Hello , just failed an exam (second in a row)

Hello,

I got results for Tax Compliance paper and I failed it, and I have been upset ever since (Friday), I got my first fail back in October, in Audit and Assurance, I have never failed back in college, hold a bachelor degree in accounting.

So I don't know what am I doing wrong, can you please help me.

I was suppose to do Financial Accounting & Reporting exam on 7th of March, but pulled it out, thought to give myself sometime to process all this, and just spoke to my employer about having a two months of unpaid leave, from April to June, thought to focus on Financial Accounting & Reporting in those two months and hope to pass it on June.

I just don't know what am I doing wrong, I don't study daily, only study when on leave, usually between 3 to 5 weeks of leave before an exam. So I don't know what to do, how can I remove this ache, on my first failure I removed it by focusing on my next module, and passing it, but I failed my next module too, so I'm back to where I am, and focusing on Financial Accounting & Reporting is not removing the ache, I guess I'm afraid I'm gonna fail again, don't know what I am doing wrong, don't know even if you will be able to help, just want to speak out a little.

Was anyone in similar situation? What helps? Is two months for Financial Accounting & Reporting enough? Any tips? Any advices? Please

Look at the way you are studying, is it effective?

Only studying on leave seems quite short, you should be studying at least 15 hours a week whilst on the course, the amount of time that you put in really pays dividends.

How many questions did you complete in the QB? Did you do every question at least once?

Have you understood all the topics correctly and understood the answers to the questions?

How many questions do you ask the tutor, if you havent asked any is this because you understand all the topics or simply choose to not understand?

You need to evaluate your method of study and maybe put more hours in, everyone is different, but if this is the second you have failed, you should put together some lessons learnt and apply those next time round.

Do study throughout not just before exams, you want to understand as well as remember, short burst learning tends to stick for a limited time only.

Presume this is ICAEW of which I know nothing re content/format but as nobody else has answered I offer my ten pence worth which will likely be nonsense from the perspective of the actual exams you are sitting, hopefully someone who has taken the exams will come along and correct everything following.

The old ICAS exams from the 1980s needed answers structured and framed as the Institute expected, knowing the subject was not enough, and doing a memory dump on paper was a very bad idea; the bit I found difficult post university was making the answers short, sweet and on point, no rambling essays (Literary flair needed curtailed) so you need to unlearn the approach you adopted at university. The way to get answers that were fit for purpose was to try lots of questions and look carefully at the model answers (assuming these are narrative exams and not multiple choice or similar, as I said no idea how ICAEW tests these two subjects) Practise, practise more practise.

Now I cannot comment on Tax Compliance as I did not have that as a distinct paper,Ii just had Taxation 1 then Taxation 2 then the TPC in final year which pulled in aspects from all the first two years, our tax papers were distinctly more computational the compliance parts re say TMA 1970 were covered but not as a distinct paper.

Auditing (as ours was called) was a different beast, the actual practice of doing auditing was not applied re testing processes (System notes, walk through tests, compliance test and analytical review) the exams more covered the role, the audit planning process, materiality, auditor responsibilities- very tedious and the work I did throughout my apprenticeship had little bearing as these roles were more done by audit seniors/audit managers, so the trick was work out what the examiner wants, how he wants it and then deliver to that standard. So past papers/model answers/course note examples were the order of the day. (ICAS did its own training so did not have the training firms like the other institutes, we were issued with the course handouts by our institute)

I note ICAEW has for registered parties some available study support paperwork on its website (cannot see it as not a member) , I think you may want to look at this/similar.

I tended to work in the evenings and on the train home about 2 hours a night plus more at weekends and of course on study break/ block release, you may not be doing enough hours-nobody said it was easy to do a job and study, the key with professional exams is not that the subjects are in themselves difficult, imho university was more academically challenging but you have more time to get through what is needed, professional exams need different skills and time management is crucial.

Do not get dispirited, when I sat mine you had to pass all paper re part 1 in one go, fail one fail all (unless you got a referral in one paper) and something like 65% failed at first sitting, the secret is just to try harder and smarter and once they are all over you have a life on endless CPD.

Edit: in the time I took writing someone has now answered.

I think a lot of what you said, is VERY relevant, so thanks for everything.

I panic a lot, and I tend to forget a lot, I told my friend, if only I remembered that part of the question, I could've passed (which is a part, that I knew how to do couple of days from the exam).

so I have a lot of problems, and I think I need to understand myself, and work with myself, and do what works for me.

university was filled with MCQs, and if there was a written question, I would skip it because I have already got the pass from all MCQs, but ICAEW papers, excluding CFAB level, is all written papers, which is again, making me lose my brain out, I know I need to practice more on my writing and presentation skills, which my teachers keep telling me.

I have really good teachers, they really make a lot of questions look very easy. so I just need to work smarter, like you said, I need that time management skills, and I need to know how much of my time is required for each exam, and I will do my best to give it that amount of time and maybe 10% extra.

I think I will try harder for my next exam, I just hope it won't be a fail. just want one pass that's all, and then I think if I failed after one pass, I wouldn't mind it that much, because I know whatever I was doing, it was right, the exam was just hard for me, then I guess I won't blame myself that much and go to the depressing zone, which is what those two failures have caused to me.