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Technique for Past Papers

A

asp_act

Member
I am currently practicing past papers through ASET. I want to know what's the best way to tackle them. I initially attempt without looking at the solution. But the solution usually covers much more points than my solution. So is it best to learn the key points from the solution (which are not in core reading and which are not very obvious) so that it might be applied in a similar question in future, however with this technique there is another long list of points in addition to core reading. Is it really worth doing?

Or is the aim just to have as much exposure to questions as possible just to face any question in exam, without bothering too much about learning the novel points in the solution that are not in core reading? or if there is some other good strategy.

In one of the notes, it is mentioned there is very less chance of getting marks for points outside of marking schedule. So should we strictly assess ourselves based on the model solutions assuming each point in ASET is half a mark or is it just a prudent strategy to prepare ourselves?

The key issue I face is when marks available are more than the content in direct core reading, and then I focus on some issues to expand it further to cover more points while model solution expands ideas on different issues in answer. Ultimately losing marks and time on issue I focused on. Any thoughts and suggestions, please?

And lastly, how many papers should we atleast aim for in these last 20 days to exam.

Any techniques or suggestions regarding these points would be very helpful. Many thanks.
 
I have found the acted block tutorials and mock exams very useful for exam technique for the essay type exams (CA1, STs). However it's probably too close now to the exams to use these.

Definitely continue to do a full attempt of questions before looking at the solution.
The hard area is coming up with ideas; generating enough or matching those from the marking schedule.
I use a combination of:
- core reading
- lists and mnemonics/acronyms (the tutorials give some good ones, but the best are the ones you can come up with yourself).
- general areas e.g. tax, regulation, investment, stakeholders
- state the obvious.

If I do badly in a question I look through the above to see what did I miss.
 
Many thanks for your reply. I think stating obvious (which i miss) is very necessary since these are easy marks and avoid any assumptions.

Any other suggestions would be really helpful. Thanks again.
 
Thanks calibre2001. Your suggestions are very helpful.
 
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