Question practice is the key to exam success, writes David Evans – but are you practising questions in the right way?
Most accountancy students know that practising exam-standard questions is essential for success.
What many overlook, however, is that how you practise questions is just as important as how many questions you complete. Effective question practice develops technical understanding, builds exam technique, and makes a huge difference to exam performance.
After three decades helping students pass accountancy exams here are some key question practice techniques that really work.
Start very early
A lot of students fall into the trap of saving question practice for the revision phase. Don’t wait. Start doing exam standard questions from the moment you begin studying for an exam.
Will it feel tough at first? Definitely. Will you make mistakes? Absolutely. But early question practice is how you learn what examiners are testing and what you need to do to gain marks.
Getting things wrong is part of the process – you will learn from every mistake!
Time yourself
When you begin studying for an exam paper it is sensible to practice questions slowly and carefully. This really helps you develop your understanding of a topic, and of the way that the topic is examined.
As you progress through your studies and enter your revision phase you need to ‘switch’ to doing questions under strict timed conditions.
This is essential for developing good exam techniques – e.g. prioritising calculations that are easy, or that gain most marks, or making concise, mark-focused points in written questions.
Use examining body software
Accountancy exam bodies make available practice software that replicates the real exam environment– for example, the ACCA practice platform.
Do as many questions as you can on this software so that navigating the software becomes second nature. Deep familiarity with the actual spreadsheets, word processing tools and multiple-choice question presentation formats removes unnecessary stress in the exam and significantly improves the speed at which you can answer questions.
Suggested solutions matter
Many students rush through suggested solutions.
They underestimate how much deep learning happens when reviewing solutions thoroughly.
Instead:
- Work slowly and carefully through each part of the solution.
- Identify exactly why marks are awarded.
- Note how many marks each separate calculation earns.
- Look at how written answers are structured to make it easy for the marker and gain the most marks.
- Mark your own answers (and do so honestly!).
- Highlight any mark generating points that you missed.
If you don’t understand something in the solution revisit your notes or recordings.
Identify easy marks
Every exam question contains a mix of easy and challenging marks. When reviewing solutions identify the easy marks. These might be simple calculations or straightforward explanatory points.
These are your ‘low hanging fruit’. Students frequently lose marks not because they lack knowledge but because they spend too long on more complex points or calculations and miss easy marks.
Examiner’s reports are gold
Examiner’s reports are full of insights about what students commonly get wrong and why. If there is a report available for a question you’ve just attempted, read it straight after attempting the question.
You’ll learn:
- How marks were awarded.
- What strong answers included.
- The common mistakes that students make
Be systematic
Keep a simple spreadsheet to monitor the questions you have attempted and whether you got them right or wrong.
For multiple choice questions record:
- Question number.
- Whether you attempted it.
- Whether you got it right.
- Whether you redid it.
- Your second attempt result
This makes it easy to see your progress, identify weak areas and decide which questions to redo before the exam.
Quality over quantity
Many students feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of available exam standard questions.
The good news is you can get a high pass without attempting every available question.
Quality of question practice matters more than quantity. Quality means prioritising the most important questions (e.g. recent past exam questions or those discussed in examiners’ reports) and following the techniques for attempting questions and working through suggested solutions outlined in this article.
Final thoughts
Good question practice is about practising smartly, consistently, and with purpose. If you practice questions in the right way, you’ll not only learn more effectively – you’ll walk into the exam feeling prepared and confident.
Good luck with your question practice. I hope these tips help you get the very best out of every question you attempt.
- David Evans, Director, HTFT Partnership
