Initially I was given logon information and a website address, found the website and was presented with a welcome page in which to input my email address and password. At this stage I had no real idea what I was going to be facing so I had not made any preparation. But in hindsight, I would have made sure I had:
- a clear 2 hours on the computer without interruption, including phone calls
- a pad of blank paper
- pens and pencils
- a calculator
So, assuming I had been prepared with all of the above, entering the login details moves on to a page detailing the qualification for which you have entered, the time allowed for the exam and when the exam expires. Once you have started the examination you have two hours from start until finish. But you can choose those two hours within a period of a couple of weeks which is why there is an expiry date.
The next page is like the rubric page of an examination paper. It details the pass mark, how long you have to complete the examination and very important information about the FINISH button. Once you press that you cannot return to the examination so it is important to be completely happy with your work before pressing it.
There is also a START button on this page. Once you have pressed it you are then into your examination time and you are taken to the next page which lists what appear to be a huge number of tasks down the left hand side (16 in my case) with the word finish at the end. At that stage I felt the pressure of time. But in hindsight I had plenty of time to complete the examination, check through it at my leisure and make up for my lack of preparation which I mentioned earlier.
You can flick through the pages to see what is involved in each of the tasks if you wish before starting (do not press the Finish button, of course). Some are very short and some are longer.
Throughout the examination you will information at the top of each task showing:
- which task you are working on
- the time remaining for the examination as a whole
- the number of marks for the task you are currently completing.
The answering of the question takes place with something like a button or a box to select, very similar to that illustrated at - http://www.bized.co.uk/learn/business/qbank/accounting1.htm
On my examination I had a list of balances from ledger accounts, the test being to select which of the balances would be debit and which credit. Most were straightforward as assets and expenses have debit balances and liabilities and income accounts have credit balances. However, as an account like bank can have either a debit or credit balance I found it useful to draw up the trial balance on paper first before answering the question. The bank balance went on the side that made the total of debits equal the total of credits. This also gives useful information such as the totals of the two columns which was also required. There is ample time to do this.
fill-in boxes (similar to that illustrated at http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/business/quick-ratio.aspx)
For instance I was given a paying in slip and a number of notes and coins which were to be paid into the bank. So I worked out that, say, that 7 x £5 = £35.00 and placed 35.00 in the box.
At this stage I was not sure whether to enter £35.00, 35.00 or 35. So I tried a variation in my examination and they all seemed to work. It is better to use best practice and on a paying in slip that would be to use 35.00.
You certainly should not use 35.0 because in the case of any currency using the decimal system there are 100 pence to the £, not 10.
You will need a calculator to work out some of the figures for fill in boxes or to make the right selection from a multiple choice. For instance you could be given the total amount of an invoice and be asked to select which accounts will be debited and credited and by how much. That will mean working out the VAT too.
drop down menus which you will be familiar with from many websites such as http://www.amazon.co.uk/ If you click on the downward arrow beside ‘search’ on the Amazon page you will see a list of departments. In the examination this is replace with say four items from which to chose containing information such as:
- Dr Cash Cr Bank
- Dr Purchases Cr Bank
- Dr Bank Cr Purchases
- Dr Purchases Cr Cash
In the examination I took there were no actual ledger accounts to be written out on the examination itself although there is no reason why that could not be a possibility in future using fill-in boxes.
The drop-down menu was also used with questions such as: Which of the following is not a current asset? This was then followed with four examples.
A style of question which was popular in the examination to test ledger accounts was to give information such as:
Jane bought stationery costing £23.50. Process this payment through the relevant accounts.
Following this would be fill-in boxes or drop down menus:
The total amount of the expense including VAT would be posted to:
------------------------------------
The net amount of the expense (gross less VAT ) would be posted to:
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The amount of VAT on the expense would be posted to:
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It is useful to use ledger accounts written down on the pad to work this through.
Once you have worked through all the tasks I would recommend taking a brief five minute break and then to check through all your work. You can do this task by task. Watch out for accidentally selecting the incorrect option in the drop-down menu, transposing figures in the fill-in boxes and so on. Such things are easy to do in the pressure of an examination.
You will have the opportunity to complete a mock examination before your actual examination in any case. But hopefully, my experiences and thoughts above will alleviate any concerns you might have. And then I am sure you will think of other points as you work through the mock examination and ways of dealing with it which suit you specifically.
At the end of the examination, it is a case of pressing FINISH. And then within a minute or two you are taken to a screen which tells you your result. This is also confirmed by a separate email.
Did I pass? YES!!!
A recent successful student at Level 2 made the additional extremely helpful comment in respect of the examinations too which will be relevant at all Levels- I did take the mock exam also the day before and I think that helped prepare me for the style of questioning. As I suspected the exam consists of multiple choice through drop down menus and a lot of box filling. 2 hours was plenty of time (too much I think). One thing that did strike me was in a number of multiple choice questions the answer choices seemed to read the same. But upon closer inspection the figures given were slightly different, 98p rather than 95p at the end of the sum for example. Testing ones ability to read through a question carefully as well as knowing whether debits or credits are involved I think!
