Which Papers to take Next ? Some Advices based on past experience

Which paper next? Here's some advice from years of teaching all papers..

Ok so the exam results are in - time to start thinking about which exam to take in MARCH Although my primary advice is do 1 paper every 3 months - here's some more in depth advice.... Wordy and Numbers papers together Eg. LAW and PM, AA with FR or FM, SBL with SBR or AFM etc These are generally wise choices BUT (and its a big BUTT ;) people who do this have a tendency to over focus on the numbers paper Avoid this at all costs - generally split your studying 60%-40% (in favour of the numbers paper) but no more than this The key to the wordy papers is generally past paper / question technique - this takes time Do FR before AA (or together) Just because you will feel more comfortable with some audit risks Do SBR as soon as possible after FR There is a lot of common ground, but you will find the groups techniques particularly useful again Do AAA as soon as possible after SBR This is really, really helpful as the basic principles of SBR standards (not calculations though) are all vital in AAA Do AFM (if you must) as soon as possible after FM They link beautifully together - though AFM is extremely tough at first Do SBL as soon as possible after AA There is a lot of common ground regarding internal audit and corporate governance which will help you APM is technically easier than AFM However APM relies on PM knowledge which will be long forgotten by now! :) AFM is very technical and is quite a specialised area APM uses the skills learnt in SBL in terms of question approach FM and SBR have very large syllabi - be aware when choosing these with other papers This is especially true of FM now it is MCQ partially. This means periphery syllabus areas are now examined AAA needs a rethink of your technique and thus more time As mentioned earlier it builds on SBR (and AA) and needs to be done asap after SBR particularly - however do be aware that the technique for this paper is vastly different The examiner expects are a far greater range of points and thus knowledge than any of the other papers - so its a proper combination of lots of knowledge work and application skills Therefore be wary of doing this alongside more than 1 other paper Whatever you choose I hope this has helped your thinking a little - they're not meant to be rules, rather just things for you to consider when choosing