"Unique" is one word for Case Study. We have heard less polite words used, but let's go with "unique".
With zero technical content and a closed-form markscheme, Case Study is fundamentally different to all the other ACA papers. Which can be confusing after taking 14 broadly similar exams, and hence many students come unstuck when they arrive at Case Study.
Don't worry, we know what to do to pass! It is just that you need to shift your paradigm when it comes to preparing for this unique exam.
The most important point to know is that, in Case Study, there is no discretion at all for the marker. Nothing, nada, zip, niente. A Case Study marker is actually more of a "matcher" as he or she will simply work through your script and award marks if your ideas "match" the finalised ICAEW markscheme.
So even if you have a very good business idea which happens not to be on the markscheme, you will get no credit. Actually, it's worse than that: you will have wasted precious examination time on writing an idea which is perfectly good in the real-world, but which gets you no credit in exam-world.
Meaning that exam-world can be a whole world of hurt for the unprepared!
However, one of the good things about Case Study is that you can prepare well by learning the Advance Information (a 40-50 page document which is released by ICAEW 6 weeks before exam day) ... the Advance Information provides financial statements, industry background information, media articles, business plans and Ethics hints on the business which will form the basis of your exam. No other ACA paper provides quite this much detail ahead of exam day, so at least we know, broadly, what the exam will cover!
Making the most of this Advance Information, we will write a set of 5 full Mocks to ICAEW-standard to create our popular Mock Exam Pack, which is released ahead of each July and November sitting (obviously, entirely tailored to the July and November businesses, respectively).
Our Mock Exam Pack includes full question papers, ICAEW-style marking grids to help you perform the marking/matching process yourself and full student-standard model answers so that you understand how to structure your responses. Please note: our model answers really are student-standard, meaning that they can be humanly achieved (unlike your typical ICAEW SBM model answer, for example!).
If you would like to receive very detailed feedback on your attempts at our Mock Exam Pack, as well as further technique training and access to all our Case Study on-demand and PDF resources, our Live Online Course is the option for you. Because of the amount of feedback that we can provide, our Live Online course is supported by a full Pass Guarantee so there is no risk to your investment!
We also offer a Case Study on-demand video course and our Technique Improvement Service (TIS), which provides personalised advice on your attempts at our Mock Exam Pack.
Scroll down the page to learn more about our Case Study offering.
Case Study is not a technically-demanding exam, but without the right advice on exam technique, you are relying on luck to pass the exam.
As part of our Live Online Course intake, you will receive highly detailed, personalised advice on your attempts at 4 of the Mocks from our live July 2023 Mock Exam Pack. Past students have described this feedback as "gold dust" because it is only through receiving expert tutor guidance on how you yourself are writing your scripts that we can pick up issues such as wasting time through a waffly writing style, inclusion of points which are just never going to be on the markscheme, insufficient or excess time allocated to particular areas, incorrect labelling of Appendices, and so on.
Our course is unique in the sense that we focus exclusively on the live set of Advance Information rather than past papers. This ensures that all of your precious study time focuses on relevant content.
Click here to learn more.
Since 2013 when we launched our business, we have helped over 2,000 students pass Case Study through our live tuition courses.
Since 2013, the Big 4 pass rate for our live tuition courses has been 99.9% (with the only students who failed scoring 49 ... annoying!).
To keep you engaged with our discussion of Case Study exam technique and the live set of Advance Information, our Case Study on-demand course includes interactive questions mixed into the videos. This ensures that you fully absorb the key learning points from each segment of the course.
Click here to learn more and to purchase the course. [Link coming soon!]
Our Case Study Masterclass on-demand course includes over 20 hours of video content, combining general lectures on exam technique with content specifically tailored to the live set of Advance Information.
Students who used the 2021 editions of our Case Study on-demand course had a 100% pass rate! Not bad.
Given the unique nature of the Case Study examination (and, in particular, the closed-form markscheme), it is absolutely vital that you receive detailed, personalised advice on writing style, time management and, most importantly of all, whether you are writing the correct types of point to have a chance of scoring.
Our Case Study Technique Improvement Service (TIS) provides detailed, personalised reviews of your attempts at our live Case Study Mock Exam Pack.
You will receive advice on how to shorten or lengthen your writing style to ensure that you are picking up the marks you deserve.
We will also comment on whether you are writing the right style of points to have a chance of scoring on the closed-form Case Study markscheme.
You will receive advice on whether you are allocating your scarce answering time correctly through our expert knowledge of the markscheme and how marks are awarded in practice.
To really drive home our advice, we will provide you with a 2-3 page Technique Advice Report on each paper submitted. This includes our popular "5 Top Tips to Improve".
It is probably easier if we start with TIS, which is a distance-learning service only. This means that you need to purchase the live Mock Exam Pack, sit the papers in your own time and email them in to us for our review. We will then provide a detailed Technique Advice Report on each Mock.
TIS is therefore a service where you largely work on your own, and react to our feedback. Other than our written feedback, we do not provide any "teaching" or video content as part of TIS.
On the other hand, our Live Online Course is a full tuition course, so we provide various teaching sessions: 2 days of technical training, sessions on Mocks 1, 3 and 5 from our Mock Exam Pack, detailed reviews of your attempts at Mocks 1, 2, 3 and 4, additional supporting video content and further exclusive sets of PDF resources.
Our Live Online Course involves a lot more direct engagement and tuition of students so it tends to have a higher pass rate than TIS, but both services have very high pass rates that significantly exceed the ICAEW global average of around 75-80%.
Please note that we do not include any marking services within the cost of the Mock Exam Pack: TIS is an additional service which must be booked in advance, in addition to purchasing the Mock Exam Pack.
For administrative reasons, we obviously prefer for students to pay their course fee as a lump sum, but we appreciate that this is not always possible.
We are therefore happy to reserve your course place for a non-refundable deposit payment of £200. The balance can then be paid in early May, shortly before the course starts (on Saturday 20 May). Please email us at hello@paradigmshift.training if you would like to take up this offer.
We always phase the release of the 5 Mocks in our Mock Exam Pack so that we do not rush the process and so that we can have some time to work with our tuition course students to see what will be beneficial for students to be tested on.
Mock 1 from our July 2023 Mock Exam Pack should be available by 23.59 UK time on Friday 9 June 2023.
Mock 2 should then follow on 16 June 2023.
Mock 3 is due for release on 23 June 2023, Mock 4 should be available on 30 June 2023 and Mock 5 should be out on 7 July 2023.
Please note that all dates are indicative and are provided on a "best endeavours" basis: we have never previously failed to meet a deadline but as we do not know how complex the Advance Information might be, please note that the above dates cannot be absolutely guaranteed. You can always email us for an update if the precise dates of release are important to your studies (for example, if you are allocating time off work to take the Mocks).
It takes a huge amount of tutor time to write, check and publish 5 full Mocks ... the total content in the Mock Exam Pack is the length of a medium-length novel and it all has to be put together within a few short weeks, meaning many late nights and weekend working to get the content produced to the very high standards that we demand of ourselves. Once the exam is over, the publication then becomes worthless as no one wants to do past paper Mocks! We do therefore have to recover our time and costs in preparing our materials.
Don't forget that in addition to the Mock PDF files, we also provide video Tutor Debriefs, our Advance Information Overview document and video and hundreds of short-form questions based on the Advance Information.
Just to let you know I passed CR with score of 75 (was 48 with another provider) and Case Study with a score of 65. Thanks for all the help!
Your tutor was the best tutor that I have encountered in my ACA studies. He presented the information in a very clear, concise and calm manner and focused on what students forget to include in their answers. He is by far the best tutor when compared to my bland experience at a previous tuition provider and I went from 43 at my first attempt to a mark of 77.
Your tutor went beyond the extra mile for the Case Study tuition course. From the outset it was clear that he had invested an incredible amount of time into preparing the tuition course and this showed because his understanding of the examination and its markscheme was unrivalled. His expert knowledge of the markscheme helped him instil confidence in myself and the other students: we just knew that if he followed his advice, we would pass. I am grateful for his expertise and support.
Thank you for taking the time to prepare the Mock Exam Pack and Cracking Case resources, I found them very useful.
Both of the exam scenarios were in your Case Study Mock Exam Pack which was really helpful.
I just want to say a massive thank you!! I failed Case Study last December only scoring 34, even though I took a full course at a top provider, it was only when studying your course that I realised how little they focused on technique and the smaller details to help get the pass. I bought the Cracking Case book, Cracking Case on-demand course, TIS on two papers and the Exam Room Pack ... absolutely fabulous. I wish I had come to you guys sooner for some of my earlier papers to avoid all the frustration and fails.
