According to the instructions I can take in various different books into the exams, however, I have just been studying from my BPP home study book. If you have taken this paper did you take any books in with you; e.g. Tolley's handbooks, CCH Editions or HMSO copies of taxing statutes?
Thanks,
Nicola.
NicolaGL
Replies (9)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
How Did It Go??
Nicola
Did you take the books into the exam and how well do you think you did?
Leave them at home..
If you have not been using them in your studies then you don't want to be wasting your time in the exam looking things up.
I didn't take mine with me for ATT and was very pleased that I took that decision. I felt much more comfortable in the exam room without having had an hours commute dragging 5 doorstops with me!
I'm sitting CTA next week and I am seriously thinking of leaving them at home again.
Yellow & Orange Books
When I sat the ATT exams IR35 had just been introduced.
There was a 20 mark IR35 question and I reckon I got near full marks just by copying out the statute.
I would take them in but spend a couple of hours beforehand working out where everything is in them.
If you've got a spare 15 mins at the end you can use them to embellish answers and gain a few more marks.
On the same point, I only passed ATT at the second attempt and I already had ACCA. Some of the Multiple Choice questions were particularly obscure and nit-picky.
Bon chance.
Definitely take the legislation
I would definitely take the legislation with you.
I must admit when I took ATT, I don't think I needed to refer to it much, but it was a far different story in the CTA (ATII as was) exam. The legislation was absolutely crucial.
VAT was never my strong point in my studies and I tended to avoid those questions like the plague, but I was told by someone afterwards that one question in Paper III could have got me 10 or 15 marks just by copying out some section(s) of the legislation.
Take the red and green or the orange and yellow
I agree that you won't manage to look up something you have no idea about, but it would be a pity to lose marks where you could clarify something or complete something which you can part answer from memory.
I got a distinction in my tax papers so must have done something right
Orange and Yellow can be useful
but only as a quick reminder of something, and you need to know where you are going in them. Expecting to be able to answer a question from scratch by searching through the books, and to finish on time is extremely unlikely
Thanks
I have been practising questions without reference material, so I will follow you advice and go in without any books.
Thank you.
Nicola.
I agree with Clint
When I sat ATT everyone else was loaded down with orange and yellow tax books etc, but I have always taken the view that if you don’t know something it’s a waste of time trying to look it up in those books. Check with ATT, but I don’t think you are expected to quote section numbers – and you probably know the common ones.
Good luck with the exam.
In my experience ...
... the question is an irrelevance.
The exam is designed deliberately to put you under time pressure.
If you have to spend time looking stuff up in reference materials that you have brought in with you, then you have already lost.
I may be mistaken.