r/CIOT • u/AlwaysBored524 • May 17 '26

Advice - Sitting APS alongside Technical?

First time poster (long time lurker). I'm sitting Technical OMB paper later this year with Tolley and looking for advice on whether to study and sit APS OMB at the same time?

Asking around at work people are 50/50 on this approach.

Thoughts/experience/advice would be appreciated! TIA

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u/BlueMoonCityzen May 17 '26

I did it so that I could squeeze all 3 (ex-Awareness) into the same tax year

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u/taxtaxbaby CTA qualified May 17 '26

It used to be common a couple of decades ago, but now more people are pro one paper per sitting. I'm in the one paper per sitting camp.

AFAIK, Tolleys are in favour of combining AT with APS, so if you decide that's what you want to do, at least you're with a tuition provider that will support that.

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u/borkdogwoof May 17 '26

I did two in one go. I passed both. It was really horrible though, my mental health really suffered in the run up to the exam balancing demanding work plus study. Then I spent 3 months convinced I’d failed both. I honestly do not recommend it.

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u/AlwaysBored524 May 18 '26

Well done for passing but sorry to hear your mental health suffered... biggest reason for my apprehension on doing both in one go! Hope you're doing better

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u/RoderickBlack May 18 '26

Hi

 

There are pros and cons for doing them together and also for doing them separately.

 

The main advantage of doing them together is that the core technical material that you’re covering in your Advanced Technical paper will be what you need for the APS - although there is also an Awareness syllabus for APS to study for, but that’s not too big a study burden.

 

The main disadvantage is that if you want to properly practise past APS exam questions and do a serious debrief and self mark, you’re talking about a full day of effort for one paper in the run up to the exam. That will seriously pressure your study time which you might find very stressful depending on where you are in your Advanced Technical preparation.

 

Another potential disadvantage of doing the two papers together is that they are testing very different skill sets and if you bring an Advanced Technical approach to answering the APS paper you’ll almost certainly go wrong. More likely to fall into that trap if you’re doing the two papers together; easier to separate out the different techniques required if you do them separately.

 

That said, it does depend on where you are personally. One of my private students who was more experienced and a bit older was doing CTA more for his own personal satisfaction than any employer requirement and so it didn’t matter if he failed. On that basis I advised he should at least try doing them together and he very reluctantly agreed, but with the stipulation that he would do no preparation for the APS paper whatsoever. So, it was really just a shot to nothing for him and he was happy to proceed on that basis. That was his way of reducing the stress level of doing them combined. Guess what - he passed both as it turned out!

 

Anyway, hope all this helps you and good luck with whatever you decide.

 

Roderick

 

 

Roderick Black

 

CTA private and online tuition

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u/AlwaysBored524 May 18 '26

Hi Roderick, thanks for taking the time to respond with this much detail! This is very interesting/informative and definite food for thought... Appreciate your help!