Anyone that has finished ICAS (TPE)

Hi,

I'm about to book holidays to revise for the TPE exam in November 2014

We get about a week off before the exam and I was wondering how much more time I should book off on top of that week

Any estimates/advice welcome!

Reply 1

kezzer

Don't if this is of any relevance as quite an old opening post.

But I did TPE in May 2013 and my period between last TPE block and exam was only 2 and an half weeks, so I decided to take the whole period off and this allowed me to fully concentrate on studying rather than thinking about work.

Passed first time round and was admitted the other week so it worked for me.

One huge tip regarding TPE, don't think that you need to know all the stuff from TPS only very basic calculations are required, any of the detailed stuff you can pretty much forget. Just practise as many case studies as you can once you start TPE and make sure you do these under exam conditions!!!!

Any other queries send me a message.

Reply 2

brvima

Hi Kezzer

I too will be sitting for TPE this Nov. Was wondering what preparation tips you could share.
-What all can i do during pre-preparation when i have time off and during the classes?
-is TPE all commercial awareness or is it from the material taught so far?
-where can we practice the case studies? the website has only few i think?

any assistance would help.

regards.

Reply 3

kezzer

Hello brvima,

Before I started TPE I just went over my notes from the TPS module and read the summaries. Don't bother with any stuff from TC, can't think of any case study where I needed to know anything from that part of the course. The technical knowledge required from TPE is much less than TPS, so it would be really unlikely to deal with anything like a detailed consolidated question or having to come up with loads of substantive tests. Also get any pre course modules out of the way as well.

You won't have much time to deal with relearning stuff from TPS when you start the course, but bits and pieces will crop up in questions that will refresh your memory.

The actual course is pretty much made up of building soft skills for the exams (like commercial awareness/tax planning etc) and during case study practise in class.

You had at TPS by ICAS, do question after question blah blah.... well at TPE that is what you need to do. At the start of the course you will be getting to grips with writing case studies and will probably spend the evening doing some odd questions, rereading modules and parts of case studies. Once you have progressed with the course your need to start doing full case studies.

What ever you do, do not get any case studies before the course, any other accountancy body won't be relevant and any previous proper icas ones will be wasted, when you actually come to need them for revision.

When you do mocks in class you will get face to face feedback from an external marker, take any comments on board when you meet them as these people will be marking your exam.

You use a laptop for TPE and can bring in what ever you want to the exam, both electronically and paper based. But really you won't have time to look up stuff. I had once or two files and some electronic notes from TPS. You obviously can't connect to the internet.

In the exam you usually have to put together a report, memos, presentation slides etc. If you can put something together that a partner would be happy charging a client for then you will pass.

I really hated TPS but didn't mind TPE, I felt it was more interesting.

Hope that helps

Reply 4

MancStudent098

My personal feeling is that revision doesn't help a huge amount at TPE - It is a very non technical paper, even the so called 'technical' marks largely come from handing out a mix of common sense and very basic accounting/finance/tax advice. You also get to take word documents with all your notes in with you, so if there are any things you want to add more depth to you can just ctrl+f it in your notes.

If you did the work during the course, and managed to fit in a bit of revision alongside it you probably won't need much time at all before the exam - I'd say a week absolute max.

Reply 5

Alister786

hey

wondering if anyone knows this for certain that you cant sit tpe till the 3rd year of your training contract? is this an icas rule? just thinking whilst tps is fresh in the mind it would be gd just to do it/ doing tpe now would just end all pain quicker...

Reply 6

MancStudent098

Original post by Alister786

Yes, this is an ICAS rule and they do enforce it. I'm suspect if a big4 asked them to waive the rule for a few candidates they'd do so but If it's you individually you'll probably have to wait.

On the plus side TPS knowledge really isn't what matters at TPE - so you won't lose anything by waiting.

Reply 7

brvima

Hi Kezzer

Apologies for a late response. I never got an email alerting that i had a response back, so didnt bother to check it until today.

Thanks for your response above. It was indeed helpful.

I have commenced classes for tpe ..just had 4 days of classes and 1 day of mock.

Honestly i am struggling with writing the response to the case study. My reasoning is totally different to what seems to be given in the solution and moreover it doesnt seem substantial and strong to me either when i compare it to the solution. I feel i am unable to pin point the actual reason in the case study and come up with a totally different solution.
Could you suggest how to work around this? Im very nervous!

Also they say that 35 technical marks is safe to marginally pass, is that the case?

Await response.

Regards.

Reply 8

kezzer

No problem.

Firstly, have you had your results for mock one yet? As your solution to the case study might differ to the marker's one, but it could be perfectly fine if it is backed up with strong points.

The more case studies you do the more you will understand what the examiner is looking for. I failed the first two and then just passed the third one and only really started to get it, in the time between block 2 and the exam. I passed first time, but I didn't get a medal or a distinction so who knows what I got!

When I think about mock 3, my solution was probably nearly 1/3 less then the other two. The marker said he liked to see stuff in a easy marking format, so appendices with SWOT and tables etc will always get you marks and sometimes stating the obvious can get you a few easy marks as well.

I can't remember the recommended number of technical marks you should aim for, but 35 would probably give you something in the 60's I would expect.

Nothing really to add, but make sure you PRACTISE the case studies under exam conditions!

Also I would take ear plugs to the exam as all the typing can be a bit off putting!

Let me know if I can help with anything else.

Reply 9

brvima

Hi Kezzer

thanks for the above.

i have been searching for two past practice case study solutions. i was wondering if you have them could you share the same.ill tell you the title for those then. please let me know.

regards,

Reply 10

kezzer

All went after the exam. Good luck with TPE