Failed CA P2 twice – anyone have a structured approach that actually worked?
Two failed attempts on P2 now, 52% and then 54%. I understand the concepts when I'm studying but the exam questions seem to require a different kind of application than what I'm practicing. It's genuinely demoralizing at this point.
My main issues are group accounts questions and complex consolidation adjustments. Single entity financial statements are fine, I can do those in my sleep. The minute we get into subsidiaries with partial disposals or mid-year acquisitions my marks collapse completely.
I'm spending about 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. I've been at this for 6 weeks and the third attempt is in 10 weeks. Should I be doing more past papers? I feel like I keep reviewing theory instead of grinding through questions under timed conditions.
Any CA candidates who failed P2 multiple times and eventually passed – what actually changed in your approach?
Partial disposals broke me as well. What helped was drawing out the group structure for every question before touching the numbers. Sounds slow but it prevents the ownership percentage errors that cost the most marks.
Past papers under timed conditions is the answer. I failed twice too and the third pass came after I stopped reading theory and just did papers, marked them hard, and wrote out exactly why each wrong answer was wrong. Theory revision on its own doesn't build exam technique.
Also worth checking whether your mock exams are at the right difficulty level. Some prep providers pitch easier questions than the real exam. The official past papers are harder and better practice than most third-party materials.
Ten weeks is enough time if you restructure now. I'd suggest 80% question practice, 20% reviewing specific topics you keep missing. Failing questions and learning from them beats reading notes you already know.
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