Professional and Advanced Level exam FAQs

You can book your Professional and Advanced Level exams via your online training file. You can choose between a centre-based exam or a remotely invigilated exam.

It’s important that you book your exam before the exam booking deadline, no late bookings will be accepted after this date. View all key dates and deadlines by downloading the ACA planner.

• View the ‘how to book an exam’ and ‘how to modify/withdraw from an exam’ guides

Yes, visit the access arrangements guidance for more information.

No exam bookings will be accepted once the exam booking deadline closes. Students, employers and tutors must ensure they are aware of and make a note of all exam dates and deadlines.

• View the key dates and deadlines

When you apply for your exams, the venues that are shown during the exam booking process will be the closest venues to the location you have entered with available seats. Once a venue is filled to capacity, it will not be displayed on screen. Booking will work on a first come first serve basis.

Watches and desk clocks are not permitted in any Professional or Advanced Level exam. The timing of the exam will be managed by a timer within the exam software. The timer can be switched to either count up or count down. Therefore, you are advised to practise the exams with a timer, and the practice exam software, so you are confident in managing your time throughout your exam this way.

No. The exam software has been designed to deliver the exams in a manner that reflects the work environment.

Yes. For Professional and Advanced Level exams, you are allowed to take a calculator into the exam. You must provide your own calculator to use in the exam. You can use any standard basic or scientific calculator. You may be asked, by the invigilator, to show that the memory within the calculator is empty; if you are unable to do so, you will not be allowed to use the calculator during your exam.

Yes, to avoid noise disturbance you are allowed to use earplugs or wear headphones during your exam. They must not be plugged in to or be capable of wirelessly connecting to any device. We do not provide earplugs or headphones, so you must bring your own.

To increase the number of rows visible, you can:

• Decrease the zoom on the spreadsheet (the bottom right of the spreadsheet)
• Decrease the whole window using the browser zoom functions (ctrl + -); or
• Hide the menu ribbon
• Move the horizontal divider up the page to increase the amount of space for the spreadsheet

You must put your answer in the word processing area of the exam software. Any content in the spreadsheet area will not be visible to examiners and won't be marked.

What if my keyboard does not have the required currency symbols?

Some keyboards may not have £, $ or € keys available. Please use abbreviations such as P / GBP for £, D / USD for $, and E / EUR for € to indicate a currency if this is required.

In the unlikely event that you encounter any technical difficulties, the invigilator will be able to provide support. You must make the invigilator aware as soon as possible, you will then be required to complete an invigilator report. If you are sitting via remote invigilation and encounter any technical difficulties on your exam day you will be able to access the online chat support for help. The “TAWK” online chat support can be found in the Proctor Exam tab within the exam. You are permitted to swap tabs if you require technical help.

If you feel that your performance in an exam has been adversely affected by illness or other circumstances you can apply for an exam disruption appeal. 

• Find out more

You will be able to view  the exam question, word processing and spreadsheet area at the same time. If your exam includes exhibits or permitted texts these will be included in the resources area*. If you are sitting an exam with data analytics software included, a link to the software will also be available. For open book exams there will also be a link to your ICAEW Bookshelf.

^{*The IFRS ® Standards (Blue Book) must continue to be purchased as a hard copy directly from the IFRS Foundation.}

Yes. You will be given note paper by the venue but you should take your own pens/pencils. You are permitted to use blank note paper in a remotely invigilated exam. However, any notes you make will not be handed in or marked, so make sure you display all of your workings within the answer area. There is also a rich text notepad within the exam where you can type notes. This notepad is not marked.

Your answers must be in the word processing area of the exam software. Content in the spreadsheet area will not be marked.

Permitted texts are now available in a digital format, accessible via the ICAEW Bookshelf.

The following exams will not allow any hard copy materials, and the relevant permitted text will be accessible as a clean PDF within the exam software:

• Audit and Assurance
• Financial Accounting and Reporting: UK GAAP
• Tax Compliance

Financial Accounting and Reporting: IFRS exams will allow the hard copy of IFRS Blue Book to be used. This text will not be supplied in the exam software. Please also note:

• you may not share recommended text(s) with another candidate; and
• only original hardcopies are permitted.

For open book exams (Business Planning and Advanced Level), you will also have access to your personal ICAEW Bookshelf to access your digital learning materials within the exam. You can also bring any hard copy materials you wish, subject to space restrictions. Full details of the texts and the specific editions we recommend is available at icaew.com/permittedtexts

All our exam centres must adhere to a set of guidelines (including minimum specifications for IT equipment).

Yes, you can resize all areas within the exam software.

You can access the practice software via icaew.com/examsoftware. It is vital that you familiarise yourself with the software before you sit your exam.

• The practice software is delivered in a browser and the live exam in a lockdown environment. This means that some windows specific functionality may differ such as shortcut keys.
• The practice software also allows you to export your answer into a PDF to be marked. During the live exam, the software will automatically save your answers to be marked.
• There are no timers in the practice software, so please ensure you time yourself correctly when practising.

The Case Study advance information is only available online. You can print this off and take it to your exam as it will not be provided. You will also be able to add it to your ICAEW Bookshelf six weeks before the exam. You can find out when the advance information will be released for each exam session on the dates and deadlines page. It will be available to download from the Case Study exam resources page.

The Corporate Reporting advance information is only available online. You must print this off and take it to your exam as it will not be provided. You can find out when the advance information will be released for each exam session on the dates and deadlines page. It will be available to download from the Corporate Reporting exam resources page.

We do expect a certain degree of IT literacy from students. We encourage you to use the practice software to ascertain whether any improvement in your typing skills is required.

Read further guidance on remotely invigilated exams or visit the remote invigilation FAQs.