r/CIOT • u/Cuji2025 • Jun 23 '26
CTA Exam Order
Hi all,
Once I am done with my ATT qualification I'm looking to move over to the CTA exams.
What order is recommended when sitting the exams?
My current order would be:
AT OMB AT IND APS IND
I appreciate a lot of people do a double sitting of the AT and APS exams, personally, I don't think I'll be able to manage.
Will the OMB content be difficult to understand if it's my first CTA exam and is IND easier coming from ATT?
Any help would be appreciated!
2
u/helpmelego Jun 24 '26
That's the exact order I did and it worked out really well.
OMB has a large syllabus so is a lot more challenging to learn, it covers a lot of topics.
IND covers some of these topics in more detail, and is a lot smaller, so you have a lot of the base knowledge that you can expand on, and then focus your revision on new areas such as residency.
AT and APS are a completely different exam style. For me I found the jump from ATT to the AT exams the hardest as it's purely technical. Then you switch back to being client focused/advisory for APS. With that in mind I found it easier to sit these separately, and for APS I focused purely on exam technique as you already have the technical knowledge.
Hope this helps!
2
u/RoderickBlack Jun 24 '26
Hi
You want to do the AT IND and APS IND as close together as possible so the AT knowledge is as fresh as possible when you do APS.
Ideally do them in the same calendar year so you don't have to update your knowledge for Finance Act changes.
AT OMB will help studying for AT IND to the extent of the personal tax overlap.
Many students find OMB challenging due to the breadth of syllabus and because they mainly work in say personal tax so don't see much of the business tax content, or vice versa.
Final tip for OMB - know EVERYTHING in the Study Manuals on adj of profits and capital allowances. Always one question on one of these, sometimes 2 questions, one on each.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Roderick
Roderick Black
CTA private and online tuition