Top exam tips from former FAE students
Jul 05, 2023
Our greatest teacher is the past, and former FAE students have much to say about the exams. Bryan Rankin, Head of Student Operations at Chartered Accountants Ireland, outlines their thoughts
For FAE students, 15 and 17 August 2023 have been red letter days for some time, culminating in years of dedication and study.
After each main exam sitting, the student representative body CASSI issues a survey to candidates to garner their views on the exam and the education programme.
In 2022, the FAE CASSI Survey indicated that students found the following as the most beneficial resources in exam preparations – they could be equally as helpful for you in 2023.
The FAE Exam Guide series
Launched in 2021, the FAE Exam Guide series is an online resource carefully curated to help FAE students prepare for their examinations with ‘insider’-style views and tips from examiners.
The articles bring clarity to a range of FAE areas and contain valuable insights into the priorities and concerns of the examination teams.
At the time of writing, the 2023 Guide is expected to be published at the end of July. It is a must-read resource for all FAE exam candidates.
You can find past issues online.
Integrated case days
By this time, FAE students will be aware of the series of integrated case days (ICDs) and have satisfied the requirement to engage with at least five of the seven available.
The considerable value of ICDs is that they help bring the four Core subjects together and integrate the knowledge and skills obtained from earlier studies and the work environment.
Attendance at five of seven live ICDs webinars is deemed mandatory and the bare minimum, but it’s a great idea to undertake all seven.
The feedback from past FAE students is that working through case days is perhaps the best way to prepare for the requirements of FAE Core.
All seven cases are available on the Learning Hub.
FAE Committee Report
The FAE Committee Report (FAEC) from 2022 and earlier years can assist current FAE students in their exam preparation.
The reports explain how the papers are authored, marked and adjudicated while providing an overview of how 2022 students performed and examiner comments for each question.
The 2022 report provides key insights to current FAE candidates on what last year’s candidates did to pass the examination and, more importantly, highlights the areas where candidates continue to struggle, reiterating, where appropriate, advice from previous FAECs.
FAECs are available in the exams section of the Chartered Accountants Ireland website; a student login is required.
FAE mocks
Through the mock examinations, students can test their current knowledge, replicate their exam setting, gain vital first-hand experience and ensure their technology is working all before the FAE main exams start.
Students can avail themselves of a brand-new paper that’s closely aligned with the layout of the actual paper.
Past FAE students have underlined the importance of the mocks in preparing them for the real thing.
The FAE mock examinations for Core and Electives may be sat from 1 July to the evening of 9 July, with solutions, marking schemes and videos of lecturers recording their solutions available on 10 July.
Exam prep webinars
The coming weeks will also see some key webinars that are not to be missed.
Following the FAE mocks, a series of post-mock exam webinars will bring clarity and answer questions students might have from the mock papers.
Then come the exam prep webinars in the last week of July, which promise to provide further guidance and some final tips on exam preparation, time management and technique.
All webinar times are detailed in the FAE timetables, available on the Institute’s website.