ACCOUNTING ADVICE!!

[disha2711]

hey guys!
Accounting exam is in a week! god im freaking out already!
but plz can anyone give good advices for this exam what to expect,
the time management needed on each question, how much time should
we allocate on this exam, like literally ANY advice that past accounting
student can give would be GREAT! because the thing with me is that
whenever i come across SACs i ALWAYS waste abt 5 mins trying to
understand the 1st question and then i make a move?? Which is so bad i know
so i need to know to to improve on not wasting time cuase in the exam time management
is very critical! SO PLEASE HELP!!  

[iamdan08]

This is some good advice from jamesdrv:

The best advice you can take heed of is also the simplest: use your time effectively. My general plan during reading time was to briefly read through the entire exam once (perhaps taking 3-5 minutes) while identifying any difficult questions, and then to return to those difficult questions in the remaining 10 minutes to work out how I was going to approach them. You should have done enough study to be able to do most of the exam easily, so wasting time reading the entire exam slowly is pointless. As soon as you read a question you should quickly think of how you will answer it, and if you know you can answer it easily then there is no point returning to that question in the remaining reading time. I always answered the questions in sequential order, but if it suits you to answer some questions first then you should do that.

Secondly (this is also related to time, but quite VCE specific), use all of the time available! The examiners always asked us to write our student numbers at the beginning, but I always left it to after they said “pens down”. They might give you a look that could murder a small child, but that extra minute is worth it. Having said that, if you’ve heard horror stories from your school regarding examiners not allowing people to write their numbers when time is up, don’t risk it.

My accounting advice is not to worry if your balance sheet doesn’t balance (should you be required to prepare one). It’s only 1 mark lost if it doesn’t balance, and you will likely lose more than that by wasting time trying to fix it. Just move on. If you have time at the end, return to it and trying and find the error. The easiest way to find the error is to calculate the difference and then, hopefully, that difference will correspond to a specific item somewhere else.

With theory questions, remember the “IDL” response. If it is asking for a response in terms of a principle or characteristic, you should identify the principle/characteristic, define it, and then explain how this relates to the specific question. Someone at a revision lecture last year said a lot of students gave “damage” as a reason for a stock loss relating to fuel. This was marked incorrect as it is not likely that fuel would be damaged.

On a separate point, I just read that other accounting thread where someone said the examiners wouldn’t set a question that could potentially have multiple answers. There have been questions in the past where multiple answers will be accepted. Relevance and reliability could both be justified (my intuition was towards reliability though).

Anyway, I’m sure you will be fine. Judging by the responses in the question thread you’re all going to do really well. Good luck!

[iamdan08]

Some good advice from Fyrefly:

An exam strategy is a good idea, but must be tailored to the individual. Timing is everything in an exam. I had a really nice thing going with accounting where I answered questions quickly, had a good exam strategy, and ended up with about 5 - 10 mins to spare at the end of each exam to check my answers. Specialists was a different story and I didn't stick to a strategy at all, which totally screwed my study score for that subject (and ended up being my worst subject EVEN after massive scaling, when it probably shouldn't have been). I stuffed up English too, but we won't go into that >.> Anywayz, you did that stupid legal exam last year as well; you'll know as well as anybody that sometimes it just comes down to how fast you can write or how mentally organised you are, rather than how much of a subject you actually know.

My exam strategy was to work through it in order, but I skipped the 'harder' theory questions and did them last. Why? Because I wrote long-ish theory answers and they took me more time to answer than the practical questions. I felt more comfortable with knowing near the end that 'okay, I have 15 minutes to answer 3 theory questions and check my answers' rather than rushing through them because I wasn't sure if I'd have enough time to do the whole exam. Also, I stuck relatively close to the minute per mark thing. I answered the question as best as I could and if I wasn't sure I'd done it right I'd scribble a star next to it, so when I went back through and checked my answers I'd check the ones with stars first, because there were probably more marks to be gained by checking/re-doing these questions rather than others I was relatively sure were right.

You seem to want to do the opposite and tackle the hard questions first. If this is how you want to approach the exam then go for it; your exam strategy must suit your needs. However, I strongly recommend you use your reading time to thoroughly read the entire exam and mentally highlight (or use a fingernail...) to remember bits of crucial information (such as a 6 month time frame instead of a year for depreciation, meaning you'll have to divide, etc...). It is noticing these little tidbits of information that make the difference between an A and an A+. If you're a fast reader and can do this AND start answering the BDAs in your head so that when you start writing you can get straight into it, then you've got a great exam strategy and you'll be off to an A+ standard start come June 11.

About the dot points... actually drawing dot points is probably not a good idea, but if you prefer to write in dot point form then do so if you are pressed for time. However, a better structure for answering theory is IDL, as james said. Even if it's only a 2 mark question it would still be wise to include that little Link component, otherwise a marker may have a hissy fit and take a mark off for a 'generic' answer. Also (as james said), you may realise the stupidity in saying fuel was damaged (like... did someone explode it or something? 0.0) rather than better answers such as stolen or spoiled (as in... got contaminated or went stale) before it's too late.

I was also going to make a point of not worrying about an unbalanced balance sheet coz it seriously costs more marks than it's worth, but james has already mentioned that too (someone should make this guy an accounting mod!). I don't think there was a question that required us to complete a whole balance sheet in either of last year's exams, so watch out for that one this year.


Edit: Exam advice looks like it needs a thread of it's own, lol.

[AppleXY]

- GJs first if possible
- do simple qs first as they pick up fast marks marks
- IDL, Identify Define Link approach for most not all theory questions
- Don't stress

[costargh]

I'm very sure im going to tackle the General Journal first and then go back an (and maybe do that question first . like if GJ is in question 2, do the entire question 2 after that)

[Fyrefly]

My advice was tailored to some worries costargh had... I hope you can still make sense of it

Do you have any specific questions? You seem a lil panicky and stressed. *hugs* Perhaps if you figure out exactly what's worrying you we can help you target the problem and calm those concerns.
If this is your first year 12 exam, perhaps you would like advice regarding exams in general, and some strategies to deal with worst-case scenarios?

It seems to me that your worst-case scenario may be that you get in there and 'freeze' in the way you did for your SACs. This is where I think reading time comes in handy. Read the whole exam, and find a couple of 'quick marks' that you can do easily. Do those questions first to get your confidence up, fend off the nerves, and get the ball rolling. Everyone's always nervous before they start an exam, and usually into the first few minutes of writing time. After this though, the knowledge takes over and you forget the nerves. Remember... you don't have to start your exam by doing Q1a... if you don't understand the first question, then start with another one and don't sit there worrying about something only worth a couple of marks - move on, but keep it in the back of your mind ...sometimes you'll figure it out or even end up reading something in the exam that makes you remember what the answer is.

Perhaps you need a few in-exam stress-countering techniques as well, in case you find yourself overwhelmed during the exam? Just let us know what you need, and we'll be happy to help ^_^

[disha2711]

hi fyerfly!
thank you so much for your nice advice and encouraging me to do well and not to stress!
yes this i my 1st exam well, mid-yr that is, i did two last yr 'LOTE and B.M', but i dont know theres something about accounting which doesn't click to me at the start of doing specific questions and thats one thing i get worried about going into any of my accounting sacs which i think of it as a very big disadvantage i try so hard not to worry if i didn't get the question but i cant help that when i sit the sacs but once i get the hang of it ( after like 5-7 mins ) im perfectly fine. I just don't know how to use my time management effectively to be frank, also when i get stuck in a question and i ask my friend he always knows the answer and once he starts doing a few starting steps then it clicks to me and im like omg i knew that! is it because i make silly mistakes of not reading things right???  *help*

[Fyrefly]

Honestly, the problem may lie with the fact that you've been relying on your friend to help you start questions in class. It may be the case that you haven't actually learned yourself how to recognise what steps to take with each different sort of question. Of course, this isn't a problem until it comes to SACs and exams and you cannot consult your friend. I'd be inclined to think it would be more this than you not reading properly. Though of course, you do need to make sure you read quickly but CAREFULLY in an exam - you have a whole 15 minutes for reading time for a reason. Don't worry though, this freezing thing is completely fixable. Accounting is a bit like maths in the sense that knowing how to start a question is usually the hard part.

Now... my advice regarding all of this. I think you need to get your hands on some practice exams if you haven't already. I recommend you do some practice exams under exam conditions to get yourself fully prepared and less jittery about your midyear. Doing them under full exam conditions will get you physically prepared in the sense that you will be able to write for 2 hours straight, and mentally prepared in the sense that if you do enough practice exams, you will walk into that exam feeling as though you're a pro and (more than likely) once you see the exam you won't see many questions that you haven't already done before and the nerves will totally dissolve. Also... doing them under full exam conditions (and not consulting your friend - this is the important part) will help you to recognise which questions you need to 'learn how to start' and you can then focus some revision time on these areas. ALSO (last also, I promise), you can practice your time management skills by trying to finish the exam as best you can in the allocated time (have a digital watch on the table with you just like you would in the exam so you can keep an eye on the time).

So. Do a practice exam every day between now and your accounting midyear (or more if you're keen - maybe one in the morning and one in the arvo/evening) and make sure you mark them afterwards and see where you need to improve, then make sure you go about improving in these areas. You'll be fine disha, I'm sure you're just a little stressed out

[elaine]

btw, how are people preparing in the last few days we have left? (other than practice exams)

coz i'm so bored, what do people recommend to do? i done all the exams avaliable to me. i've redone some of them too, but it's so repetitive and tedious.

[Noblesse]

I've still got about 5 practice exams to complete (did my 20th today) and completing review questions from the lectures I've been to and the NEAP book. I have to say, I am getting sick of writing why a stock loss may have occurred

I'm making sure I'm taking a break everyone 1.5 hours or so, just to make sure I don't burn out before the exam.

[elaine]

I've still got about 5 practice exams to complete (did my 20th today) and completing review questions from the lectures I've been to and the NEAP book. I have to say, I am getting sick of writing why a stock loss may have occurred

I'm making sure I'm taking a break everyone 1.5 hours or so, just to make sure I don't burn out before the exam.

20 exams??? wow someone is one his way to a 50!
are there even that many avaliable? if so, where can i get them?

[Noblesse]

The ones I'm doing or have done include:
A+ Publishing Accounting Unit 3 Exams = 9 exams
NEAP smartstudy exams = 3
Neap 2008 exam (school edition i believe) = 1
TSSM 2007+2008 (school edition) = 2
TSSM mid year revision lecture exam = 1
VCAA exams (2002-2007) = 6 (from the VCAA site, not rewritten)
COMPAK 2008 = 1
2 more I think but I can't remember what they were called...

[elaine]

The ones I'm doing or have done include:
A+ Publishing Accounting Unit 3 Exams = 9 exams
NEAP smartstudy exams = 3
Neap 2008 exam (school edition i believe) = 1
TSSM 2007+2008 (school edition) = 2
TSSM mid year revision lecture exam = 1
VCAA exams (2002-2007) = 6
COMPAK 2008 = 1
2 more I think but I can't remember what they were called...

ohh so you included those A+ ones. hmm they didn't look like 'proper' exams, but maybe i'll check them out. did you do them all in timed conditions?
were the TSSM lectures any good?

[Noblesse]

Yeah the A+ ones seem different to what the exam will look like, but they are good practice nonetheless and can be a bit challenging towards the end. All my exams I complete in timed conditions, basically I just noted the time I started and then finish. Then I mark them. Generally I get the exams done in about ~1 hour, but I realise this won't be the case in the real exam when I am likely to stress more :p

The TSSM lectures were quite good, I went to the Midyear exam revision and the Easter Holiday revision lectures. At the start of the year I went to the TSFX summer school. Overall both were good, though TSFX moved rather quickly and at the time I had no idea what the lousy general ledger was!

[disha2711]

yea!
i'v done all the A+ prac "exams" ( 10 including da prac exams )
other then that i'v done:
NEAP same as jamison
Compak 2008 & 07
we had these 4 prac exams our teacher made for us
VCAA 06 and 07 ( as ALL the lecturers adviced NOT to do previous ones )
so far thats it!!! I NEED MORE!!
can jamison honestly PLEASE upload your TSSM prac exams!!! PLEASEEE!!
i beg you!! i NEED SOOOO MUCH PRAC!! PLEASE UPLOAD!!!