The exam experience can be daunting and it’s easy to become overwhelmed by what content you need to remember, but there are plenty of tips you can use to your advantage on the big day.
Auditing exams in particular can be tricky, with a lot of information needed for questions throughout the paper as well as knowing the ‘correct’ way to answer each question.
There is a variety of useful advice that you can utilise to ensure you achieve the best grade possible, many of which I cover through my Accounting Exam Accelerator Programme.
It’s best to assess what the exam covers as well as how to approach the questions separately by compartmentalising each section into manageable chunks, as tackling the auditing exam as one complete process can easily add undue pressure and stress.
What Do Auditing Exams Include:
The aim of an audit and assurance exam paper is to develop knowledge and understanding of carrying out the assurance engagement alongside its application in the context of the professional regulatory framework – it sounds scary, I know.
The exam, whether it be at a university or professional level, is normally practical in application, including theoretical elements with a balance of technical knowledge as well as a practical application of this knowledge.
The aim is to ensure that those who pass this exam understand the basics of an audit, being able to apply relevant knowledge and skills whilst exercising professional judgement in analysing, evaluating, concluding and reporting on the assurance engagement.
An audit and assurance exam builds on information gained in financial accounting exams, so really it isn’t that much extra, but the premise can be incredibly stress-inducing.
You must not be afraid to bring your accounting knowledge into this exam as a common question is to provide journal adjustments or adjust the notes to the accounts in a given scenario, so remember to cover as much information from that topic when revising auditing.
It is quite common that students may not have been involved in, or had exposure to, a real audit, especially in a university exam setting, however, for university students or professionals not based in auditing, you shouldn’t be put off as this exam is like any other.
Therefore, application questions will continue to feature heavily in the exam as they demonstrate whether you have understood a topic or just learnt the content rather than properly absorbing it.
Regurgitation of technical material alone will not result in exam success, but practising past paper questions under time pressure will significantly improve your chances of passing the exam, something I like to heavily promote in my Accounting Exam Accelerator Programme.
Structure Of The Exam:
It’s important to note what the structure of the exam will be so that you are prepared for the questions when it comes to sitting it.
There are a handful of different formats it could take, meaning that you need to be aware of how your auditing exam could be laid out so that you don’t have any nasty surprises.
- Questions may be in shorter factual form, including a single issue specifically based on a scenario or two/three requirements that require some knowledge of technical areas
- Questions may require calculations (for example ratios), in the content of audit planning, calculation of materiality or audit completion.
- You will need to analyse the scenario to identify the appropriate points to make in the answers, so make sure you read the requirements carefully first before brainstorming the scenario and highlighting key issues – this will act as a checklist so that your answer covers all bases.
- Timing is key and it’s imperative that you allocate reading and writing time based on how long you are sitting the exam and stick to this to stay on track.
- It is particularly important that you understand the question, for example if you are required to ‘list’ then the answer should contain brief points rather than stretching to pages of text, with overwriting being one of many people’s downfalls as you consume time that could be spent on other questions without gaining more marks.
- Alternatively, if the requirement asks you to ‘explain’ or ‘recommend’ then there are marks allocated for finding and explaining an issue as well as marks for recommending a way to overcome that issue.
- If the requirement asks for a memo, briefing note or report, adopting the appropriate presentation is key, using the correct layout, including the addition of To, From and Date.
Reasons Why People Fail:
One of the main reasons for failure is writing very brief answers to most questions, failing to develop your knowledge and not applying information you do know to the specific scenario in front of you.
A less content-driven reason behind dropped marks is the lack of understanding of how to properly answer the questions, often due to not attempting any mock or past exam papers prior to the official exam.
Poor Exam Technique And How To Avoid It:
Having a poor exam technique can act as a downfall when it comes to your auditing exam, as you are required to produce your answers in a variety of formats depending on what each question requires.
You also need to know how to properly answer the questions presented to you in the exam, so preparing what you need to include and the structure you are going to write in is important, so make use of past papers as a revision source to really hone your skills in this sector.
There are a range of exam techniques that can help you achieve the best marks in your auditing exam, including:
1. Time Management
Go through the questions at the beginning of your exam and assign a set amount of time to each one – if you run out of ideas for a question during its allotted time, move on and come back to it later, ensuring that you don’t waste time you could otherwise spend elsewhere.
Creating an efficient schedule also ensures that you won’t spend too much time on the first questions and run out of time to complete the final ones – completing past papers can help you devise a time management plan that works well for you based on your previous writing times.
2. Use The Required Style
A lot of people fall foul of using the incorrect style for that particular question, including providing the answer in one long paragraph instead of splitting it into individual points which hinders both your time conservation and marks.
3. Apply What You Know
Focusing on theory only with no attempt to apply to the scenario can hinder your grade as it doesn’t show a deeper level of understanding, only that you know the information at face value.
Application of that knowledge to specific scenarios within the exam needs to be clearly demonstrated, otherwise this could lead to a marginal or bad fail.
You can find my unusual examples on how to gain a good exam technique in my blog 18 Non-Conventional Ways To Boost Your Exam Technique.
How To Pass Your Auditing Exam:
Using a previous mark scheme can be invaluable as it clearly identifies what you need to do to gain the best marks.
Positive aspects of answers can often be assumed to be the opposite of negative aspects of answers, however there are some specific criteria that would be worth noting.
Some positives that are mentioned in auditing exam mark schemes include:
1. Presentation
Well presented pieces of writing are a great way to receive marks, even for seemingly simple choices such as clear paragraphs, sentences and table formats.
For more information on how to accurately present your exam answers, you can read my blog Top Tips To Ace Your Presentation In Accountancy Exams which covers everything you need to know.
2. Application
Candidates who have a good knowledge of auditing is one thing, but being able to apply that information both clearly and succinctly to the question is an important step you can take to improve your grade.
3. Attempt Every Question
You can’t be awarded any marks for a question you left blank, so if you find that you ran out of time and are in a rush, make sure to jot down as much as possible for every question whilst you still can.
Even if your answer isn’t the best, a few marks can normally be obtained from providing a valid attempt, so it’s a good idea to keep this in mind and write down anything you can during the time.
Any audit and assurance exam can be passed by a student who understands the underlying theory of auditing and can apply that theory to audit situations but knowledge itself is not sufficient to pass this exam, so my advice is to study the basics of auditing, read available examiners’ reports and practise past papers under timed conditions.