FAE September 2012

AB6891

On an even more depressing topic - what are the maximum amount of attempts permitted for FAE Core?

WeeDeee

AB6891 wrote: »

On an even more depressing topic - what are the maximum amount of attempts permitted for FAE Core?

i think its 3 but could be wrong

lar05

pepp wrote: »

I'm not going to its my second time too passed core failed elective twice now I'm completely drained I can go through another year of hell!

Are u serious? It was my 2nd time aswel and I passed core but failed ellective but im definitely doing it again. Core is the real nightmare part of it. U only have to concentrate on 1 subject next year. i think u would be mad to give up when u got this far!!

wiles9

2g, 3y, 1r (finance) ... 1 fecking colour of being chartered.

Szewinska

a right kick in the town halls.

got core but not elective.

suff 1 and dec 8. since suff is 1 have i no chance of any joy in appealing. i dont think so. 81% of those passed elective tax. gutted as it appears like was doable

pepp

I'm probably just having a knee jerk reaction today but last year I was completely on board with positives about how I will totally pass next year but, now I have failed again it feels like ten times worse than last year also now I am out of contract I can't even see as far as getting admitted ever!

lar05

pepp wrote: »

I'm probably just having a knee jerk reaction today but last year I was completely on board with positives about how I will totally pass next year but, now I have failed again it feels like ten times worse than last year also now I am out of contract I can't even see as far as getting admitted ever!

but u passed the core this year so its not all bad!!u wont have to study that next year and can just concentrate everything on elective.

froggatt2011

Well done to everyone who passed and commiserations to all who didn't. I wanted to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. I passed first time and it's partly due to the help I received on here, so thanks again.

silverwatch

I am on my sixth attempt so that's not true

sandy60 wrote: »

no unfortunately you are right checked with them today

Szewinska

froggatt2011 wrote: »

Well done to everyone who passed and commiserations to all who didn't. I wanted to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. I passed first time and it's partly due to the help I received on here, so thanks again.

well done.

i made a hash of a tax elective question and brought the whole house down. grrrrr. nearly a great day

levi

Got em, thank god. To those who didn't get it, don't be disheartened - I was in your shoes last year. Just need to look really hard and honestly at what you didn't do this year and try to correct it. Got sufficiency of 0 and decile of 9, one red in PM last year. This year 5 greens and a yellow in audit. Sufficiency 0, decile 1. It can be done!

kitten_k

silverwatch wrote: »

I am on my sixth attempt so that's not true

That must be because you done the old FAE's, you must have got the 3 attempts at old FAE and 3 attempts at the new FAE

SJay

levi wrote: »

Got em, thank god. To those who didn't get it, don't be disheartened - I was in your shoes last year. Just need to look really hard and honestly at what you didn't do this year and try to correct it. Got sufficiency of 0 and decile of 9, one red in PM last year. This year 5 greens and a yellow in audit. Sufficiency 0, decile 1. It can be done!

Hi Levi,

Well done on passing. Did you repeat both core and elective this year? I failed both today, decile 9, sufficiency 0 and one red. Absolutely gutted. So reading your post about your result last year has given me a bit of hope. What did you do differently second time round?

haribo12

Didnt get them second time around anyone else in my shoes

What they doing would appreciate some feedback ??

sandy60

haribo12 wrote: »

Didnt get them second time around anyone else in my shoes

What they doing would appreciate some feedback ??

yup thats me ...heading to acca

Elle2012

haribo12 wrote: »

Didnt get them second time around anyone else in my shoes

What they doing would appreciate some feedback ??

I'm off to Acca as well, seriously I wouldn't panic & def don't give up because you have come this far ! Like in 10 years time this awful time will all be a distant memory!!

You should enjoy the wknd and start making a plan of what you want to do next week be it repeating or maybe a move to acca..

Szewinska

i guess there is some sore heads on here today.

levi

SJay wrote: »

Hi Levi,

Well done on passing. Did you repeat both core and elective this year? I failed both today, decile 9, sufficiency 0 and one red. Absolutely gutted. So reading your post about your result last year has given me a bit of hope. What did you do differently second time round?

I just had core to do - got the elective last year. Don't lose faith - these things happen to everyone in life - this is just something that needs to be overcome.

What I did differently was:

1. I took less study leave (8 weeks this year, 11 weeks last year) but was more prepared going on study leave. This put me under that bit of extra pressure from the start.

2. I studied in a library rather than at home from 9/10-5/6 - this gave my days more focus and separated home and study.

3. I did 4 weeks theory and 4 weeks of cases. I had a detailed plan and all cases printed and ready to go before going on leave.

4. I knew exactly what to expect and what I'd done wrong so I was very aware not to allow these things happen again. I stayed calm both in the AAFRP resit and the exams themselves, had confidence in what I knew and got it down on the paper. I didn't freak out like last year.

5. Took WAY less into the exam with me. My notes were way more condensed.

Not really sure what else I did different other than just believed in myself on the days of the exams (despite the fact that I was kacking myself all week thinking I'd failed). Any other questions, let me know.

ferike1

Here is how I did it:

NO institute lectures or books (except Tax and some of the case study classes)

All ACCA material and Deloitte notes

Did all the case studies and took out common points.

Never did mad hours of study, just a consistent grind over the 3 months.

SJay

ferike1 wrote: »

Here is how I did it:

NO institute lectures or books (except Tax and some of the case study classes)

All ACCA material and Deloitte notes

Did all the case studies and took out common points.

Never did mad hours of study, just a consistent grind over the 3 months.

levi wrote: »

I just had core to do - got the elective last year. Don't lose faith - these things happen to everyone in life - this is just something that needs to be overcome.

What I did differently was:

1. I took less study leave (8 weeks this year, 11 weeks last year) but was more prepared going on study leave. This put me under that bit of extra pressure from the start.

2. I studied in a library rather than at home from 9/10-5/6 - this gave my days more focus and separated home and study.

3. I did 4 weeks theory and 4 weeks of cases. I had a detailed plan and all cases printed and ready to go before going on leave.

4. I knew exactly what to expect and what I'd done wrong so I was very aware not to allow these things happen again. I stayed calm both in the AAFRP resit and the exams themselves, had confidence in what I knew and got it down on the paper. I didn't freak out like last year.

5. Took WAY less into the exam with me. My notes were way more condensed.

Not really sure what else I did different other than just believed in myself on the days of the exams (despite the fact that I was kacking myself all week thinking I'd failed). Any other questions, let me know.

Thanks for this, and thanks ferike also. Did either of you do the fae revision course offered by the institute? I was just looking at it there its quite expensive, should i register for it or would i be better off doing the CGS course in July?

levi

I didn't do any revision courses as I tend to doss in lectures but that's just me. I have to admit I did use the CGS notes for finance and management accounting and found them good. For strategy, I just read the book chapter by chapter and made notes. I felt this worked well. For FR I used Derry Cotter's notes. For tax I used the book (I bought the new one so there'd be no confusion). For the rest of BL I used the Deloitte notes that were put up here. Audit I used Sean Murray's notes and the standards. IMP I used the notes from here too... Not sure what else I used tbh - tried to keep my notes to a minimum if I'm honest.

SJay

Thanks for that, I feel a lot better after hearing about other people who got it on the second go! Have been very down about the whole thing until now. Will def take your points on board though. Thanks again

levi

Don't let it get you down too much. Once Monday comes just start looking forward - these things happen, you're not the first and you won't be the last that this happens to. What's done is done now so it's all about what you decide to do about these things to right them. Best of luck!

Scuba_Steve84

To anybody who was unlucky this year i'd definitely say don't get too disheartened. thankfully i passed both core and elective this year but it was my third attempt at them! this time however i switched from audit elective to apm, mostly because it had a higher pass rate but also because i don't work in audit and it just doesn't click with me. but from failing core twice I ended up with 4 greens and two yellows and a decile of 3! Anybody who has gotten this far is definitely capable of passing these exams! a lot of it is luck on the day, but also how you prepare. probably in my first two attempts i spent far too long looking at books and not enough on cases.

this year i only had 6 weeks of study leave, and hadn't looked at anything before hand from core. thankfully i got a 'C' in aafrp last year so didn't bother repeating that. I spent a week hammering through the cotter book for frp, a few days on the tax book, a few days on audit and a few on finance. the rest was just cases cases cases! not always doing them either, just reading it, identifying the indicators then often going straight to the answer! anything i seen which i knew definitely wasn't in the notes, i wrote it down and kept a file of 'sample answers', things like appraising a finance offer from a bank etc.

keep the faith guys, i know it's soul destroying when it doesn't go well but definitely keep going!

haribo12

Scuba_Steve84 wrote: »

To anybody who was unlucky this year i'd definitely say don't get too disheartened. thankfully i passed both core and elective this year but it was my third attempt at them! this time however i switched from audit elective to apm, mostly because it had a higher pass rate but also because i don't work in audit and it just doesn't click with me. but from failing core twice I ended up with 4 greens and two yellows and a decile of 3! Anybody who has gotten this far is definitely capable of passing these exams! a lot of it is luck on the day, but also how you prepare. probably in my first two attempts i spent far too long looking at books and not enough on cases.

this year i only had 6 weeks of study leave, and hadn't looked at anything before hand from core. thankfully i got a 'C' in aafrp last year so didn't bother repeating that. I spent a week hammering through the cotter book for frp, a few days on the tax book, a few days on audit and a few on finance. the rest was just cases cases cases! not always doing them either, just reading it, identifying the indicators then often going straight to the answer! anything i seen which i knew definitely wasn't in the notes, i wrote it down and kept a file of 'sample answers', things like appraising a finance offer from a bank etc.

keep the faith guys, i know it's soul destroying when it doesn't go well but definitely keep going!

U got elective and the core the third time ??

What area ms did u go down in the core the first two times??

Nervous Nigel

There's definitely an art to FAE. I'd pratically handcuff myself to Paul Monahan if I was you. It's all about the cases.

aca101

Nervous Nigel wrote: »

There's definitely an art to FAE. I'd pratically handcuff myself to Paul Monahan if I was you. It's all about the cases.

Ok Paul, we get it, you're the dogs bollocks.

thisguy

paul is doing a very poor job of disguising himself there!

Scuba_Steve84

haribo12 wrote: »

U got elective and the core the third time ??

What area ms did u go down in the core the first two times??

Tax the first time, and in fairness i'd barely looked at it when revising, and PM last year, which was a real kick in the balls as i'd got competent in the aafrp!

froggatt2011

I think a lot of it is making the most of your study time. Be focused, make a study plan and stick to it. Put life on hold. There is no other option. I managed to pass first time with only minimal study leave. (I think I had 9 days off just before the exams.) I remember reading about people being off from mid summer and I was stressed I wouldn't be able to achieve as much as everyone else (and I went in to the exams with an RC in the assessment too). I am now reading about some of those same people not passing.

I made sure I was familiar with the theory before getting stuck into the cases. I started with the smaller cases and broke myself in gently to the longer cases. I attended a few integrated study days but I didn't see the benefit after a while in working in groups. At the end of the day you are on your own so you need to attempt the cases by yourself.

I compared my answers to the suggested solution, made notes of what I needed to brush up on, and went back and looked over it. Do every case you can get your hands on. Over and over and over again. Make sure you use your whole day.

Take organised concise notes into the exam with you so that you are not panicking looking for stuff or getting too bogged down rifling through endless notes. Be confident on the day. If you know something, write it down, don't go second guessing yourself.