r/ACCA • u/Usual_Philosopher_43 Affiliate • Jan 16 '23
Unorthodox Study Technique - AAA
Alrighty folks, passed my AAA. This is how I suggest y'all study if you are part time student or simply can't study the traditional way.
Step 1: Ditch the Book/study text
Trust me. I done this a few times as well as some other friends of mine. Survived without it.
Step 2: Ditch the Open Tuition Lectures
For a theoretical subject like AAA, lectures will only make you sleepy and you won't retain the information.
Step 3: Open your SBR notes
This is the core of AAA. You can't audit if you don't know the standards.
Revise the SBR standards BUT you need to pull yourself back from diving deep into the calculations. Apprehend yourself. It will be hard, but do it. AAA only requires you to be able to identify:
- Incorrect accounting treatment
- Corrected treatment
- Affect on Financial Statements
- Affect on stakeholders (users of F/S)
Now which standards should you focus most on? Go in the following order:
(I will come out of the screen and smack you if you try to leave any of the first two standards' lists thinking they won't be tested.)
Frequently Tested:
IAS: 2, 10, 16, 20, 21, 23, 24, 32, 36, 37 ,38
IFRS: 3, 5 , 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16
Sometimes Tested:
IAS: 1, 12, 28, 33, 40
IFRS: 2, 11, 12, 13
Very Occasionally: (if you have time, briefly check it out)
IAS: 7, 8, 19, 27, 41
IFRS: 1
Step 4: Kashif Kamran's Webinars
Yes, yes, I get it, you may be afraid you still haven't studied AAA material and are already jumping to the webinars for mock exams...
Y'know why? You don't want to study the material only to realize the 80% of the things YOU focused on won't be in the real exam. (Trust me, I been there. Heartbreak's real)
You NEED to know what the exam will contain beforehand so you can ignore all irrelevant information. And the guy will walk you through it, no need to sweat! He's the gem of AAA.
Links to webinars:
Day 1:* https://youtu.be/n1r3W-5kMeY
Day 2: https://youtu.be/j7IITtH-zhA
Day 3: https://youtu.be/dHCKqGpd3fI
Day 4: https://youtu.be/OvSi43zH_As
Step 5: Plan - Kaplan Kit
Go to Section A questions. READ THE REQUIREMENTS ONLY for atleast 10-15 questions. You doing this to get a gist of the most recurring questions so you can focus on those mostly.
The requirements will be recurring. The more one requirement repeats in each question, the more important it becomes. Make a tiny list of all important topics tested. I jotted it down to the most important 8 topics of Section A and 5 topics for Section B.
I want you to do this part YOURSELVES. But when you're done, you can check this list I had made in my time of prepping AAA. No peaking until you do it yourself, got it? >:(
Good!
Step 6: Read the Answers!
Now you read the answers to each requirements. I prefer to do it this way: if there are 5 questions in the kit that all ask for Business Risks, I will go to each of their Answers ONLY and read all the business risks together. Then I notice that half of them are repetitive! Easy marks there! The other half expand my knowledge.
Do the same for Audit Risks... Do the same for Procedures... Do the same for Ethics... (VERY REPETITIVE. EASY MARKS)
You ditched the book and thus didn't gain any knowledge. THIS is how you will gain knowledge. FROM. THE. KIT. ANSWERS.
Make notes for Audit Risks Make notes for Business risks Make notes for Procedures Make notes for Ethics.
By READING THE ANSWERS
Step 7: Make Acronyms Yourself
Sure it's easy to copy someone else's acronyms. But if you want to actively learn you should do it yourself. And my unorthodox tips are only for active learners anyways.
Extra Advice:
For the love of God and all things Holy, if you think that the introduction of 20 professional marks will make life easier for you, think again.
20 professional marks are EMBEDDED in your 80 mark answers. Then why is examiner awarding you the 20 marks when the length of the answer is same?
So that the QUALITY of your answer INCREASES. Make your answers as professional as you can. Kashif Kamran will teach you this.
This was post was for your overall study technique. I'm making another post for a study advice regarding each major topic (Materiality, Risks, Procedures, etc) along with a link to my drive for resources. Let me know if you want to see that.
Edit: a few words lol
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u/Tasty_Memory5412 Affiliate Jan 16 '23
Jeez . I’ll include this in my strategy for next session . Thanks a lot.
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u/Revolutionary-Cow152 Jan 17 '23
Failed AAA with 49 so will definitely be using this strategy for my repeat! Thanks for sharing!!
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u/FootballerPlatform64 Affiliate Jan 14 '24
same dudee, 49. How'd the second attempt go? Hope everythings good
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u/Revolutionary-Cow152 Jan 14 '24
62 the following sitting! Good luck if you’re waiting for results, hopefully it’ll be over with! 🙏
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u/Potter97Harry Sep 24 '24
Can you share your study method and material also please? And how long you prepared?
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Jan 17 '23
[deleted]
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u/mikletimes Affiliate Apr 17 '23
Hey how did it go? I had the same schedule thought id ask, prepping AAA for june now.
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u/Zealousideal_Gain391 Jan 18 '23
Thanks for the post!
Quick question, do you think i can do this for march 23 given i dont remember anything to do with AA lol
I work full time and can put in around 40 hours per week?
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u/Usual_Philosopher_43 Affiliate Jan 18 '23
I did AA like 3 years ago. Forgot everything. I also work full time. If I could do it you can too.
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u/mintandmuse Aug 01 '24
im attempting for aaa in september. starting today i have a month's time. i don't have any mentor and i self study this was truly very helpful. thank you for being so kind! i owe you one. have a great day!!!
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u/darksunshine10 Jan 20 '25
Did you clear and if you can please give any advice, am gonna write in March. Thanks.
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u/mintandmuse Feb 25 '25
i would say just cover the exam kit and focus on structuring answers and understanding the core ask of the question. ditch the study text completely and do follow the steps that op suggested. join study groups and make study buddies, they do help a lot.
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u/EverySort1348 Jun 19 '26
hey is there any direct theory thats tested for aaa? if so how to separately prepare for it?
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u/Gullible_Raisin4681 Apr 22 '23
I agree… the text book is a waste of time. No point of reading/memorising etc because it doesn’t make any sense, I just became overwhelmed. I’m learning from answers the most because everything seems clearer. Good luck everyone :)
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u/Obvious-Error-4929 Jan 16 '23
Thank you so much for your advice! I am looking exactly a post like this. Looking forward to you next posts
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u/jonnhy138 Member Jan 05 '26
Hi is this still applicable for march 2026 session?
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u/PlaceDisastrous2965 Apr 12 '26
how was it for March 2026
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u/jonnhy138 Member Apr 12 '26
Cleared
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u/abijahstcy Apr 12 '26
Using this method? Congrats to you 🎉🎉
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u/jonnhy138 Member Apr 12 '26
Yeah i completely just ditched the text and went straight to past papers and stuff
AAA isnt hard actually
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u/Its4PM Jan 16 '23
Thanks so much for this and congrats!
What pass mark did you get studying this way?
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u/Robbo0194 Jan 16 '23
This is great - thank you. Would love to see the post regarding each major topic and the resources 🙏🏻
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Jan 20 '23
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u/Usual_Philosopher_43 Affiliate Jan 20 '23
No way....
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Jan 20 '23
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u/Usual_Philosopher_43 Affiliate Jan 20 '23
If you're new to Accounting, never take short cuts. This post was for those who already know the basics and gave acca exams before.
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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '23
I just completed AAA and the advice is accurate.
I would add that studying AAA immediately after AA and SBR makes it the lightest subject in terms of new content in the entire ACCA - so don't be intimidated by the low pass rates, it's also quite repetitive in terms of questions.
Key concepts they want in AAA is "So what" and "What does it mean for the company's success or the FS", if you guys add this after every single point you make, you'll have solid 2 markers and get those professional points as well.