I suggest you may contact ACCA Malaysia office, I believe they can help you alot, staffs there are helpful & friendly, so no worry to ask assistances from them. Good luck & God bless you.

Finalising the syllabus is a very vague & subjective term (especially theory papers). I heard from students there some KSA lecturers (Viknes, Parmindar & Phillip Woo) has tendency & history of not finishing their respective syllabus. Since all 3 of them has vast experience they have the knack for "gone off topic" & gives rather too much practical example rather than the core area of syllabus. When time is a limiting factor they will just glance through (imagine 3 main are in 20 minutes)

I remember Viknes has added 2 class b4 in F4 bcos he cannot finished (at the end he still did not finished since he spent quarter of the time to preach on students bad habit). I like his jokes though.

Parmindar (P1 & P3) previously only has 24 sessions of class but he will add another 4 sessions from time to time (he normally cannot finish).
Therefore this sitting the class size increase to 30 session. However he did gives a lot of focus to important area in syllabus.
I think that he has a very vast knowledge of pratical practices compared to other lecturers (but sometimes it can be excessive).
However most students will come out "wiser" & more "knowledgeable".

P2 & P7 candidate reporting in.

Hopefully able to pass P2 the first attempt just like in P1&P3 last sem. Even though i wud admit P2 is tougher than the 2 core papers.

Any P2 sifus care to share some study tips.

any tips on how to study F5 especially the non-calculus part?

Understand the relative standards well, according to my fren who did impressively well for her P2 last round. She seemed to display good ability to comprehend what the question was asking.

Usually it tends to be on the ability to grasp why is there an issue, and the overlapping areas between standards. P2 is after all a professional paper and I suspect that the examiners are starting to move towards the conflict areas (aka how to treat prepaid operatings leases for example) for examination (just my hunch lah, don't take my word for it)

or in the cases of shares with very vague descriptions, identifyign how the subcomponents of such financial instruments might be.

this semester might see some ethical issues on risk as well given the financial meltdown in wall street. I suspect they may ask on risk of financial instruments if used without due care. (theory, maybe in paeprs P1, P2 or P4 or even P7 if they ask on auditor's ability to understand and comprehend the associated risk of financial instruments used so indiscriminately)

I mean, that's what I would think I should prepare for la.. no idea what u think is right, though.

F5 tests your analytical and synthesis skills. Some minimal parts of F5 is related to economics like price elasticity in pricing decision. However, it is the analytical skills that you gained in understanding econmics which helps you in F5.

I presume that most people would not have problems in calculations. The headache areas are in commenting on the calculations made. What are the underlying reasons? What they represent?

This is my recommendations:

Practice questions with answers at your side. Start with reading the required parts and understand which part of the syllabus they are testing. Whether Part A,B,C,D i.e, Costing techniques? Budgeting? Decision Making? Standard Costing? Performance Measurement? ANd are they asking for calculations or for comments or both?

Be aware that there could be a combination of the parts tested in a question.

In contrast to what most people will recommend, I will prefer to read the answers straight after i have understood the questions. Reading the answers involve analysing the answers, looking at the presentation style. And assess whether these are things that I will do during the exams. If you write your answers, you could be locked-in to your own thoughts.

This is time effective and allow you to cover alot of questions in a short time span. You could test yourself by not looking at the answers for some questions. And assess whether the studying approach works.

Good Luck!

I will reveal what is "everybody knows but still do it" or "unproductive effort"
There will be those who will advise you to (study, refer, memorise) your past year ANSWER.
What's wrong doing theory / calculative question while referring to answer WHEN you DON'T KNOW the answer ?

That is what separate those who scores & those who pass (with less marks) or fail.
What is the purpose of doing question or revision ?
To learn the answer (by knowing the style or preffered methods by examiner). The answer is NO.

You practice those question bcos you want to test yourself on areas which you have not anticipated / lack of knowlege of.
What is the POINT of referring the answer the instant you don't know.
Most will just flip & flop those pages between the answer & question then act as though they really finish it.
There isn o point pretending as MOST of ACCA student doest that especially Asian students.

Why not give this a try, do the entire question REGARDLESS whether YOU KNOW IT OR NOT then refer answer when truly finished.
If this truly didn't work then it shows that you really lack the knowledge (it may be good since you whuch area you are weak then improve it)
National Geographic has a famous saying "You do not measure your knowlege by what you know but rather on what you didn't know"
The reason i never failed in any of my exam since my childhood its bcos i practice these method.
Don't give a damn on what the question is all about, JUST DO IT then check.

You can answer those past year question multiple times, but will they give the exact answer you practice on this Dec 08 sitting, i don't think so.
With exception of 100% theoretical works, but that is very hard to come by these days.

could anyone pls comment on this:
which combination is better taking all factors into account?
F5,6,7
F5,6,8
F5,6,9
any other good suggestions?

thx pretty much ^^

I jst log in to myacca n knwg tat i got a notice..i cant take my P2 sitting in TARC..what should i do?~

Most people will avoid audit in professional option papers (it means F8 will be your last audit paper if you designated it so)
Plus "many" (not my opinion only) cannot pass auidt at 1st attempt especially when you lack understanding.
A lot of students sat audit for 2 times (under 2 different lecturer : Sheila John & Phillip WOO)

F7 is closely links to P2 core professional, so you will need to remember a lot of your standards from f7 so advisable to take hand in hand.
Chhose f7 if you take P2 at immediately after f7.

F9 can be taken anytime you wish. Most student are afraid of this paper "tai ko" P4 since it was deemed the most difficult paper in ACCA.

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Added on September 30, 2008, 1:06 amWell i get the same experience (some of my friends who choose tarc also did). Tarc always full since they didnt have enough seats to allocate to all students (don't forget they have their own internal student as well).

Do you by any chance get Federal territories (others), i did & I have to find it few days b4 exam. Turns out it was IPB . Its a malay college at Kampung pandan in KL near the royal selangor golf course.

This post has been edited by Topace111: Sep 30 2008, 01:06 AM

juz wanna ask.

can i study for myself and later on sit for the exam? or do i have to undergo classes? can i just take the test only without going to classes?

if i'm not mistaken. before taking ACCA, we need to pass CAT first am i right?

You can perfectly eligible to sit the exam without taking any classes (but most students go for revision to prioritise on where to study).
No need to pass Cat to begin ACCA. There are 3 normal exemptions :
- CAT / Diploma / LCCI can normally exempt from F1 to F3.
- Degree can exempt partial / full from f4 to f9.
- No exemptions are available for professional papers

If you are a SPM leaver can start from CAT
If you are a STPM you can start ACCA immediately from F1.
If you are working = you don't have to attend class (but most opt to for part time class conducted on night)
If you are a degree holder who feels dissatisfied by lack of job oppurnity (you can take acca & have exemptions depending on your degree status)

I respect that different people have their own approach to F5. Sometimes i doubt my approach also but it works at the end. Having a wide knowledge not confined to the syllabus is an advantage.

I find that it is time consuming to have the answers in full. I would plan my answers only. Reading the answers is not exactly what most people think. For me, I read and analyse the answers. This takes considerable amount of time as I ponder on the answers given, highlighting points that I have not had in mind when planning. I would look at the style and presentation. You pick up the skills slowly.

There are considerable amount of questions available for practice. For those who answer in full during practice, I am sure they would choose questions causing some areas of the syllabus to be neglected. Time is a main factor during revision. Isn't? Unless you are doing 1 or 2 papers in a semester, then you can "abuse" the time available.

Hope this is helpful to everyone doing F5

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Added on September 30, 2008, 12:34 pmApparently, you intend to sit for three papers each semester and have five papers left in the Fundamental Level.

I can't give you a good suggestion. But these are the factors to be considered.

1) Actual exam timetable - avoid all the papers in a week, consider the papers in the subsequent semester

2) Your confidence level in the respective papers

3) The bulkiness of the combination - try to spread the bulky and tough papers.


This post has been edited by Rvelos: Sep 30 2008, 12:34 PM

[quote=xiuxing,Sep 28 2008, 03:41 PM]
but i dun hav account basic ...

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Added on September 28, 2008, 3:52 pm

you can take Pitman level to cover the 1st level of ACCA. but must be completed CAT before go to ACCA. it much more easier .. and could take short period to finish it.

[quote=xiuxing,Sep 28 2008, 03:41 PM]
but i dun hav account basic ...

neither do i.......besides, starting from skill level, everything is new for student whether you hav account basic or not.

so, acca isn't really just for those who hv account basic
if u r afraid u dont hav account basic, that u wont be able to cope with self-study in part 1......its absurb to think this way.....if u r hard-working, part 1 is a piece of cake for anyone who hav interest in accounting

True. I personally dont think studying accounts in SPM helps at all during my ACCA studies. In fact, i was just playing a fool during SPM level, i dont understand whats accounting is all about

But when i took part 1, and gradually move on to part 2, u will realise that with or without accounting background does not make any difference.

In fact, i personally think those with or without CAT as a foundation, there aint much difference too, if u really put your heart into what u r doing.

All the best in ACCA!

does that mean, if i do not have CAT, i can straight go for ACCA or CIMA? btw, i'm currently doing diploma in marine engineering. somehow, accounting have attracted me.

no...

Good tip. You from Sunway ? lol
Me too.

This post has been edited by Computer^freak: Oct 1 2008, 01:49 PM

Greeting to you Xiu Xing,

Finally you are on your journey for this four letters qualification all the best & will see another trained accountant/manager in later 3 or 4 years. KSA is one of the most balanced learning center I experienced. I passed my final through this center so no worry, cloud never a issue blocking you from learning & lecturers there all very attentive to students as long as you willing to learn & willing to ask, they willing to help

This post has been edited by cfng76: Oct 1 2008, 03:26 PM