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How to pass ACCA SBL with 80% first time! | ACCA Strategic Business Leader | | James Wright ACCA | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: How to pass ACCA SBL with 80% first time! | ACCA Strategic Business Leader |
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This content provides a detailed guide on how to achieve a high score (80%) on the ACCA Strategic Business Leadership (SPL) exam, featuring insights from a successful candidate, Nation. It emphasizes strategic preparation, effective study techniques, and exam-taking strategies to navigate the complexities of this advanced professional qualification.
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How to pass your ACCA SPL exam with 80%
first time. Well, get your pen and paper
at the ready because I'm delighted to be
joined by Nation today who's going to
walk and talk us through how he got that
results in his exam. But Nation, feel
free to introduce yourself, my friend.
So, hi everyone. My name is Nation. I'm
now ACCA affiliate. I just passed my SPL
exam in the March city and scoring 80%.
So now I'm affiliate and I'm working as
an accountant. Uh so yeah, that's a
little bit about me. Fantastic. Well,
let's get straight into it. Think back
to your SPL journey to get that 80%.
What would be your first major tip to
help a student who's maybe completely
starting SPL from scratch? So I think
that the first thing to do before even
touching the ACC study hub about your
actual content is just maybe do the um
ethics professional skills module
because I really think that that really
helps with the strategic business
leadership exam. I think the statistics
even prove that. So, I would definitely
recommend making some time to try and
get that done before because it
definitely helps with um attaining the
professional skills marks in the SPL
exam and there there's 20 of them marks.
So, even getting half of them just means
that you need 40 more marks to pass in
the exam. So, really nailing down and
try and getting that done. It's not too
time consuming, but it's actually really
good for the rest of your um even for
the rest of your ACCA exams, but
particularly the SPL exam. Exactly. And
you've got to do it anyway to get
qualified. So, ethics and professional
skills module. Completely agree. Get
that down as the first point guys on
there. Now, nation, where are we going
to next? When you're thinking back to
that 80%,
what really helped you to get the big
marks in the exam? I think um after I
did that I thought I want to do the
technical articles. So then the first
thing that I did I opened up all the
technical articles and I read over them
and I tried to make some notes about
them and I also used the chat GBT which
I know so that a lot of people use to
help like condense it down and get the
key points from it because some of the
technical articles can be really long.
So I do think that maybe using AI for it
can help you and then rewarding it in a
way that when you look back on it you
understand it because in the technical
articles it it can help you get a lot of
marks that you wouldn't really think
about. It just becomes like natural to
you. For example, you can pick out when
to use the pesto model as fire forces
these kind of models by looking at the
technical article. can really help when
you're in a question and trying to link
the models to the scenario and which one
relates to the question. Yeah, that's
that's a great tip. And the use of AI to
help condense it down, especially were
you working at the same time when you
were doing your SPL exam limited for
time? When I was doing the SPL exam, I
was actually just full-time studying.
So, it meant that I had a lot more time
to really focus on it. So, I guess
there's two ways that you can go about
doing SPL. If you're a full-time student
and you've got a lot of time, you can
really go more into depth in everything
and spend a lot more time in it. Whereas
I know a lot of people that do it are um
not not students, they're working. So
when you're working, I know it can be
really hard when you come back. So I
think trying to be disciplined in your
approach is very important. for example,
setting aside two hours a day, making
sure that I'm going to do two hours of
this and trying to get it done every
day. So, staying disciplined and having
a schedule can really help with
preparing for the exam. Absolutely spot
on. And with with it being the SPL exam,
we've got to talk about the precine
information as well. How did you get on
with that? How did you tackle it? What
springs to mind that could help an ACCA
student to pass? So before the uh
pre-cenes released, correct me if I'm
wrong, I think it comes out maybe two
two weeks before is it? Yeah, two weeks
before. So that's towards the the end of
when you come to the end of your SPL
journey preparing for the exam. But
prior to that, I tried to cover as much
content as I could because before
looking at the case study, I think it's
by that time you should have covered the
majority of the content. So what I did,
I used the ACCA study hub. I did it
completely. Um I prepared for this exam
completely with no paid tuition or any
fees. I just did the free resources like
YouTube and the ACCA study hub and open
tuition notes. I opened the ACCA study
hub and I worked through chapter one all
the way to the end. Yes, it was time
consuming. Yes, it is a lot. But I do
think doing that and then at the end of
every chapter doing the quizzes really
helped my understanding of them topics.
So I would really recommend to any
full-time students out there to maybe
take the same approach that I had. Do a
chapter qu do some questions on it. Try
to find past papers or past questions
that relate to that specific topic. So
then you know that you have a good
understanding um of that topic and then
move on to the next one and keep doing
doing that. And then when you get to the
end then hopefully it's time for the
precine. And when the preceding comes,
get your pen and paper out, print the
preceding out, and really get ready to
annotate it. I think that you um
actually released um some free YouTube
videos that people can watch, some free
resources, going through the case study
um analysis. I think you released maybe
like up to six or seven different
videos. Yeah. In the week leading up to
it, I use them to be honest with you. I
use them on a daily basis. I would do
some questions and then when you
released your video, I would spend some
time to go over your video and make the
same annotations and see if it would
trigger my mind to create any more
ideas. I do think not just copying
someone else's notes, but also using
your using your what you've studied and
the concepts that you understand and
your research to try and make some more
analysis of the case study. I think
that's very very important for this
exam. Yeah, exactly. Well, if if anyone
watching this is interested in those
videos, I can put a link into the
description and you can check out all
the resources down there. There's a bit
of work that goes into those videos,
some late nights. So, I'm so pleased
they helped nation to get you get you
over the line and with such a uh such a
good mark. I mean, what else springs to
mind that were sort of the big
challenges with the SPL exam? Was it
some of the theories? Was it maybe that
it's a bit more of a written exam? How
did you get on with time management?
What sort of springs to mind as a big
standout that you want to say to help a
student? I think that maybe a lot of
people that are doing the SPL exam might
have been in a similar position to me
where maybe they're better at the
numerical side of um the exams rather
than the essay style questions. And this
SPL exam is majority essay based and a
lot of written um a lot of written
questions. So I think trying to get
familiar with the questions with the way
that the exam is is very important. Um
one month before you should be
definitely doing some past papers um
some mocks mock questions to time. I
think that really helped me making sure
that I was doing some timed mock papers
because it gave me an understanding
firstly of how quick I need to write,
how much of what I was writing was
relevant to the question and how much of
that what I was writing would actually
get me marks because in the first time
when I did a mock paper I realized I was
writing so much points that wouldn't get
me any marks and you realize that. So by
doing past papers especially for SPL it
helps you to understand for each
sentence that you're writing would I get
a mark or maybe two marks for it. So I
think that is very important um in the
leadup to the SPL exam. Exactly. Lots of
students write paragraphs and paragraphs
and they probably come out the exam and
go feel like I've written a lot there or
like you're saying when you're doing
mock papers and then you actually read
it back and you go there's a lot of qual
a lot of quantity but not a lot of
quality in there that maybe didn't
answer the requirements and it sort of
nicely leads on to the to the next
question as to will you any did you make
any mistakes like when you look back
would you have changed anything in your
approach or what sort of springs to mind
that could could help someone Yeah,
I think that well in my approach
anything that I could improve maybe I
could have improved doing a few more
mock papers um especially the ones that
are on the CBE platform. Um, and while
doing that for SPL, I think reading the
case studies as well as doing the
questions because I think that that
would have really helped me to read the
actual full case study before because
for some of them I decided not to read
the case because they're so lengthy.
Yeah. That and it's hard to take it in
at the same time to make sure you
understand it all. It but I do think it
would help if I have done that. But I
think there's one more thing that just
came to my mind that I did do was read
the examiner's report and I think that
really really helped me. I took a lot of
time to go through that the examiner's
report because it's a very lengthy
document actually but it really can help
you understand the marker's way of
thinking and I think that really helped
me. That's one thing that I did for all
my ACCA exams but in specific this exam.
It helped me to understand the points
that would get me marks and what the
examiners don't want to see because a
lot of written things that you can write
the examiners just don't want to see it.
They've seen it too many times and
you're not going to get a mark for it
and in your head you might think it's a
good point but to the examiners they
might have just not wanted to see that.
Yeah, it's a great point especially if
you've got a student watching this who's
maybe sadly failed the SPL exam because
that examiner's report in a nutshell
tells you how not to fail it. A second
time round, it it says if you don't
apply your answers back to the scenario,
you're probably going to fail. If you
don't read the requirement properly,
you're probably going to fail. And it
gives a good examples as well as to what
would constitute a really good answer
versus one that's going to get one mark
or maybe even none on there, I would
say. So, abs absolutely fantastic on
there, nation. Really good point. But
are there any other fundamental things
that you've got to get on record that
could help an ACCA SPL student get that
50 plus that they could get down in
their notes, put it into practice and
help them out from this recording? I
think one thing that I would say
especially in the week or maybe two
weeks leading up to the exam once you've
seen the case study is try not to
question spot. Now I know how difficult
it might be but trying to question uh to
question spot can really put you in a in
a different mindset because if you go
into the exam and the questions that you
wanted or predicted to come up are not
there you it might really cause you some
problems in the exam. So I think trying
not to question spot is an important
thing to not do even though with this
exam because you feel like you've been
given the case study which is the exam's
going to be about you feel like you can
however for example in the March attempt
when I sat it for historical places in
my variant of the exam there actually
was no models used for any of the
questions. So if I tried to question
spot, I would have probably predicted a
model or two to come up, but in mine
there was none. So it just shows how how
much the the exam is about application
of knowledge of the real world
situations that are going on. So really
just try not to question spot no matter
how tempting it is, just try to just go
in with the knowledge that you have and
analyze the case study to the best of
your ability.
really really good advice and just
little things that spring to my mind
when you when you talk to me about that.
I go even just little things like using
the company's name that is mentioned in
the scenario, using the key words that
are in the requirement to sort of shape
your answer. All these little things are
just going to help you to pick up on
those extra few marks here and there.
And the last thing I just want to touch
on is that this is a strategic level
exam. Maybe you've got a student here
who's watching who's maybe been to a
university, maybe they've got some
exemptions. What what's your thought
process on doing an SPL exam? Is it is
it a step up? Is the expectation a lot
higher? So, as a student, as I came out
of a university, I studied accounting
and finance. And when I came to do the
professional papers, it actually is a a
big step up. It's a it's a very
different way of of studying for it
unless you go down the tuition provider.
But the syllabus is a lot more larger
than you would imagine. When I I
remember when I opened the SPL syllabus,
I was like this is really really big. So
I think it is a big step up and the way
that you need to
like practice is also very different and
also I think time management is compared
to university is is such a big factor in
the professional exams you need to be
very strict with your time management in
an exam if a question's 20 marks try not
to go over for example I can't remember
don't quote me but maybe like 20 I don't
know maybe 30 40 minutes I'm not But try
not to go over the time that you have
like prepared yourself for that question
and try to answer every question in the
exam because if you miss out for example
10 marks you're really damaging your
chance of passing the exam. So try your
best to answer everything to the best of
your ability with quality not quantity.
Fantastic notion. Really good advice
there. And yeah it depends on the marks
per minute. Some students like 1.5
minutes per mark. The maximum you can do
is 1.8 minutes per mark. So get that
down in your notes, guys. And if you
follow the tips Nation's kindly taken us
through right now, I think you're on to
a winner to get the 50 plus. So I just
want to say, Nation, thank you so much
for your time, your insights. Any final
little goodbye, wishing well to the
students? Good luck for everyone doing
your exam. Just be positive before you
go in. If you've done some mocks and you
might have failed it, it's okay. Just
try your best when you go in and I'm
sure you'll all do very very well. Mega,
thank you so much. Um, Nation and I will
be in touch. If you got any questions,
leave it in the comments. Be sure to
subscribe and good luck with your exam.
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