but the lecturer always put more emphasise on calculation, so you should read more about theoretical part.
F6 = You need to master these 2 thing no matter which lecturer you pursue :
1) Master the format of tax computations : Personal & Corporate.
Tax undergo so many changes throughout the year that i becames almost impossible to do all question of exam without understand the flow.
My lecturer gave us some past year from 1999. Believe me my lecturer pinpoint more than 6 changes to employment income in that space of 8 years.
Next try to memorise as much of deductible / non deductible / double deduction & taxable / non taxable income. Just memorise at much as possible. Past year will pinpoint the popular ones : freight charges of ....local insured company....goods export / import = qualifies for double deduction sort of thing.

I thought biz & contract is law the same ? Anyway maybe i am mistaken
His class in first term is way funnier & more interesting than 2nd term.
He rushed at the last day but still cannot finish & left some areas out.

There are other college but i don't really think they are complete if you want all 3 paper together.
My advice is to select lecturer based on your study methods & areas which you are not competent enough
There is no point going there just to solidify your strength.
In art of war if you know both yourself & your enemy (exam paper) you will not fear the results of hundred battles (exam)

MCO
F7 = Haneef (if you are weak in standards which i think most student do)
F8 = Sheila (If you need a friendly lecturer who will tend to your question)
F9 = Chow Kim tai (he will make the class very comfortable & stress free = his notes is the most systemathic i have seen since i joined acca, even daniel ho copied some of his notes for some of his lower finance area (last time finance & perf management is merged)

KSA
F7 = Joe Fang (focus on calculation technics & consol)
F7 = Keith farmer (can balance both a/c & technic but you need to adjust to his british slang)
F8 = Phillip Woo (deemed by many as the most experienced audit lecturer in town, however his method is more to showing examples & explain the actual practices rather than teaching. Both audit notes are very thick.
F9 = Andrew pang (very similar to Chow in terms of calculation technics & theory explanation = for some reason both lecturers seem uninterested to dwell more into theoretical parts in finance, they just asked students to read the points highlighted during classes.

Since you don't mind about pricing i think you should seriously consider about MCO for these 3 papers only. From P1 to P3 you may consider KSA or go lecturer based. However your point really intriguing : you don't care much about cost but you are in need mof scholarship. ACCA cost is deemed to be very little compared to other degree programmes or even diplomas. I think there are certain college which offers deep discount if you are that batch top scholar, just study hard.

If you don't like huge & sardine like environment, KSA should be your last option.
Yeah andrew class is very crowded (although he is famous but not the best available choice)
Why not try daniel ho in FTMS. I think many forumers here will agree that daniel ho is the best finance lecturer around.
His class will be less crowded (not because of his competency but the declining reputation status of the centre).
Daniel Ho is the only lecturer who specialised in finance only (andrew did PM & fincance so its more general)

there are 2 very very experienced lecturer around
- siva at FTMS = He is ex-examiner but he is very quick & lack the ability to spread the message accros.
- Alan at KSA = never attend his class but friends agree he is quite boring.

There are another 2 whom can teach more "student friendly" :
- Wong paik wan at MCO = never attend her class but quite ok
- Chin ann in KB = In my opinion i think he is the best tax lecturer "for now". He will teach in systemathic way since tax is all jumbled up.

In tax you need to know all the rules on expenses & income before you proceed with the computations of format. Chin ann will teach you all the rules not by the syllabus which requires you to provide the format while learnign them. Siva has made these very difficult for me at the beginning by requiring us to produce the full format first without explaining the theory behind it first (he follow strictly by syllabus).

Chin ann style is to make the paper more difficult than it appears to be so you will be more relaxed in exam. He will provide you all this fuinny scenario that examiner rarely tested but if did you will find it very easy.

I never attend andrew class but from student feedback he was more focused on the modes of calculation. He will highlight the area of importance to student so they will read the section back home. I think you can ask the majority of the forumers here who have attended his class.

I have attend daniel ho class & i can reveal how he normally teach :
- He will explain the reasoning behind models & formulaes not just memorising them.
- he develop his own techinique which was very easy to use to handle difficult topics like hedging foreign currency.
- He is very firendly lecturer, just wave your hand he will come to you even you sit at the back of the class.
- He doesn't use his own notes (but its very simple & complete) but you need to jolt down his personal notes in class.
- His approach in explaining theory part is to give you all the simple key word he develops & the part to elaborate was left to student to apply when question qas presented. It was a step by step approach like : Key word - explanation - examples.
- The class room atmosphere is very comfortable & stress free. Unlike other lecturers i feel very calmed & relaxed when enter his class
(the way he teached & spacious class is the major factor), parmindar will easily fall into this category if not for the condensed centre.
By the way i heard parmindar & daniel is good friends & they play badminton during holidays.
- He is one of the most veteran & oldest lecturer around (but his face looks young), even chin ann referred him as uncle Ho. (he was at FTMS b4)
- can present some very practical jokes (I still remember he displayed 10000 HK $ to teach how to habdle foreigh currency)

However he do have some deficiencies like his english was not that fluent compared to the likes of haneef, sheila & parmindar. This was probably explained by the fact that he needs to juggle between china, hong kong & malaysia.

You can consider their P3 revision class but i heard that their normal class lecturer was not recommended.

I just register for daniel ho class today. The admin said that they do split first term & 2nd term now.
They give 4 options :
1) 1st & 2nd term course + revision
2) 1st & 2nd term
3) 1st term only
4) Revision only
No registration fee is needed but no early bird discount either. (unless you plan to take more than 2 papers)

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Added on December 18, 2008, 4:30 pmSecurity issue is rarely a concern since those place was quite congested & lots of people around.
You should be worried when there is nobody around.
Part time classes normally have more students & lecturers are less exciting at night (tired, boredom, repeatable notes.....etc)

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Added on December 18, 2008, 4:38 pmACCA can be considered quite difficult at later stages (don't compare with cat yet, my average mark drop from cat 85 to 70 in my F4 to F9).
I heard very few people can actually pass ICAEW purely by study since it requires knowledge & brain power too.
That is why ICAEW was never meant for graduates, hey even acca was not meant for graduates under 21 too.
Here let me quote this from wikipedia :

To be admitted to membership of the ICAEW, applicants must generally complete 450 days of relevant work experience (training) and pass a series of examinations. The work experience lasts between three and five years and must be with an employer or employers approved by the Institute for training. The examinations are in two stages, professional stage (twelve papers) and advanced stage (two papers and a case study, which must be taken in the final year of training).

Existing members of ACCA, CIMA and CIPFA of over five years membership may be admitted, subject to passing an Examination of Experience[2] and sponsorship by two ICAEW members. Members of equivalent bodies in other European Economic Area countries and Switzerland may also be admitted to membership after passing an aptitude test, provided they are a citizen of an EEA state or Switzerland.

I think student should complete their acca before considering ICAEW. Its like straight after PMR you sit for STPM instead of SPM.



This post has been edited by Topace111: Dec 18 2008, 04:38 PM

I have recieved a sms that viknes will just be teaching at KB & no longer has teaching at KSA.
I wonder what the normal KSA students will do ? Stick with the college or the lecturer ?
Should be an easy choice but not to those who have already registered.

I am speechless ................. ,well web based advertising is the future now i supposed.
By the way i was always wondering what 1v37 is ?

This post has been edited by Topace111: Dec 19 2008, 07:38 PM

Well there is plenty of lecturers in here before (indirectly), but such direct maneouvre is the first among other things.
Speaking of e-marketing i really thought at least he should act through intermediaries.
Well this is the first time i heard KSA will lose one of their primary lecturer without equal / superior succesion planning.
Normally KSA will aggresively engage new lecturers througthout the year.
No i am quite happy there are stronger representative in KB, i don't really like it with KSA & MCO monopoly alone, speaking of which i will not register in any of that 2 for next sitting, ooh rah .

Because of KSA P3 i already have claustrophobia & MCO poor facilities in room 2A (old rusted wooden / steel table and plastic chair)
PS : I think Mr V does not want anymore affiliations with KSA with such statement, wonder what happened ?

Very minimal exemption only 2 to 3 paper max if applicable

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Added on December 20, 2008, 10:06 amThere is chin ann in KB.

This post has been edited by Topace111: Dec 20 2008, 10:06 AM