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The pros and cons

14 Aug 2008

Home learning is the study option of choice for many ACCA students. But it's not an option without drawbacks or challenges - which is why understanding the pros and cons is essential before embarking on self-study.

Why home learning?

Vandana Poria, chief executive of Get Through Guides, believes that for most ACCA students, self-study is about affordability. 'Given the choice, the majority would opt for face-to-face tuition,' she says. But affordability isn't everyone's sole motivator.

Debbie Cashmore, an ACCA Qualification student, says: 'Home learning means I can study when I want to, working at my own pace and spending longer on areas I find more difficult. It also means I'm not reliant on the ability of a specific tutor.'

Mairi Pearson, Fundamentals level ACCA Qualification student, chose college-supported self-study for geographical reasons: 'Working in the Scottish Highlands, and subsequently in Belgium and Switzerland, I've just not had classes nearby. I've found distance learning packages to be comprehensive and easy to follow, with tutors available by e-mail or phone if necessary.'

Jenni Hudson, a tutor at Kaplan Financial, says: 'For many students, it's a matter of practicality - perhaps they don't live near a tuition provider, for example, or if the year end coincides with revision courses. Home learning means they can study when they like - and can even get ahead of the game as soon as their last exam is over.'

Challenges and techniques

Some students even appear better suited to self-study. 'The most successful are extremely disciplined - reading through the material, learning it, and then revising a few days later,' says Poria. 'They're meticulous about time planning. However, they may differ in that some are happy with lots of text, some need diagrams and mind maps, while others enjoy chopping and changing.'

Cashmore says dedication is needed to remain focused. 'Unless you're brilliant at passing exams, it's almost impossible to fit in enough study to pass with flying colours,' she says. 'And it only suits people who don't need others around to share the highs and lows; if you only work well when you can compare your progress with that of others, studying at home really wouldn't suit.'

However, it's still feasible to pass exams first time. 'I completed my Part 2 exams in three sets of two papers, passing each one first time,' reports Cashmore. 'This took a great deal more determination - partly because the level of study was greater, but mainly because I was doing a mentally demanding day job; the last thing I wanted to do when I came home was study.'

Commitment on the part of the student is often not the only requirement - friends and family also need to understand the demands created by self-study. As ACCA Qualification student Ronnie Shumba, a self-studier in South Africa, says: 'It's important to set a timetable and stick to it, but it is also advisable to create rules in the house for your study time to avoid interference.'

Know what you're aiming at, says Hudson: 'It's important to set yourself a goal for completing your studies. If you don't, it's easy to start deferring some of your exams and end up drifting off-course completely.'

Self-motivation is critical. According to Clive Bullen, a BPP tutor, the absence of the stimuli provided in a classroom environment by tutors and fellow students needs to be taken into account. 'To a certain extent, you need to be able to internalise,' he says. 'You can't just read; you have to think through the text to understand it by yourself,' he explains. 'You also have to be fairly visual, as you're not listening to a lecture.'

Taking it slow

Bullen even advises taking fewer papers at each sitting – for instance, attempting two where you might have gone for three if you were learning in the classroom, given the time needed to read, revise and practise with past papers.

And in regions where there are fewer ACCA recognised tuition providers, planning ahead is essential. Ganga Pillai, an ACCA student based in New Zealand, says: 'I always order the latest texts and study kits as soon as they become available, and start reading the texts and practising exam questions three or four months before the exams.'

There can be advantages in taking longer to pass exams, as Pearson testifies: 'By the time it gets to the higher level exams, I think I'll have built up a lot more practical experience, so will be better able to understand the application of study material in the real-life situations I see in my job.'

Studying ACCA at home doesn't necessarily mean missing out on tutors' hints and tips. Sue Thistlethwaite, a tutor at Marcus Evans, says: 'Students might not get a feel for what's important and what's not, so they end up reading a lot of surplus material. We therefore supply screen captures from classroom sessions, so that home learners can see exactly what the tutor has highlighted and worked through in class.

'We also send them classroom course notes and recommend they focus their studies on these, rather than reading study texts from cover to cover. They can then dip into the study texts to supplement their understanding, cutting down on the amount of study required.'

Get online

Many self-studiers say they just couldn't perform as effectively without the internet. 'Online access is almost essential to progressing fast with self-study,' says Poria. 'You can be much more interactive. Textbooks are incredibly passive - you can't ask them what they mean; whereas if you're online, you can ask questions and do masses of research. And there are so many excellent websites out there for students to use - for instance, the PwC site has loads of free resources on IFRS.'

But that doesn't make self-study impossible without the internet. 'It's a question of getting hold of the right kind of textbook,' says Poria. 'With the right textbooks, studying at home should be fine, even if students opt for longer texts. And it should even still be possible to do between two and four papers at a time.' But, she warns: 'You're likely to have to commit to more study time - for every classroom hour, you probably need two, possibly three hours with self-study.'

Let's talk

A big advantage of being online is the ability to discuss things with other students, although this doesn't suit every kind of paper.

'Forums are more useful for discursive subjects, rather than numerical ones,' says Thistlethwaite. 'For Professional level papers, such as Paper P3, Business Analysis, students would probably find it helpful to exchange views on questions or model answers.'

Muhammad Assad Niazi, an ACCA student in Saudi Arabia, says many students who feel they couldn't cope with self-study should consider the benefits of forums. 'When I get stuck, I post my query and usually get a reply within a few hours. As well as helping with my studies, it also gives me a chance to talk to fellow students, which prevents boredom building up. And I can pick up exam tips and even find study partners with whom I can synchronise my studies.'

But Clive Bullen of BPP sounds a note of caution: 'One of the dangers of forums is that you can't rely on the answers posted as much as on a response from a tutor - nor are answers guaranteed to come back within 24 or 48 hours; you may have to wait days or even weeks for a reply.'

Poria believes many students hold back from forums because they assume the question they want to ask is silly. 'They end up e-mailing facilitators privately instead,' she says. 'I'd suggest that students who feel this way set up two separate logins - one for situations where they're supremely confident, and another for other occasions. Once you build your confidence, you'll realise that there's no such thing as a dumb question - and for every question you ask that you may be embarrassed about, there will be plenty of others out there who want to know the same thing.'

Give it a try?

The demands of self-study may appear more rigorous and require greater time management than regular classroom study. But with appropriate commitment and a tactical approach, the results can be just as rewarding.

Pillai says that while he would appreciate the face-to-face support of tutors and fellow students, he's developed valuable skills as a result of learning at home: 'It's made me more self-reliant, which has flowed through to my work, where I've taught myself aspects of my job where I've had no training.'

As Rabia Bawany, a former self-studier and now ACCA affiliate, says: 'It boosts your confidence; it gives the feeling that you did it all by yourself.'

Calum Robson is a freelance journalist