Accounting Tips

[eeps]

Having done Accounting 3/4 in 2010, I thought I'd share some tips and hints which I found useful throughout the course of the year. Follow these tips and principles and that will lead you onto the right track for a good score in Accounting!

Basic Tips:

1.   Go over the course material beforehand

Over the summer holiday break, the best thing to do if you want to succeed in Accounting is to read your textbook (no matter what type it is), to get an understanding of the concepts in Units 3 and 4. Highlight key concepts and points in the textbook if need be or make summary notes of each sub-topic - as I did. This way, by the time school starts again, you’ll be way ahead of your class! This will allow you to focus on doing practice exams through the term/semester, while other students do the exercises in the textbook. Also, during the holiday break (Term 3) - you should also try the same thing with Unit 4 - making notes and going through the course material in Unit 4.

2.   Do the exercises in the workbook

The key to success in Accounting is practice. Though doing the same exercises over and over again may be boring, it ultimately helps you in the end. The repetition of concepts in the exercises isn’t there for any reason; it’s to hammer the concept into students. The more practice the do, the better results you’ll get!

3.   Exam Practice!

When it comes to the exam time (i.e. Unit 3 and 4 exam), the best way to prepare is to do exams. Don’t just do previous exams from VCAA; try different companies such as TSSM, Insight, CSE, NEAP, COMPAK and more. This way, when it comes to the exam, you won’t be surprised by any questions - since you’ll have already come past it. Having said that, VCAA do throw in the odd question in the exam - which isn't in any other practice exam - just try to answer it to the best of your ability!


In terms of SACs, they are important, but don't stress out if you do poorly. In Accounting, you receive consequential marks if you get one calculation wrong, but you use that figure all the way through. Do enough practice before your SACs - i.e. your school's previous years SACs and exercises in the textbook and you'll do well. In any case, my school often used parts of exams and the Cambridge SACs (separate from the textbook) as our school SACs - which you'll find on VCENotes.

As the exams approach - Unit 3 and 4 exams - make sure you start revision early. When doing practice exams try and do it as if it’s the real thing; time yourself as well as giving yourself reading time. This way, you’ll know your ability when under pressure, as opposed to doing exams where you have no time restrictions. Also, record your mistakes down in a separate book, and go over them, making sure you understand why and how you got it wrong and how to get it right the next time. This should be done after each exam you do. Eventually as the exam date approaches, hopefully you will be ready!

Make sure you fully read the question carefully, as you may miss key information if you read it too quickly. Many students will mis-read the question without reading the "Additional Information" below it - this is a must and will prevent you from losing cheap marks. This a trap that many students fall into under exam pressure, myself included. Bring a highlighter into the exam, and during the exam highlight information which you think is important, this way you'll reduce your mistakes.

There is nothing hard about Accounting; it’s all about minimising your errors and practice. Practice is essential if any student wants to do well in this subject. I know what I’m saying now is hard to follow, even I didn’t follow my own advice, with other subjects to do and all - though try the your best to follow the principles and advice that I’ve given and it will hopefully keep you in the right direction.

Percentage contributions to the study score in VCE Accounting are as follows:

• Unit 3 School-assessed Coursework: 17 per cent
• Unit 4 School-assessed Coursework: 17 per cent
• Mid-year examination: 33 per cent
• End-of-year examination: 33 per cent

That's the break-up of how much SACs and the exam(s) are worth.

Best of Luck, Accounting Students!

[Furbob]

do you recommend trying to do the unit 3 exercises during the holidays so that in class you can write notes/look at the exercise/listen to the teacher while everyone is doing the exercise? or does it run the risk of forgetting everything from the holidays over time?

Well, this is coming from someone who did 1/2 this year and I already have the 3/4 Cambridge book and I can already see majority of the chapters are familiar~

[eeps]

do you recommend trying to do the unit 3 exercises during the holidays so that in class you can write notes/look at the exercise/listen to the teacher while everyone is doing the exercise? or does it run the risk of forgetting everything from the holidays over time?

Yes, that is good option. Doing the exercises ahead, will allow you to listen to the teacher more - absorb more information, while other students do the exercise and you can ask the teacher any questions you have regarding the exercises - the ones you had trouble with and so on.

Though don't do all the exercises, otherwise you'll become bored and lose motivation - do enough exercises to keep you busy in class - ask your teacher questions - my word of warning is to not slack off just because you're ahead. It's good to be ahead, just keep the work up.

[Furbob]

okay then

another question, which exam-papers/study guides do you recommend trying to avoid/get?
so far I've got A+ practice exams, 2009 Checkpoints,2010 Insight and a TSSM booklet off a friend

[eeps]

another question, which exam-papers/study guides do you recommend trying to avoid/get?
so far I've got A+ practice exams, 2009 Checkpoints,2010 Insight and a TSSM booklet off a friend

They are all very good thus far. Don't do any TSSM papers - they suck, no offence - so many mistakes. =\

Checkpoints are good for quick revision and are handy "on the go", as well as: Insight, NEAP, CSE, COMPAK - they are the main ones, you'll find most of these exams here on VN or if not, ask your school/teacher - they'd be willing to give it to you.

VCAA are obviously the one you also want to be doing. =P You'll find when doing Accounting exams, that they are repetitive - the harder ones IMO were NEAP and CSE.

EDIT: Also, when doing exams, don't do past 2007 since the study design was different before 2007. The relevant exams to do would be between 2007-2011 - each year companies print out new exams for students to do. Your year (2011) is the last year, before the Accounting study design changes.

[LFTM]

do you recommend trying to do the unit 3 exercises during the holidays so that in class you can write notes/look at the exercise/listen to the teacher while everyone is doing the exercise? or does it run the risk of forgetting everything from the holidays over time?

Well, this is coming from someone who did 1/2 this year and I already have the 3/4 Cambridge book and I can already see majority of the chapters are familiar~

Definitely get a head start because before you know it the midyear exam will approach. I did the first 6 chapters of cambridge in the holidays and it really helped me i reckon.
In terms of study guides i think checkpoints is good for practise but there are so many mistakes in it. I also used exambusters which was ok. Before each sac i'd do all the stuff from checkpoints that related to that topic.

[LFTM]

And yeah like EPL mentioned accounting is about practice, the more you do the better you get at it.

[sam.utute]

okay then

another question, which exam-papers/study guides do you recommend trying to avoid/get?
so far I've got A+ practice exams, 2009 Checkpoints,2010 Insight and a TSSM booklet off a friend

If you have the time, go through all your study guides/exams, but leave TSSM and the A+ Practice Exams til the end. They'll be either full of errors (TSSM) or totally random (A+ Practice Exam). I went and bought all the study guides out and they do provide decent practice.

Recommend:
Insight Unit 3 Book (Unit 4 2010 was a bit dodgy) - Note, some of the exams that you can get like Insight 2007 will actually be the same exam in the booklet
Neap Study Guide - relatively well written with few, if any errors
Exambusters - written by the King of Accounting, Neville Box. Complements Checkpoints (i.e. similar structure: exam questions and solutions with more detail)

Not so recommended:
Checkpoints - yeah, everyone one does Checkpoints, so you might as well do them, but the templates you use will be dodgy, some of the questions incorrect (missing information) and the solutions may be for totally different questions. If you can ignore that, then they provide some pretty good practice
A+ Practice Exams - there questions are so unlike any exam question you are likely to get, its just not funny. But again, useful in the sense it'll force you to think differently.

EPL's guide is pretty informative. Basically follow that and you are set. He's been the go-to guy for accounting this year . Just one addition that I think might be worth noting.

do you recommend trying to do the unit 3 exercises during the holidays so that in class you can write notes/look at the exercise/listen to the teacher while everyone is doing the exercise? or does it run the risk of forgetting everything from the holidays over time?
Well, this is coming from someone who did 1/2 this year and I already have the 3/4 Cambridge book and I can already see majority of the chapters are familiar~

This is a bit of a contentious issue, with the majority of people advocating reading and revising. My method was to completely finish every single Unit 3 exercise in the book before school started. I called over a mate who did accounting the year before and spent the whole day going through the Unit 3 course, highlighting the areas and concepts that are tricky or require more thought. People do say that you will forget, exhaustive study won't help etc., but I think this is a myth.
When school started, from Day 1, I was doing checkpoints, exambusters and practice exams; basically immersing myself in practice exam questions. This is the key. Cambridge exercises can only get you so far. I can honestly say that I completed in excess of 25 exams for both units as well as every single study guide on the market. And when the exam came, I was confident in my ability to solve any question thrown at me by VCAA.

Again, let me reiterate that this method may not work for you (I've yet to see it fail by the way), but it can be extremely useful, in that it will free up enormous amounts of time for you to focus on other subjects.

Btw, I did the same exhaustive study for all my subjects, leaving me plenty of time during school to revise for SACs and prepare for exams.

Finally, Good Luck next year! Feel free to PM me for help regarding anything to do with anything.

Sam

[kakar0t]

This is excellent! Thanks for this EPL! Invaluable for future accounting students.

[eeps]

USE me as an example/case study!

LOL, I tried to get a head start at the start of the year, which I did (sort of) - I made notes and all. Then I somewhat tailed off at the end of Semester 1 - got A for mid-year.

Thus, in Semester 2, I worked pretty damn hard - spent most of my lunchtimes in the school library - waiting on result.

What you should do is:

- Pace yourself, don't do too much Accounting that you get bored.
- If you find yourself with nothing to do, start practice exams - it's never too early to start revising.
- Ask your teacher heaps of questions, it's the most valuable resource a student has - if you're unsure of something and your teacher doesn't know, ask here on VN.
- Practice - I can't stress the importance of this!

Read up on what I've said and the other notes on the Accounting board and that should keep you in good stead.

Best of Luck to future Accounting students! =)

[sam.utute]

USE me as an example/case study!

LOL, I tried to get a head start at the start of the year, which I did (sort of) - I made notes and all. Then it somewhat tailed off at the end of Semester 1 - got A for mid-year.

Thus, in Semester 2, I worked pretty damn hard - spent most of my lunchtimes in the school library - waiting on result.

What you should do is:

- Pace yourself, don't do too much Accounting that you get bored.
- If you find yourself with nothing to do, start practice exams - it's never too early to start revising.
- Ask your teacher heaps of questions, it's the most valuable resource a student has - if you're unsure of something and your teacher doesn't know, ask here on VN.
- Practice - I can't stress the importance of this!

Read up on what I've said and the other notes on the Accounting board and that should keep you in good stead.

Best of Luck to future Accounting students! =)

+9000

[eeps]

This is a bit of a contentious issue, with the majority of people advocating reading and revising. My method was to completely finish every single Unit 3 exercise in the book before school started. I called over a mate who did accounting the year before and spent the whole day going through the Unit 3 course, highlighting the areas and concepts that are tricky or require more thought. People do say that you will forget, exhaustive study won't help etc., but I think this is a myth.

When school started, from Day 1, I was doing checkpoints, exambusters and practice exams; basically immersing myself in practice exam questions. This is the key. Cambridge exercises can only get you so far. I can honestly say that I completed in excess of 25 exams for both units as well as every single study guide on the market. And when the exam came, I was confident in my ability to solve any question thrown at me by VCAA.

If anyone wants an example of what I mean by practice, you have one right here.

This a clear example of extensive practice and if anything, it's a very effective method. This method should be tried if any of you have time, though I doubt anyone but asap531 would. He was starting exams before I was even half-way through Unit 4 or something. =P

[davyp3]

Accounting is DEFINATELY not a hard subject.

To those not using the Cambridge book:

Hunt it down and do all the questions in that book.

[eeps]

Accounting is DEFINATELY not a hard subject.

To those not using the Cambridge book:

Hunt it down and do all the questions in that book.

I agree. Even if it's not the textbook you're using in class or at school, get a copy of the Cambridge VCE textbook and workbook 2nd Edition by Simmons & Hardy - I had one with a red/maroon colour.
 


Hence, I'm selling it! (see below - sig) - I don't know about other Accounting textbooks, but going by everyone - it seems to be far and away the best textbook. One of, if not the best investments I made for Accounting. =P

[davyp3]

Cambridge seemed to me to be more in depth, where as the neville box book was rather simplistic and straightforward in regards to explaining theory