Passing the ACA is not just about learning technical content: you need to know how to use good exam technique to ensure that your writing style is correct, that you manage your time correctly and that you do not throw away easy marks by doing anything careless.
After being a little disappointed by the very brief, often generic feedback that we used to receive on our Mock attempts when we studied with other providers, we decided to create our Technique Improvement Service (TIS) to provide a more detailed, personalised service.
TIS can help you pinpoint any areas where improvements to exam technique can boost your chances of passing.
With TIS, you really will feast on feedback as we'll provide a line-by-line review in which we'll typically add up to 5 pieces of advice per page of your script.
Our advice will also be personalised ... we don't just say "Check Q2" or "Work on time management" (not helpful!). We also won't just copy across our feedback from that provided to other students (our students regularly report that this is what happens at certain other tuition providers, which is really not on!).
Obviously, we will also provide you with a numerical marking and an indication as to whether you would have passed, but really the point of TIS is to provide you with the personalised advice on how to improve next time around.
So you should think of TIS as a form of distance-based tuition ... it is definitely not just a "marking service"!
To ensure that you can quickly implement our advice and start moving further towards a passing standard, we aim to provide our feedback within 5 working days of submission (provided that you submit on time!).
We usually ask you to submit your scripts by 23.59 UK time on a Sunday evening so that we can ensure you have the following weekend to digest our feedback and perhaps attempt and submit another TIS script.
TIS is available for all Professional Level and Advanced Level papers, with the single exception of Business Planning: Insurance as we do not currently tutor BPI.
Scroll down the page to learn more about our Technique Improvement Service.
The ACA examinations are very time-pressured and most papers have their own unique "tricks of trade" to get the marks.
It is therefore vital that, in addition to learning the technical content, you know how to work quickly, efficiently and effectively to ensure that you pick up the marks you deserve.
With many of the available ICAEW model answers being extremely long and not achievable in the time available, it can be hard to evaluate your own work while some of the larger providers only provide limited and often fairly generic feedback, which is not a great return on your investment into the time required to sit a full ICAEW paper under time pressure.
Our TIS reviewers have expert understanding of the ICAEW markschemes and marking approach, based on attending numerous marking workshops with the examiners at the recent ICAEW Tutor Conference.
Our TIS reviewers are also tutors, so they know how to provide comments that will help students to improve ... TIS is not just a numbers or marking game for us!
We typically add at least 5 feedback comments per page of your script (often more!). This ensures that you receive plenty of advice, which is then reinforced in our 2-3 page Technique Advice Report.
Our tutor will generally spend 2 to 3 hours marking and reviewing each script, as well as preparing your unique Technique Advice Report with further tips to improve. So be assured that, under TIS, we put in the hours to help you personally.
Our TIS reviewers take great personal pride in providing personalised advice because we have all had far too much experience of generic and bland advice when studying with other tuition providers.
TIS is also a very convenient form of tuition as you can sit the relevant ICAEW paper in your own time (provided that it is before our deadline!). You then receive a permanent record of our advice that you go back to as much as you wish before exam day.
For each TIS submitted, we will provide you with a 2-3 page Technique Advice Report which is packed full of personalised advice on how to improve. This will include our "Top 5 Tips to Improve" to provide priority areas to address, but we will also provide further tips so that you have the best possible chance of success.
Provided that you submit on time, we will aim to return your marked files and Technique Advice Report within 5 working days so that you can quickly implement our advice on your next attempt (and also so you don't forget what the Mock was about!).
For TIS, we can make use of the official ICAEW Mocks for the relevant paper, or we can use ICAEW past papers if you prefer. Some students prefer to have access to additional resources not in the Question Bank through the ICAEW Mocks whereas other students prefer to use real past papers. Whichever way, we will support you to achieve your potential.
I don't think I could have done it without you guys and was amazed by the mark I got! I don't know how you could see that it was possible but I got 70% which is over and above what I thought I could achieve. So thank you so much for all your help. Hopefully BPT will go the same way!
I am emailing to say a big thank you to your team. I used your services over the last 2 years (SBM Exam Room Notes, BPT/BST TIS) and attended a Case Study Masterclass. You guys are really knowledgeable and I've really appreciated your help along the way to getting qualified. Will continue to recommend your services to junior associates coming through the ranks.
Thanks for the feedback, which is really useful and definitely highlighted some key points I need to work on. I really do appreciate the work done which has given me some reassurance. Thanks again for all your support: this has enabled me to tackle this exam from a different angle, which I would not have been able to do with the other providers.
I got through TC with 61%, my highest Professional Level score to date as I have been struggling and scraping through due to a learning difficulty. A big thank you for all your help and the feedback with the Mock exams. Feeling very pleased not to have to book a resit and quite excited to get on with FM now!
I passed both TC and BPT resits. BPT went from 40% to 63%. BPT is truly an awful exam and I am so pleased to have now passed it with your help. TIS was extremely useful too and I will be using your resources for my next first attempt exams. Thank you very much.
Would just like to say a massive thank you for all your help over the past 3 years! I really don't think I would be sitting here having passed all three of my finals if it wasn't for your help.
