6 Simple Ways to Enjoy Studying for Your ACCA Exams

As strange as it may sound, if you learn to enjoy studying, you’re more likely to succeed in your ACCA exams! What can be hard when you start to study is the actual thought of it. But, there’s something positive about sitting there and reading or doing questions and learning something. It’s a tangible thing that’s helping you get better at something to advance both your knowledge and career.

This blog looks at 6 simple things you can adopt to help you enjoy studying ACCA.

1. Assess & Change Your Mindset

Often when people come to study for their exams, they can come with a negative mindset or one that doubts the benefit of studying. This is particularly true for people with multiple exams, i.e. starting out their ACCA journey, as it can seem like a mammoth task, mainly if you’re just focusing on exams and exam results.

The fundamental way to overcome this is to change your mindset. Instead of thinking way ahead, focus on small wins you can achieve each day. Every day that you sit down and every question you do is helping you to upskill and learn new things. Ultimately, every time you sit down and study, you’re enhancing your career to progress, make more money, realise a dream, etc.

2. Use What You Learn in Your Job

As you study, you’re learning new things and having the opportunity to think in new ways, whether you’re consciously aware of it or not. Take advantage of this new knowledge at work by making suggestions or contributing to meetings. Your employer won’t be thinking about how great you are to be doing ACCA exams. Instead, they’ll be thinking about how you’re constantly learning and the benefit this can bring to your role and company.

It’s about applying knowledge and showing your employer the rewards your newfound expertise can bring to the organisation by becoming a more skilled person. This proof of your value and worth will inevitably lead to better salary and promotion opportunities.

3. Realising can Boost Your Employability

I’ve never been asked what my marks were for the ACCA exams in an interview. However, I have been asked to demonstrate knowledge in key areas. Employers today want to bring people into the business that offer value. Traits such as time management, commitment, multi-tasking and project management are now vital and sought-after skills. All of these can be qualified by studying ACCA.

All the traits you have to develop when studying ACCA are being built into your character as you study. So, a 12-week project at work will seem simple as you’ve already managed one by passing an ACCA exam and repeated that multiple times!

4. Studying Builds Resilience

While you need resilience when studying for ACCA, you also need it in your professional life. Skills such as project management and keeping to a tight deadline positively contribute to your skillset and life.

You don’t get marked for these things in ACCA, but there’s a reason why you need 3-years of work experience as all of these skills are being built up. So, if you look at your study as a means to a successful end, i.e. building a great career, you may actually start to enjoy it, making learning and your exams easier!

5. Relish the Challenge of ACCA Exams

There’s no denying that passing ACCA is a challenge. Becoming an ACCA affiliate is a badge to be worn with pride. I always describe studying for ACCA as a marathon because there’s some pain involved! If you listen to any competitive athlete, they will say that they love training and getting up in the morning as they’re constantly improving. If you can build some competitiveness into your study and relish the fact that you’re getting better, it can really help drive the enjoyment of studying. There’s no fast fix, it’s hard work, but it’s worth it.

6. Accept you’re in it for the long haul

It can often be disheartening when you’re getting 51% or more easily in the applied skills exams and then on moving to the higher level are struggling to even get 40%. This isn’t unusual, as ACCA exams do get considerably harder as you progress through them. The key here is to remind yourself of all the above points and relax so you can enjoy the studying process.

Go back to assessing your mindset and rebooting it if needed so you take a more positive approach, just like a marathon runner trying to get to the podium. So, enjoy the small wins but do not lose sight of the bigger picture, so you don’t get bogged down on one exam or result. This will help you to prepare, practice and get better.

Conclusion

There’s no easy way to pass your ACCA exams. It takes dedication, practice, and many hours to become an ACCA affiliate. It’s not an easy journey, and you will probably falter at points, whether it’s due to time constraints, a bad exam result, or just struggling with a subject. What’s important to bear in mind is the bigger picture and the impact passing all these exams will have on your career and life.

Use these 6 simple tips when you hit a rough patch to refocus, reboot and start again.