ACCA DipIFR study plan. Tips and strategies to plan

Apr 26, 2020by Eduyush Team

“To thine own self be true” is an old-fashioned way of saying be honest and see things as they are. Be honest when you develop your study plan. Take a realistic look at your upcoming week. For a busy week, schedule light study, say ten hours; schedule as many as twenty hours of study during a quiet week.

DipIFR study plan

Prepare your Study plan by topics

Examine your study materials. Divide up all materials by exam area, and then further divide them into concepts tested within the exam section. The subtopics can be called chapters, modules, or units. For simplicity, we will call them modules. Count up the number of modules you should study and review. If your materials contain twenty-four modules and you have twelve weeks to go before the exam, you should study two modules per week to complete all twenty-four modules. Notice that it is assumed that you can and will complete two modules per week, right up to the exam date. If you skip a week of study, you must increase your studies during the next week if you want time to take practice exams and have not already included them in your schedule. Make sure to schedule a few extra days.

Bite-size chunks

Research studies show that people learn more quickly when the material is divided into small, manageable study areas. Bits of information are easier to study. Gain confidence working with bite-size areas and noting that progress was made. Another advantage of studying small areas is that this method allows you to utilize a building-block approach. We all know we can’t divide until we master the areas of addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Accounting, like math, keeps building. Use previously mastered techniques to help you learn new accounting information. For example, to understand how to account for liabilities, you must know how to compute net present value. Once you know how to compute present value, bond and lease accounting will be much easier, since the areas begin with the computation of net present value. 

Modules mix

Its a better idea to mix up modules in your study plan. Schedule a tough subject with an easy one. Mix the fun topics with the dry and difficult areas. For example, if you plan to study three modules per week, don’t select three difficult  topics for the same week. Help yourself stick to the plan by picking one difficult area, one area of medium difficulty, and one easy and fun area. An example of a mix of material might be

  • Difficult: Financial Instruments

  • Medium difficulty: —Fixed Assets

  • Easy: —Inventory

Keep around two weeks prior to your exam reserved to practice past question papers and the BPP practice and revision kit. The biggest reason, people fail the exams as per ACCA's examiner's team, is that they dont practice the past papers. We have put a sample study plan at the end of this blog which you can refer to 

Design a plan to succeed

Designing a plan to succeed is so much more fun than designing a plan that on paper looks great, but after one to two weeks, you haven’t accomplished a thing because the plan does not fit your lifestyle. If you are not a morning person, by all means, don’t schedule early morning study times. Plan to spend the late evening hours studying. Incorporate all of the topical areas into your plan. Mastering some areas and leaving other areas untouched could be dangerous. The ACCA Board of Examiners has a way of testing the areas that you didn’t study. Spend time on all subject areas to do your best at learning something about everything. Believe that your plan will be a guide to success. Believe that you can pass the DIPIFR exam.

The table below shows an example of a study plan for the DIPIFR over a three month period.

Module Difficulty level No: times the question has come up in the last 12 papers
Month 1
Revenue Difficult 7
Tangible assets and impairment Medium 7
Intangible assets Medium 4
IASB conceptual framework Easy 2
Taxation Medium 3
Segment Reporting Easy 3
Related party Easy 4
Month 2
Leases Difficult 6
Financial Instruments Difficult 8
Foreign currency Easy 5
Agriculture Easy 4
Employee benefits Medium 2
Earning per share Easy 1
Provisions, contingent liabilities, and asset Medium 6
Month 3
Consolidation Difficult 12
Reporting for SME Easy 1
Mineral Resources and Inventories Easy 2
Share-based payments Medium 8
Accounting for associates Medium 1
Accounting for joint arrangements Easy 1
Presentation of financial statements Easy 3

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