ICAEW ACA Exam Halls London

I did my first set of prof level exams at the Bethnal Green venue and hated it for different reasons. Have sat the rest of my exams at Bishopsgate which is a lot more organised and exam friendly in my opinion, however, the desk size is no different.

A couple of friends of mine have extra time so they got to sit their exams somewhere near Moorgate and MK and they had proper full sized tables. Not sure why though if I'm being honest as I don't think those two exam centres were ever up for grabs for people without extra time.

Sorry this probably isn't super helpful but I guess people still cope with the same small desks at TIs and case. As annoying as it is I guess it's a chance to make sure you're as organised as you can with the material you take into the exam hall.

The people who get extra time have always been put in different rooms with bigger desks - I'm guessing this is done on purpose?

I just laugh when I see people walk into the open book exams with suitcases worth of stuff. You barely have time to think in the exam, let alone look through that material!

The only exam I'd say where you probably need more than the others is SBM, purely because you need to bring your CR notes into it.

Ah didn't realise it's the norm for extra time peeps - thought it was just cos these exam centres have bigger tables for some reason. The SA grads get massive tables for their case exam as well. Shame really, I'd love a bigger table too.



Haha I know right, so funny to watch!

Although I have to say I did bring in the SMs for CR/SBM purely to cover all bases should something obscure come up (actually used it for something in SBM iirc).

I want to become an accountant. How long does it take seems as you don't become chartered with a degree?

Standard training contracts are 3 years long.

Oh so you get a job as a trainee accountant and to the extra exams you aren't exempt from on the side or is it like an apprenticeship?

Yeah exactly you get a training contract and do the exams, 3 years later you're qualified.

There was no way in hell I was lugging those study manuals haha! What did you need it for?

Chartered?

I can't quite remember but think it was something about sustainability? Was the last thing I had to answer and only had 5mins left and started to panic. Found something vaguely useful in the SM so just used that finish of the qn

It definitely was a waste to bring it for CR though for sure, I didn't even open the big Kaplan folder once as I was just using the summary notes which I had annotated a bit before. So little time!

Business sustainability? That question did threw me a bit haha! It was fairly rogue. I was annoyed that no proper valuations came up.

CR I used my notes more, but there wasn't much time at all to properly delve into it!

Ok thank you. Someone told me that a 6 year degree apprenticeship was faster but I guess it isn't it's the same. Do you do AAT at uni then do ACCA during trainee accountant work?

For graduates the standard route is to do a 3 year degree in whatever, and then 3 years training for the ACA/ACCA/CA.

The AAT is an entry-level qualification, which gives you some exemptions to the ACA exams I believe, and is usually meant for school leavers as a stepping stone to the main qualifications.

Ok do you get a lot of exemptions from accounting degrees then because I seen somewhere say ACCA chartered accountant takes 7 years

If you'd like some advice on the finals, drop me a PM I sat and passed CR/SBM in July.

I did them too! How did you find the last CR question? It wanted a load of audit tests for each balance so I found it very time pressured. Waiting for them to publish the examiners comments online.

I've done exams in Reading and Guildford, and the desks are pretty much the same wherever you go.

If you're one of those people who bring in literal suitcases of material into the exam, it would be a bit of a pain.

For CR/SBM, all I brought in with me was my Kaplan folders.

If you'd like some advice on the finals, drop me a PM I sat and passed CR/SBM in July.

Hey! I sat SBM in July 2017 but failed by 3 marks Resitting it next week, but I've not yet sat the CR exam - I feel like I'm at a disadvantage for not sitting CR at the same time as SBM because there's a fair bit on the FR treatments etc., but do you think that this is a big deal? or still manageable without it?