The Student Room Group

ACA simplified - FAR

Would anyone recommend these books?

I'm close to completing my certificate stage and will soon move onto the professional stage.

Also, how comparable is FAR to Accounting paper, both in terms of quantity and difficulty?

In fact, that goes for the professional stage? Is it massively harder or just into much more detail?
Reply 1
I don't know if these books are going to be worth the money. If you're going to be studying with a tuition provider eg. Kaplan/BPP then I wouldn't bother. Their materials and study support are pretty good, plus the ACA question banks are all you really need to pass. It's all about exam technique and question practice.

FAR is harder yes, the questions are more time pressured and the syllabus is bigger. The same goes for the other professional papers, but remember these papers are written and it's easier to pick up marks along the way for your workings even if you don't arrive at the correct figure - unlike the certificate level.

I've not used ACA simplified and passed the first 3 professional stage papers in one sitting.
Reply 2
Original post by Kre
I don't know if these books are going to be worth the money. If you're going to be studying with a tuition provider eg. Kaplan/BPP then I wouldn't bother. Their materials and study support are pretty good, plus the ACA question banks are all you really need to pass. It's all about exam technique and question practice.

FAR is harder yes, the questions are more time pressured and the syllabus is bigger. The same goes for the other professional papers, but remember these papers are written and it's easier to pick up marks along the way for your workings even if you don't arrive at the correct figure - unlike the certificate level.

I've not used ACA simplified and passed the first 3 professional stage papers in one sitting.


I'm hoping the bold bit will help me out as I haven't been the greatest multiple choice exam taker! I look forward to sitting the final multiple choice paper of my life shortly haha.

Have you done FM by any chance? I'm guessing not, but if you have how did that compare to MI in terms of content?
Reply 3
Original post by accno1
I'm hoping the bold bit will help me out as I haven't been the greatest multiple choice exam taker! I look forward to sitting the final multiple choice paper of my life shortly haha.

Have you done FM by any chance? I'm guessing not, but if you have how did that compare to MI in terms of content?


I'm exempt from FM, but I've seen the syllabus and it focuses on financing options, risk, and financial instruments. MI was more costing/budgeting/pricing, so they are actually quite different.

Again, like the other papers, there's more content to learn and it's going to be harder. The smallest syllabus at the professional stage is AA, but that's expected considering how tiny the Assurance syllabus was at certificate level.

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