I recently sat the personal taxation and CGT paper of ATT. I'd studied the material (2 large ringbinder folders full!) did my revision, did the past papers and practice questions. All my practice exams had given me results of between 70-85% which I was really pleased with. Saying that, I think I've failed the real thing! Tell me I'm not the only one who feels so down after an exam? I found a lot of the questions involved in the exam were tid-bits of information or sidenotes from the study material, and I had no questions on the main bulk of the material. (50 paged chapter on BIK, even bigger for calculating income tax). Yet the first three questions were about enterprise investment schemes totalling 9% of the paper, yet in the material EI schemes covered only 3 quarters of an A4 page. I just feel so downbeat about it. Don't get me wrong, I understand I need to revise EVERYTHING, but I was trying to manage my time by spending more of it on the 'bulkier' stuff. I'm only in my early 20's, with a 2 year old (trying to find study time with a toddler is hard as it is haha) but I'd felt confident and quite proud of myself until I opened the real exam paper. More of a rant than anything else! Just feel like it was a royal waste of time. Sorry about the large paragraph but my keyboard doesn't like the enter key.
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Been there
Had exactly the same experience some 25 years ago - had to resit.
You just have to hope everyone else found it much harder and that your efforts put you in the top half/quarter overall. If not, just have another go.
Great cartoon. Don't dwell on the exams, if you found it hard then I'll bet the others did also!
You can't mark yourself...
I also had a torrid time in the ATT personal tax paper a few years ago and found I couldn't answer any of the questions about employee investment schemes. The truth is the whole matter is so boring I just couldn't keep the data in my head and I'd never come across these things in real life.
I also thought I hadn't passed. But I had.
So accept that you might possibly have passed, instead of wholeheartedly condemning yourself to failure. If you were such a brilliant marker, you'd be setting the exam, not sitting it.
If you need to resit this one, in a few years time, you'll have forgotten what all the hoohah was about.
Looking at my calendar, you must have sat this exam in the last week. No wonder you feel so bad at the moment. Do something to take your mind off it. Decide not to dwell on something you have no longer any control of, and you'll soon cheer up.
I know how you feel!
I sat the Business Taxation paper in June and despite huge chunky subjects on the syllabus, loads of weird questions came up. I was gutted after the exam - I cried on the phone to my mum from the train station coming home - all that hard work. Amazingly, I passed.
So, living in fear that it would happen again I revised absolutely everything for my Corporate Taxation paper and made sure that I could find my weaker bits in the legislation. I sat the paper today and it was the total opposite - big questions on 'popular' areas and very little obscure stuff. I guess it just matters what sort of mood the examiner is in when he writes the paper. This in mind, do sit it again and make sure you spend some time highlighting your weaker areas in the legislation - that way, if they do come up, at least you have something to crib from.
Good luck.
Things always seem worst just after the exam
take heart from the other posters, you may well have passed. You don't have to think about it till January now, so you can enjoy Christmas.
I just got to the end of ATT this year, at 42, and 10 years after finishing CIMA - so you're doing great.
same boat
Totally agree with you. Did it yesterday. You would think they have nothing else to ask but share schemes. It just teaches me to expect them to ask nothing but obscure areas in future. They probably just assume the candidates can calculate a tax liability.
CIOT
1980's Sat down in exam delighted the very case that I had studied in detail was on the paper. Beach caravans and covers . Knew everything on both papers which were all set on same day.
I came out on a high waited for the results would I have top marks certainly believed I had done a brilliant paper.
Result bad failure cannot resit for 12 months.
Moral of the story you have not failed or passed until it drops through the door or I suppose nowadays posted on website.
All the best you will get there in the end.
.
Had a fire alarm in the middle of my final tax paper.
Spent 40 minutes standing in the street,
Still passed, albeit we did get an extension.
Exams are horrible things and as for tax I cant think I have ever sat one and thought i did OK.
The more you know about the subject the less well you think you have done....anyone coming out of a tax exam thinking they have nailed it have probably made a right mess of it.