CAP 1 CAI Exams May 2011

apeking · 25-04-2011 08:16PM #1

Hey,

Doing the 5 CAP 1's at end of May.

Anyone got any tips on best way to study/previous stories?

Am I best of concentrating on exam papers?

Or go over all notes again and then try exam papers after that?

Really want to try pass first time but so much to cover/not enough time!

Thanks.

toobeyshaw · 25-04-2011 09:24PM

I did five CAP 1 last May, passed four on the first go and repeated Mgt accounting in September. The main thing to be aware of is particularly in Mgt is the timings. If you come to the end of your alloted time for a queston move on to the next, come back to the unfinished one at the end if you have time. That is my single biggest bit of advice. Also do as many questions as you can when you are studying. I always found the narrative ones ok to answer if I had studied my notes but you need to make sure you have practiced the layouts for tax computations, variances, finance, cashflows, budgets etc. You don't want to be cramming them the night before. Make sure you know the layouts for reports, memos etc so you don't lose presentation marks for using the wrong one in the exam.

Thats all I can think of at the minute!

apeking · 26-04-2011 07:38AM

Thanks a million.

I plan on getting a decent watch so i can time each question in hte exam and dont plan on going over the time.

I reckon i will just do all previous years exam papers and when i get stuck look at the notes for that section. I feel like it is a waste doing just notes as this would leave no time for doing exam questions at the end.

Well done on passing btw!

EveT · 26-04-2011 08:17AM

hi there,

yep timing timing timing. Last summer tax threw a lot of people, we didnt think theyd ever ask year of death! So dont leave stuff out, the ones with computations are all about practice, you cant learn that from a book, but law personally I think that kind of study needs to be done from a book, make really simplified notes you can look over the night before.

FA,Management AC - mainly questions
Law - Mainly book
Finance, Tax - mixture of book and questions.

Thats just what worked for me but timing is so important, I came 2nd last year

apeking · 26-04-2011 09:02AM

Well done! You must have been studying hard for the year

Thanks for the tips, i reckon i will follow it. I havent got much covered yet though. We have no real notes for law, lecture just went through the book.

EveT · 26-04-2011 10:51AM

apeking wrote: »

Well done! You must have been studying hard for the year

Thanks for the tips, i reckon i will follow it. I havent got much covered yet though. We have no real notes for law, lecture just went through the book.

nope not at all, just went to most lectures and then studied hard for study leave. good luck!

toobeyshaw · 26-04-2011 06:49PM

For all of the narrative type areas I had done out small cue cards that I had information about key areas written on. That's what I studied the night before for those areas. Best of luck with the exams!

Redqaw · 27-04-2011 10:56AM

EveT wrote: »

nope not at all, just went to most lectures and then studied hard for study leave. good luck!

how are you studying for cap2?

shaggy28 · 28-04-2011 10:54AM

Hey guys,
Im due to start an accountancy position in Sept, unfortunately I do not get any exemptions from CAP1s. I will thus have to sit these in May 2012 with CAP 2s in May 2013 and FAEs in 2014. I'm thinking about sitting some of the CAP 1s in August prior to starting work, the idea being I could then split up some of the CAP 2s rather than doing them all at once. What do ye think, which subjects would be easist (I have no acc experiance) for me if I were to do that? Would it be better to do that or just wait until I start work. I have finance experience, but the course gets no exemptions.
Thanks for the help

EDudder · 28-04-2011 02:43PM

How do people feel about the 4 weeks study leave? Is it enough to cover everything? Lets be honest with a heavy work load theres not much time for study Jan-April.

I've all of them to do except Mgt Acc and have just been let off on study leave. Going to get cracking now but I hope theres enough time to cover everything.

toobeyshaw · 28-04-2011 08:40PM

shaggy28 wrote: »

Hey guys,
Im due to start an accountancy position in Sept, unfortunately I do not get any exemptions from CAP1s. I will thus have to sit these in May 2012 with CAP 2s in May 2013 and FAEs in 2014. I'm thinking about sitting some of the CAP 1s in August prior to starting work, the idea being I could then split up some of the CAP 2s rather than doing them all at once. What do ye think, which subjects would be easist (I have no acc experiance) for me if I were to do that? Would it be better to do that or just wait until I start work. I have finance experience, but the course gets no exemptions.
Thanks for the help

Are you able to sit CAP1's in August? The repeats (Autumn exams) are in Sept - at least they were last year. To be honest if you have no accountancy experience (as I didn't when I started), you probably need the lectures? It's probably a call for you to make, I couldn't have done the exams myself without the lectures but I had never studied anything to do with accountancy or finance previously. You should contact the Institute as first point to see if it is feasible anyway. Sorry that's probably not much help!

toobeyshaw · 28-04-2011 08:42PM

EDudder wrote: »

How do people feel about the 4 weeks study leave? Is it enough to cover everything? Lets be honest with a heavy work load theres not much time for study Jan-April.

I've all of them to do except Mgt Acc and have just been let off on study leave. Going to get cracking now but I hope theres enough time to cover everything.

You just have to plan your time as well as you can. I had 1 weeks leave last year before the exams, you always manage to get the stuff done when it comes to it. Don't panic, make a plan for the time you have and the areas that you want to cover.

MoMo1987 · 30-04-2011 06:43PM

hi guys

Has anyone got any ideas on the best way to study law? I've heard its one of the easier CAP1s. As i repeating law as an external student I have not attended any lectures or have any notes but I do have the book. So basically I'm just wondering what are the main areas to study and the best way to do so. if anyone can help that would be great. Thanks

toobeyshaw · 02-05-2011 11:05AM

MoMo1987 wrote: »

hi guys

Has anyone got any ideas on the best way to study law? I've heard its one of the easier CAP1s. As i repeating law as an external student I have not attended any lectures or have any notes but I do have the book. So basically I'm just wondering what are the main areas to study and the best way to do so. if anyone can help that would be great. Thanks

If you look at the competency statement available on the public website it will show you the areas included in the syllabus and their exam weightings so that might be a good place to start. I found the book sufficient for study, I made my own notes from it, nothing too comprehensive but enough that I had the points I needed for each area and could remember the key areas. The past exam papers would be good for you to see what they are expecting in terms of answers.

EDudder · 19-05-2011 04:01PM

How's everyone getting on? I have a bit of a worrying amount to cover before next week. But ah well.

Anyway, has anyone done the Finance Mock paper?

I've been working through it and have a question.

Section B Question 3.

Why does the solution given not take into account NPV or the time value of money? If I got that in the exam I would have started calculating the NPV of all the cash outflows.

CAP 1 CAI Exams May 2011

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