1 : The burden is only apparent only on exam day. My P2 mark suffer greatly compared to P1 & P3 due to exhaustion. Anyway i notice an indirect benefit which I discovered on my own. Its called synergy.
Stuff you learned in P1 can be tested in other papers notable P2, P3 & P4 (others i am not sure yet) but this 3 is confirmed. My sitting of P2 & P3 includes P1 stuff which is easier in other paper compared to P1. So P1 is like a bonus paper. I have checked from other professional qualification as well. CIMA introduce ehtics (or p1) first then ACCA followed. CFA also practice similar approach.
But P1 stuff is not important to know but just deemed essential after enron failure.

2. The changes is mainly on NCI. Example on IFRS 3 on calcualtion of goodwill. The things you learn should be roughly the same but examiner can intoroduce more difficult are of NCI for Dec09 onwards.

3) I also don't like to memorise but we need to memorise first then slowly progress to understanding then comprehension.
For P1 there are 2 good lecturer but there are many others too.
Phillip Woo : He is suitable for those whom are hardworking cos a lot of stuff to memorise & understand.
Sheila : Less memorisation but more on understanding & technic.

P3 : Sadly there are only one full time commited lecturer which are deemed recommended which is Parmindar in KSA.
There is Michael mainwaring but only for revision class.
For theory paper they cannot teach you much since its pretty much depend on yourself but they can narrow & focus on important topics. Almost half of the syllabus area is irrelevant for exam but only for comprehension.

I still got my old P2 notes with me & i will narrow down his key topic :
IFRS 3 : Biz combination, Forex, Cashflow, NCA held for sale, agriculture, Financial Instrument, Share based payment, Employee benefits, income tax, compex group, piecemeal, disposal of shares.
He teaches the most standards in P2 but he rarely touches F7 area like leasing & EPS.

Knowledge only comes to apply if you dont know any models to refer to.
For example in P3 they asked a question about something (Ie : biz strategy) so if you knew the answer from practical experience then write away. If you are not creative enough then refer to some template model like Kotler whom by the way is also coming to MYS (after seeing his poster everywhere in KL streets).

Like my last P3 exam they come out a question something like a mining comp diversify into boat & themepark company so I just quote Mines Wonderland in MYS for reference. Then they asked about the museum incompatability with modern times so I just crashed on our own museum.

What I meant previously is that question will be so general that even applying models can be tricky so i just stick with practical knowledge which is safer. The question will just asked "Explain" thats all so you can practically bluff all the way through. But even a cheater needs a high IQ.

F8 & P1 should be under Sheila at Mco. Who is teaching F9 ?

Have you guys attend any Talk hosted by ACCA b4 & familiar with the registration procedure ?
Me & several friends are interested in joining the talk of "Improving Your Employability in the Current Economic Climate" this 13th june.

[quote=cheehwa,Jun 10 2009, 10:40 AM]
[quote=`twinkles,Jun 7 2009, 09:47 PM]
I am always quite an okay student, but I am not sure whether I have the capability since this is my first time taking ACCA papers.
I don't understand this. What do you mean by I can take F and P papers together but in the second second, you mention that I cannot sit for P papers if I didn't pass my F papers?

for example F7 and p2,f6 and p6,f8 and p7,f5 and p4 and f9 and p4
u have to pass the F paper only take P paper. have to pass F7 then only u can take p2.

[/quote]

The rule only applies when you take optional paper. You cannot sit for optional unless you have finished all core paper or you are taking all your due core papers with optional.
Case 1 : take P1,P2,P3 & P4.
Case 2 : passed P1 & P2 so take P3, P4 & P5.

Most of the paper like F9 & p4 fall at same date so if you do not pass f9 how to take P4 at the same date. Actually if fail F9 chances are P4 will be even more daunting. You can sit for P papers eevn if you fail F papers but make sure they are not at the same date : audit & Pm is not. But tax & finance are.

At first I thought it was free admission since it didnt display any admission charge.
When I email them they said you need to pay RM 70 for admission so I gve up on it.

Normally its 3 hours per week separating into normal & part time since a lot of students. Phillip Woo is also working so is only free during weekends. Since normally no people will be working on weekends they can come to class also. So he combined both classes & teach all one short. Normally its 2 week once.

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Added on June 10, 2009, 7:12 pmP1 got touch a little bit on audit area which is why many audit lecturers teaching P1. I dont see any application of IT in P1 so i dont know how Parmindar can greatly help students with his competitive advantage in P3. Anyway for P1 any lecturer can do as long as they stick to syllabus.

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Added on June 10, 2009, 7:29 pmIf you want loads of classes & constant practice then you should go sunway for early level papers. The lecturers there really know how to grind you for result. Provided you have plenty of money of course.

That kasturi is tuition centre, the one for ACCA is called KSA which is at 11 & 12th floor of Plaza nationwide which is also directly behind kasturi tution centre. Yep exactly like a tution centre : lots of students in a cramped environment, one lecturer handling hundreds of students,.....etc.
I wouldn't recommend going there unless for advance paper where you need speciallist lecturer.

Method of teaching :
I need to explain this in depth since this is the area many are confused especially newbies.
ACCA is a professional body in England.
ACCA hold exams which is published by England examiner
ACCA allows student to take their ACCA paper outside UK like Malaysia
ACCA DO NOT teach student

Therefore there are 3 modes to study under acca :
- self study : this is the original method & widely used by working students & those who have already sat but failed.

- college / university based : this is where the student take all the paper at one place for convenience & economics (discounts for bulk), this method is rare outside England since there is no one perfect place that can cater all the lecturers yet (good ones)

- lecturer based : This is the primary mode for most students. Since there are no law prohibit student from taking each paper with different lecturer & centres, students can select the best lecturer in the field for their respective paper. Imagine a racing car which uses Mercedes engine, ferrari capacitor, bridgestone tyres....etc. Student have 100% freedom tho choose whoeevr they want.

I have attend more than 10 different lecturer under 5 different centre & its perfectly normal (in KL at least).

Methods of teaching vary b lecturer so if you want a experienced lecturer or caucasian lecturer or handsome lecturer (believe me some girls ) do. Thats why you can read from some recent post why they ask opinions about different lecturers.

This post has been edited by Topace111: Jun 10 2009, 07:29 PM

F6 :
Siva Nair (FTMS) & Alan Yeo (KSA) had both become marker for ACCA tax paper b4 so both are really experience on teaching technics & tactics on tax. You can refer them as tax speciallist.
However their method is more suitable for those who have some exposure in tax. They can relate student on advance stuff but fall short on the foundations of tax & "student friendly approach". Basicly :
- They are quite fast (for students comprehension)
- Not systematic : For tax its the most difficult to teach in the beginning since you need to understand everything about format , income & expense rule, relief, donations.....etc before computing the tax.
Since teaching more than 20 years & only teaching tax they do take some teaching for granted as everything has become very easy for them but it may not be so for student. They teach from their own thick text book.

Chin Ann is anew lecturer (relatively speaking) but has been teaching for 10 years or so. He has been prize winner as an acca student & his methods are more student friendly since he understand students wekaness & incompatability. he can teach the fundamental & core area very well but have a knack of spotting question but he did teach entire syllabus to student. I heard that he had been "invited" to become marker for F6.

F7 :
Joe Fang method is created by himself. A friend of mine who has been to his class said that he has personally shown his methods to the examiner when he came to MYS & they said the method is acceptable & he has used it ever since.
Since he used his own method so he also publish the questions on his textbook based on his style of answer. He will take / photostat the student best answer based on his style as the answer for his textbook. A friend of mine said that his style can make student to score in F7 but not anymore in P2 leading many to switch to another lecturer in P2 like Keith Farmer or Haneef.
A friend have shown me his techniques & its almosy like haveing 3 columns : 1 for parent, 1 for sub, 1 for the consolidation total (group). Then you need to cross out irreleavant figures & add the notes figures. This method will give you a BALANCED F/S & quick calculation. However there are very few working or none at all. So if you are correct in adjustments you get maximum marks but if you are wrong you get 0.
He can make you pass but cannot make you score.

F8 :
There are also Sheila John in MCO another good audit lecturer. She has the best notes avaliable but you need to read it all for good effect.
Phillip Woo is the more practical lecturer & will share his own experience making the class livelier.
Chin Ann is the more student approach which means he can translate difficult stuff to student language.

Personal note : Chin Ann has a large based of Mandarin speaking students as he speaks mandrin from time to time but he will stick with english for lecture. So if there is a Chinese blog / forum you may hear his name more often

Yup no lecturer is perfect.
However he mostly stick to calculational papers like F5 & F6 & he can teach the theory well compared to other lecturers that mostly focus on the calculational portion. For fundamental papers practical experience is not required that much so I dont consider it a drawback. However comes to professional papers this is the area which practical knowldege is a must which is why I still rate him for lack of experience on this areas.
But i do admit after going for Pamindar or Phillip class you will felt the same way about others too but its bcos both of them stick with theoretical papers.

I receive more Pm than I post, pm away

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Added on June 11, 2009, 4:50 pmPreviously Chow Kim tai is the one who taught P5 at Mco but when he stop teaching, Ian Lim takeover. He is like a substitute teacher.
I am also taking P4 & i think if you have tine to read BPP text book thats already an achievement by itself since there are so many area to focus.
Maybe you need CFA books ?
If I am not mistaken ratio is deemed insignificant in P3 since figures just serve as supporting notes, do they explicitly put requirement on ratios calculation ? If it is i think irs a bonus mark.
he also skip leadership in my sitting & it never came out (maybe spot) but leadership its more relevant to T5 in CAT. Is the leadership qs on section B ?

This post has been edited by Topace111: Jun 11 2009, 04:50 PM

Andrew Pang ?

Have somebody mentioned that sheila will be teaching P7 then why not take audit as optional paper. Heard that its not that different from F8 but needs some good knowledge on P2.

I have asked this from 2 tax marker cum lecturer about the "kindness" word too.
They said they will ignore such things if they are in good mood. If bad mood they may not give you marks for professionalism if those marks are allocated in exam (like preparing reports, letter....etc). But most of the time they will ignore it.

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Added on June 12, 2009, 8:23 pmHeard that he really likes to teach in Hong Kong.
Then there are bad history between him & a KSA lecturer so its very unlikely he will go there too. Perhaps he will follow his old pal Chow to Mco (purely my speculation).

This post has been edited by Topace111: Jun 12 2009, 08:23 PM

P4 is useful especially if you need to enter banking industry like commercial bank & investment banking.
All lecturer will agree that finance is the most useful paper in optionals since you will learn a lot in this paper.
However one major obstacle which discourage student to take this paper is that it is the most difficult of all optional papers. Do not let the pass rates fool you though since if you asked any classmates / senior around finance is the killing paper not F5. Many lecturer also told student to avoid taking P4 if you want to pass through acca.
Do not use you F9 as a basis to enter P4 since the syllabus is entirely different compared to other optionals.

Lecturers : Daniel Ho should be leaving soon & another alternative is Andrew pang. Then there is Mr Chan in Mco too & considered quite experienced.

P5 is deemed the easiest among all optionals & recommended by all lecturers if you want to pass acca quickly but not recommended if you want to learn something since P5 is very similar to F5 & already includes many area of P3.
The reason many failed F5 bcos they are not matured enough or well verse with application question which is rampant in professional papers. So for F papers F5 is the most difficult but comes to P papers P5 is the easiest (easiest of professional paper sense)
F5 stuff is very similar to P5 only the question is way longer.

Lecturer : Chow already left so also Andrew Pang left.

P6 is a one-off paper. You will either use the knowledge completely or none at all. In Big 4 their 2 main division is assurance (audit) & tax. So if you decide not to enter audit line , P6 can help you on tax line. Tax syllabus is considered the widest among all optional. A lecturer once told me that P6 is the killing paper in the old syllbus in part 3 but now its already secured. P6 is quite tough in first 2 sittings but after bad feedback examiner already toned down difficulty.

Do not be surprised if lecturer omit certain topics but came oout in exam since all lecturer cannot finish the tax syllabus in depth. The thing is that if you know what you are being tested then its easy, if not then you can sit there for hours mumbling to yourself. There are many tiny rules to remember too like (A x B/4C or 10% of A). The entire tax syllabus is about how to avoid tax & tax for specific industry like trust, investment, vcc.
You need good knowledge in F6 as well.

Lecturer : Chin Ann (F6 marker), Siva (P6 marker) & Alan Yeo (marker : not sure which paper)

I have asked several lecturers & friends about P7 & i can share some here why they are taking it.
If you are interested to go singapore , they have a provision or work regulations that required P7 as a must.
If you are bonded by big 4 firms to do ACCA & you are in assurance line you need to take P7.
P7 examiner assumes student to be an audit senior to tackle this paper & you need to have "business sense" too. Thats why its entirely practical & application compared to F8 which is technic & format. Experience is very important for P7 students.

P7 : Sheila John (teaching morning class at tuesday & wednesday a friend told me)

Heard that P4 examiner conducted a survey to check student feedback exam. Most of my friend comment negatively to lower the pass rates.
What you learned in F8 will be very similar to P7 but difference is in way of answering.

Oh Mco under Daniel team & Ian team will handle separately the division of acca in KDU & Taylor respectively. If I am not mistaken haneef & Sheila is under KDU while others at taylor.

P2 is not a killing paper, far from it. (F5 & P4 is the killing paper currently)
Its the transition problem but I do admit the examiner is very wicked / cunning / devious ......etc.
In F7 students can easily expect the type of question to be asked like a guarantee of
Qs 1 : Consol
Qs 2 : Published a/c
Qs 3 : Ratio / cashflow
Total : 75 marks
Qs 4 & 5 : On accounting standards (25 marks)
Okay not to brag here but I scored above 8x in F7 since qs is very direct & only time management is involved. If you can finish all question in time chances are you will get high marks.

In P2 its more on IAS / IFRS with around 50 marks instead of 25 previously. The ratio of calculation : theory is always around 45 : 55.
So students whom are very comfortable with F7 style may suffer in P2 (like me since my marks around 5x+).
1) No more trend (qs can be consol, cashflow or even published a/c only)
2) Merge of standards (they can ask a combination of standards like Deferred tax & employee benefits together). In F7 its always the standard on its own without effect on other standards.
3) Examiner assume you already have solid foundation in F7 so qs may also asked F7 with P2 stuff.
4) Lecturer :
This will not be a problem if you stick with the same lecturer but if you change lecturer from F7 to P2 then a transition problem may occur again. All lecturer have their own methods of dealing with P2 & its not easy to accomodate or consolidate both especially when they had conflicting arguments.
But such conflict may be more relevant in tax where there is constant cases where the examiner had a differing view compared to general public.

If I am not mistaken the examiner of F7 is a student to P2 examiner.

You have sat for both lecturer for P6 ? or both lecturer but under different paper ?

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Added on June 14, 2009, 12:13 amWe dont have to study many standards for P2 : should be < 10 important ones.
However you really need to know everything inside the standard.
I think most lecturers can complete it in time (with exception of keith Farmer who will extend it to revision class) but its the depth they lecture which may varied from time to time.

Qs 1 consol (50 marks) will normally have 6-7 standards which you need to calculate & explain independently & then consolidate all at once for the final draft.
Qs 2,3 & 4 (choose 2) is all about standards.

This post has been edited by Topace111: Jun 14 2009, 12:13 AM

Michael mainaring has been teaching for so long he is considered a pioneer or sort for business paper.
He is teaching in England & has many contact & network within acca community.
The last time he conduct a full time class here hundreds of students rushing to join irregardless of the fees charged.
My opinion is if he is teaching go for it.

Btw i am not sure about others but there is parmindar if you are interested but when Michael comes to town you gotta grab such oppurnity. his practical experience is invaluable for P3 students.

Michael has a special note that summarise entire P3 syllabus in (70 - 80 pages).
He is teaching the "western style" of lecture which focus on 1 key word & 5 explanation instead of the asian style of 5 key word & 1 explanation.
Heard he is very good in teaching technics / answer methods of P3 to student.
Anyway I always like to try a "Mat Salleh" lecturer at least once in my acca course.........just to experience something new

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Added on June 14, 2009, 9:43 pmThen I think you will like parmindar class.
My friend who sat for it reported he had 35 class sessions this sitting.
Anyway nobody really like to spend so much of their time in KSA, trust me on this issue

This post has been edited by Topace111: Jun 14 2009, 09:43 PM

He dont actually teach in Mco, its just that Mco helps him to facilitate the lecturer administration like collection of fees & registration. For example he is not their full time staff & he doesn't teach at the Mco centre. I think there is an alliance between Mco & London college of accountancy in which some of the UK lecturer will come once a while to lecture (Steve Lumby will be another example).

Ok for first timers it will be confusing so I will discuss it one short for others :
NC or normal class will teach for a period of 3 months & IRC or revision class will cover 1 month class.
Special group means he combine all his class (no part time or full time). I think its something like a seminar which he may teach more than 3 hours.

I think there are quite a number of student who can share his revision class experience but very few on full time classes.
Actuall I manage to bump into a girl (ok la big sister since she is few years older than me) claimed she had attend his full time class b4.
Michael did once lecture full time in MYS few years ago, he came to asia (personal problem) & at the same time teach P3 due to convenience.
Since you dont know what is P3 yet I will skip this after explaining P3 first.

What is P3 ?
Is basicly like a fraction of MBA paper or business administration stuff. The whole syllabus focus on the "business sense" of student which is also important in paper P7 audit. Basicly you cannot really score well by just study rigorously. You need some common sense & good general knowledge & perhaps practical experience too (but I doubt many will have the chance to become a boss or management executive).
Very few obligatory knowledge but more on voluntary ones. What I mean is that you will only need to learn very few areas but understand a lot of concepts & framework.

For example, Qs on = Criteria of a successful european restaurant in asia pacific region ?
Practical example : Quote whatever you have learned / experienced : Good chef, atmosphere.....etc
Theory : Quote 7S or Value Chain system .......
General knowledge : Location, cost, service....(just bluff all the way through)

In terms of accurancy of hints & tips he is considered an expert (80% to 100% accuracy) but in professional paper even if you know what are being tested answer may be very different depending on the case scenario given.

Now comes the part of comparison :
Michael : He will teach ONE model / framework / structure / format for each type of question. Then he will elaborate based on that key word.
Parmindar : He will teach SEVERAL model..... for each type of question. Key pointer will be emphasised rather than explanation.
Both approach is accepted but you will find some students will have different preference for each methods.
There is really no perfect lecturer, it just depend on what you are seeking, if you :
1) If you have powerful brain for analysis then you can absorb all the jumble up knowledge of parmindar (Parmindar is not systematic)
2) If you want a direct & simple approach in tackling P3, michael will be perfect (heard from friend his methods is very simple to comprehend but you will need to come up with your own explanation since he will only provide you with guidelines)