Having just got my exam results from May last night (passed ATT personal tax, woohoo, 2 down 2 to go) I was wondering - how much of a jump is there from ATT to CTA? This is for the far future but I'm just curious.
There is a noticeable step between AAT levels 3 and 4, and a big jump again up to ATT. How big is the step up to CTA from there?
Thanks.
Replies (16)
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CTA
Congratulations on passing ATT. A fantastic achievement. You will have put in some serious hard work to pass your ATT and if you apply similar diligence to the CTA you should do OK. CTA is certainly more intensive but in the long term you will appreciate the grounding that the CTA gives you in structuring your career. Best of luck for the future.
My understanding
I'm ATT and looking at the CTA too. My understanding is that while the ATT was 'questions on personal tax on the personal tax paper', the CTA is more like 'you're doing the personal tax paper, so it will be slightly more PT than anything else, but it will be heavy on CT, VAT etc... too'.
Done both
Personally, I did the ATT straight out of University and found it child's play so long as you pay attention. More like a GCSE or something compared to the degree I'd just done. CTA was a bit more serious. I'd say that ATT gives you a good grounding on especially the personal tax aspects, but CTA is much more fully encompassing of different taxes and the interaction of taxes. I would say that ATT is about 15% of the way to achieving the knowledge required for CTA.
Having said that, even if you never finish the CTA - which in all liklihood you will - then what you'll learn along the way will be invaluable.
monsoon
Well done on passing your exam.
I would be interested to know which paper you did,hours of study and will use it in work.
Did you just go through manual an then sit the exam or did you attend classes?
Well done
Congratulations on passing ATT.
I too have passed ATT although that was some time ago - i have previously tried CTA and there is a huge difference between the two, You will pass with hard work but the standard at CTA level is much much higher.
Minging!
Well done, Monsoon.
And spot on about Paper 7 - Admin & Ethics. It took me 3 attempts to pass it.
I'm also thinking of going on to CTA, as someone said above - even if you don't complete it, the knowledge gained would be invaluable.
The same question in reverse
Funnily enough I am considering the same question but in reverse - having managed to fail the CTA exams again :(
Paper 7 - Difficult
As the link to the ATT's update said, I found it very "dry" as it is a lot of writing and explanation, rather than dealing with figures.
I think part of the problem was that I under-estimated the amount of work it took to memorise the key phrases etc. I eventually passed because I wrote out all of the PRPG booklets. That was the only way it really sank in.
Congratulations
Well done on the passes and good luck with the rest of them! There is a definite step up from ATT to CTA, the focus of the exams is rather different, with the emphasis much more on advisory aspects rather than the compliance aspects (although that is still there), and more detailed knowledge of tax law.
Let if you want more information; besides the day job, I'm also chair of the education committee for the CIOT.