We had three papers on day one of the December exams – so how did they go? Here’s what sitters said:
AA
âFair enoughâ is how one sitter described the December AA exam. But for many it went better than they thought. Other PQs admitted they just arenât sure how it went, as time pressure meant they were rushing to make as many points as possible. The worry for some is their answers are not substantive enough, as the examiner comments say students need to add more detail to get the marks.
In the Open Tuition Instant Poll AA sitters generally thought the exam was OK (62%). That said nearly a quarter (23.1%) said they found the exam hard, and a further 8.5% click the disaster button!
We did hear of problems in Birmingham, where some âafternoonâ sitters didnât finish until 8pm!
AAA
Some sitters struggled with the length of Q1 and time management was key. One sitter said they were writing right up until the last second. They explained: âDidnât get a chance to look back over anything. Insanely time pressured!â Overall, deemed a trough exam, with 20% voting on the Open Tuition Instant Poll saying the exam was a disaster, and a further 36% said it was hard.
Questions included identifying risk of material misstatement, ISA 260/265 (deficiencies in internal control and critique the extract from the auditorâs report), and ISQM 1. Business risk, reviewing the audit file before completion, and engagement quality review all came up too, depending on the paper you sat.
As is always in the feedback, students wanted the questions they didnât get!
APM
This was another tough test, with just too much information to digest. âNone of the past papers I saw had this much information,â said one sitter. Others describe it as âawfulâ.
However, some sitters admitted they were their own worst enemy because of their bad time management.
In the Open Tuition Instant Poll some 44% voted for hard, and another 25% voted the exam a disaster. That does not bode well for an improved pass rate this time around!
