What's the first piece of advice for a student who's failed an exam?
Ryan: Understanding what you do know and what you don't know is going to be fundamental to restarting your revision. Make sure you access your marks feedback via your online training file. On the ‘Exam’ tab you will see your examination history listed and beside any failed exam attempt there will be a link you can click to view your feedback.
Think back about how the exam went. Was it a syllabus area or how you prepared? Did you do enough question practice? Did you have a proper revision plan? It also comes down to how you learn.
If you ran out of time or nerves got the better of you, that's a different skill to master. It's only through practice and getting used to those nerves that you'll start to learn how to handle them. Doing past exams and putting yourself under time pressure is quite a good technique.
How can I avoid losing confidence after failing an exam?
Ryan: It's important to see the bigger picture. These aren't meant to be simple exams. Everyone knows someone who has failed - I failed a couple of my first exams. But it really is an opportunity to think about where you went wrong and whether your approach to learning is working.
“fail” stands for First Attempt In Learning and I think that’s a good way to approach it.
Remember, there's no shame in failing. The end goal is getting that ACA or ICAEW CFAB qualification. As long as you can learn from the experience and don't make the same mistakes again, that's going to only help propel your progression into the future.
What practical steps can students take to improve their revision?
Ryan: Question practice is key. If you know the question bank well and you've practiced, you should be walking into the exam with a huge sense of familiarity.
Make sure you do all the mocks available from your tuition provider and check out ICAEW exam and study support guidance. When you're doing question practice, make a note to yourself when you guess the answer, because if you guess lucky, you still need to understand the answer. The ones you get wrong are gold because they highlight what you don't know.
Very few accountants consume by just rereading stuff. If you're a visual learner, think about creating diagrams, tables, cartoons, or process charts. If you're an auditory learner, try explaining a concept that you don’t get to a peer at work, a friend, colleague, a family member, or even yourself in the mirror. If you're not sure of your learning style, try to mix it up until you hone in on what works for you. Varying approaches can also help to keep revision interesting.
Another technique is to prep an area of the syllabus you failed on as if you were going to teach it. I promise you, I've learned stuff since I was teaching that I never really understood as a student. Practice makes perfect, as they say.
Prepare for the worst. If you're hoping it won't come up, make sure you can smash it just in case.
What are the biggest mistakes that students make when they're preparing for a retake?
Ryan: Not using all the resources. When you prepare for a retake, approach it as a fresh attempt. Understand where it's gone wrong and use it as a springboard for progression and understanding what you can do differently.
It's rewarding to practice questions that you get right every time, because it makes you feel good and positive. But part of studying is to push yourself into focusing on the areas that you're worried about and syllabus areas that you don’t know so well rather than the ones you do.
How do you know when you're ready to re-sit an exam?
Ryan: If you fail an exam, create a plan that identifies where the weaknesses were, what changes you need to make based upon where you tripped up last time, and a timeline. Focus on those areas where you were weak, focus on those syllabus areas where you tripped up and finish that question bank again. And put a date in the diary for a mock exam, ready to do the exam the week after if that mock exam goes well. The pass mark is 55% so if you're consistently passing around 70% to 80%, you're probably ready to retake.
What support is available from tutors and employers?
Ryan: Tutors have always got the students' interests at heart and they want to help. Your tutor can point you in the direction of useful resources, for example a secret question bank. It's easy for a tutor to hop on a Teams call to go through something that you're unsure about. Do some self-reflection about what went well and what didn’t. Was it my learning style? Was it skills? Was it knowledge? Bring that to your tutor. We're experienced in understanding where changes can be made.
At work, your qualified person responsible for training (QPRT) is always interested in how you're progressing. Remember that people often become a QPRT because they want to invest in trainees and watch them grow and progress. If you do trip up, don't be shy. They're likely to be incredibly sympathetic and have their own guidance and support to offer.
Should I be worried about the impact of failing an exam on my career?
Ryan: It’s not something you should be worried about. My own experience taught me about how I learn. You can retake a Certificate Level / ICAEW CFAB exam very quickly so it's not going to delay your progression too much. When you've got your qualification, it doesn't have a little asterisk next to it for the number of exams you struggled with! Always have your sights on the end game.
There's no shame in failing. It's part of learning and getting those letters after your name.
