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Provides students with the knowledge of key subject areas that you need to understand and learn in order to pass the exam Develops students exam skills and teaches you how best to apply these and your technical knowledge to exam standard questions Allows students to perfect their exam technique, giving you the confidence you need to apply key skills BPP has the 3 steps to success which is the educational principle underpinning all of our courses. You can use this to understand what you need to do at each stage and this will feed into the way you create a study plan for exam success. Learning knowledge should happen first. You should have completed (or be currently completing this) and know what your exam is on and be comfortable with the key topics you will be facing. You should have considered how these things will be tested in the exam. The second step is to develop your exam skills and technique, to understand what you will need to do in the exam, and how to apply the knowledge to a number of different scenarios. This is best achieved through question practice, with the opportunity to review and then reflect on your answer, identifying any key areas you may have missed, and understanding the core points and the higher skills points. The final step is rehearsal. This is where you try a full practice run before the real exam – this enables students to think about skills such as time management as well as the application of all they already know.
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When you commit to studying a professional qualification you are committing to: •Reduction in family time •Social commitments are rationed •Work has to ‘fit’ •Could refer to some of points on article we produced – link provided re motivation etc which we will address later
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“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Depending on the source, this quote has been accredited to Winston Churchill, Beyonce – wearing AAT green, Benjamin Franklin, and likely a handful of other well-known influential people. Perhaps there’s good reason that it’s so popular—because it’s so true! Without a plan, we don’t know what to do, when to do it, or how long it will take. So a study plan is vital to succeed and keep on top of things There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to developing a study plan, but one thing is sure: the best plan is the one that will be followed
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Organisation and direction Avoids confusion Mini targets Addresses priorities Regular activity If studying online or at a distance – even more important Helps you become more organised and accountable for your learning outcomes
A clear action plan creates a sense of organisation and direction Helps avoid confusion – stick to the plan! Achievement of mini targets is motivating Process of creating a plan makes you address priorities Planning for regular times makes the activity feel normal. Working irregularly makes the activity feel stressful If studying online or at a distance – even more important since you need self discipline and motivation
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First things first, start with a clear idea of how you currently use your time so that you can identify the necessities you need to include in your weekly time and the tasks which are not necessary for which you need to make a concentrated effort to avoid Second, get an idea of how many hours are required to complete the subject you are studying. Your college should be able to provide you with this information. For example, the maximum guided learning hours (GLH) per paper at L2 and L3 is 75 hours. At L4, financial statements has 90 GLH, the rest up to 70 Thirdly, if you are studying at a college on a F2F course, the completion date may be determined by them regarding when you sit the assessment. However if you are studying via a DL course, then you may be able to decide when to sit the assessment. So if a paper requires 40 GLH of study and you want to sit the exam in 5 weeks, this therefore requires approximately 8 hours of study per week. Work back from your assessment date to determine how long is needed to study. Setting an assessment date early in the course keeps you motivated as you are working towards a goal Fourth, produce a weekly schedule for the full course. It’s easy to over estimate what can be done so be realistic about how long you can study for each day. We at BPP advise students should study for one paper at a time and then complete this before moving to the next subject (however if you following a fast track route then it is possible to study a couple of papers together). Show example schedule They should study using a variety of methods: making short notes, reading from a text, watching recorded lectures, attending classes, explaining concepts to fellow students, practising questions, producing mind maps (or using summaries in BPP course notes) Fifth, when you set aside extra time on a particular day for study, a fuller daily schedule should be produced. Follow link to discuss Sixth, Unexpected things crop up. Like life! So when you draw up your schedule, allow some spare time which you can use to catch up if needed. Even if you keep to plan, you may find that some areas of study take longer than expected – and this slack will allow you to catch up (see calendar schedule earlier) Seventh, it’s easiest to stick to plan when you can ‘see’ that it is working. So make sure you track progress, for example ticking off study sessions or chapters on your schedule, or giving yourself a gold start which you have successfully completed all the planned hours for the week It’s vital that you start this process early! More than any other technique, the key to performing well on exams is starting early and using short, frequent study sessions. The human brain learns faster and better if studying is done over a longer period of time rather than a few cramming sessions. You will perform better on an exam if you spend one hour studying each day over 20 days rather than if you study for 10 hours each for two days before the exam
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When setting time aside, it’s important to be specific with regards to what you want to achieve so that you have a sense of direction. So for example, for a 2 hour schedule I would like to achieve the following – spend 5 minutes in advance thinking about this before commencing studying (or the night before)
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Another version broken down more. In addition, bite-size revision could be done on your lunch break or on the way to work. This is best suited to learning formulae or mnemonics
Using passcards or self-made passcards.
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1. Overall exam/career objective – why am I doing this? Keep reminding yourself 2. Could further break down study sessions into 20 minute blocks, especially if find it difficult to keep on track. Aim to achieve quality and within time. Be competitive and read pages more quickly/tackle questions quicker. See 4 – could help 3. Create a study camp – familiar and equipped – it should help you get started more quickly and feel more comfortable 4. Involving others in studies multiplies ideas, understanding .. And can increase motivation 5. Tell friends when you are studying. Switch mobile off 6. A study buddy can help with this, alongside question practice 7. Break up study sessions by promising yourself food, a coffee etc, if you achieve a task/complete a time target. If you have built in leisure time into your study plan this is even better as you can reward yourself with this too – and not feel guilty! 8. Why?? What’s my motivation ..
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Most students complete the whole qualification in around 3 years – depending on exemptions. You want to ensure you are ready to study, think about the topic, do some pre-reading on the syllabus or use a BPP starter pack to get a sneak peak. Get organised: Create a wall planner that shows ALL your course dates and exams Most students complete the whole qualification in around 3 years – depending on exemptions. Recommend 1 paper at a time. Most papers will require between 50 to 75 hours of study each (including lectures and home study) but dependent on paper, student and previous experience (maximum guided learning hours per paper at L2 and L3 is 75 hours. At L4, financial statements has 90 GLH, the rest up to 70) Step by step – start early and get off on the right footing. Staying organised is critical to avoid wasting valuable time
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When?? – after creating a timetable, you should also think about whether you are more awake in the mornings or evenings – there is no point planning to fit in an hour each morning before work if you struggle to get out of bed! Getting a balance – need to also have a life! Build in some time to relax as well, your brain needs a rest to work better! When doing your timetable put in time for a gym visit or a walk around the block, or even just your favourite TV programme. Practice – revision shouldn’t be easy – you will be practising things over and over again, and looking at doing things that you find difficult as that is how to get better! So make sure you build in time to recap the areas covered early on in the course Motivation – salary enhancement, career progression, prestige of being qualified. Keeping a positive outlook about studying is vital. See next slide http://www.aatcomment.org.uk/aat-developing-your-business/learning-anddevelopment/coping-with-exam-stress
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Motivation .. Salary increase, progression ..
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Launched in 1976, we are now Europe’s largest accountancy, finance and legal training provider
BPP have been offering the AAT qualification for over 20 years with consistently high Pass rates
e.g. For 2-3 papers we’ve got 100% pass rates for students following our guidance on progression to CBA Basic costing pass rate since the 2010 syllabus is approximately 97%!
Market Leading, Exam focussed study materials – reviewed by AAT’s own lead assessors We won the best progression to membership award at the inaugraul AAT training provider awards in 2014. Proves we get people through! We have over 220 tutors who are all professionally qualified and help around 15,000 students per year succeed All tutors are professionally qualified with a wealth of relevant experience
Flexible study options across our national centres and OCR and OCR Live Full support for students from booking their course right up to the exam Centres throughout the country for F2F courses Full recorded lectures for the whole course. Extensive recording for all course options. USP over other providers who do not provide this Payment plans to spread payment if buy a full level
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Narrative Face to Face – This is a non integrated product, which basically means you can purchase the taught, revision and question days as separate products. Online Classroom (OCR) – This is an integrated product “One price, One product”. Online Classroom Live (OCR Live) - This is a non integrated product, which basically means you can purchase the taught, revision and question days as separate products. The difference between the face to face products and OCR Live is that classes are run online at specific dates. Depending on whether you are face to face, OCR or OCR live, there will be slight difference in online content but the core content (pre-recorded lectures, e-course notes, study material) will generally be the same.Talk about the fact that all BPP students will receive the same quality of product because of this. At this point you wont go through the specific content of each products.
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AAT starter pack – next slide for details 10% discount if buy full level Apprenticeship funding and free courses Payment plans available
Free Pass Assurance for all AAT courses (and Lifetime PA if buy a full level)
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FREE STARTER PACK provides online AAT Materials for the different papers Bookable online Gives you an insight into the qualification and its subjects Allows you to determine mode of study appropriate for you Free access to all content Opportunity to try out the Online Classroom
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