Day 2 of ACCA Taxation
T.T I'm terrible at diary.
Quick skim of what happened so far.
June: Failed Law (Irish version) by 1 mark
Aug: Repeated Law (UK version) Passed
Sept: Failed Financial Reporting by 1 mark (again!?)
Dec: for Taxation (Irish version) in progress
Reflection:
Time is against me. With a full-time job, a project with fixed deadlines (that meant working in advance to make room for time to study closer to exam), and life necessities e.g. family, chores, meals, social life etc, slotting time to study is an ongoing challenge. Might need to consider dropping something or slow down the pace. Notice health is deteriorating a bit. Not as fit after switching to a desk job and injuries not healing as fast.
Knowing there's limited time, tried multi-tasking, listening to the OpenTuition video while working. For law, it somewhat works as a bit of knowledge stuck while some went out the other ear due to being focused on the job. While Financial reporting, it's more hands on due the majority of it required calculations. So need to segregate the study method for different type on subjects and its exam.
For Law and Financial Reporting, time was wasted on studying the wrong material; For law, I bought a cram book which was over a decade old. Pretty useful but felt too little. Went onto ACCA Studyhub. There was no Irish version, so started chose the Global version. Wrong choice as I later discover the syllabus differ a good bit. Changed to UK version, this one was much closer in content in comparison. As for Financial Reporting, followed the OpenTuition material. It was easy to understand but when practicing the questions on Studyhub, the method of solving differ in some parts. So hopped onto Studyhub to restudy the material. The actual time studying on the right material was around 4-5 days.
A personal flaw is procrastination and poor time scheduling. I had created a study plan but it went to the back of the mind. Procrastinating had contributed to that and cut the already sparse time even shorter, while poor time scheduling could have avoided some problems. If I scheduled some study prep and material research time earlier, some problems could be avoided.
Improvement made for Taxation.
Material
-Since it's Irish version, there's limited material available online for free. Option is go to my old college library and study the recommended ACCA textbook or buy the textbook.
Library's Pro: Free & Focused studying due the environment.
Library's Con: Not the latest edition, can't borrow out of library (since I'm not a student there anymore), can't guarantee its not lent out when needed, need to travel 1.5 hr to and back to library, library opening hours is decent but not sufficient (think it open until 9 or 10pm on most days)
Buying's Pro: latest edition, readily available any time
Buying's Con: Spend money, studying at home (procrastination temptation)
In the end, the cons made the choice clear - I bought the latest edition.
Preparation
Day 1 of studying the taxation was around 2 weeks ago. Basically skimmed through the introduction of the book. Quite a long introduction I must say, 44 pages!
Today is Day 2. Did a quick skim of Chapter 1, which is nearly half the book 😂. Tried a question for Chapter 1 with 0% knowledge.
Sectioned the whole book with coloured sticky note index, by key knowledge required to answer the question, Question section, Solution section etc.
Check the Exam Format:
3 Hours - 50% pass mark with 100 as max.
Section A = 15Q x 2marks
Section B = 4Q x 10marks
2Q x 15marks (definitely on Income Tax and Corporation tax)
Ideal time spent:
Section A = 15Q = 50mins
Section B = 4Q = 70mins
2Q = 50mins
Leftover for 10mins for skimming over question and reviewing answers
Divided the days left until exam -19 days
Study Plan
So that's it for today. With the prep done and it's 1a.m already, it's bedtime.
Appendix
Syllabus and Study Guide - https://www.accaglobal.com/ie/en/student/exam-support-resources/fundamentals-exams-study-resources/f6/syllabus-study-guide/f6-syllabus-study-guide-ireland-irl.html#
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