Exams can be a daunting prospect, especially if you are not used to doing computer-based exams (CBE). ACCA Global provides students with a free on-demand resource where they can practice completing a live exam.  

In this article, we discuss how you can get the best out of this CBE practice platform by guiding you through its uses and benefits. 

What is the purpose of this platform?

Simply put, it is an exam support tool for ACCA students. It allows you to get question practice by setting, assigning and marking exam content.  

How do you get access to the platform?

You can access this platform by logging into the ACCA website and your MyACCA account using your unique username and password.  

What benefit is there to using the CBE Practice Platform?

The obvious answer to this question is that it allows you to become familiar with the format of a mock exam and practice completing the answers of ACCA exams.  

However, there are other benefits that make this platform a good idea:

• Gives you the experience of booking an exam and working through the prompts given on the platform
• Overcoming nervousness about what a CBE is like and whether you will be able to understand the instructions and use the exam platform.
• Teaches you how to troubleshoot error messages that you might encounter - this is a huge psychological advantage - you don’t want to encounter error messages for the first time during an exam
• The self-mark functionality gives you an immediate insight into your strengths and development areas while you still have the time to do something about the gaps.

Any help you can get before the exam is a bonus!

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Features of the ACCA practice platform

From the home page of the platform you will be able to do the following:

- Access material and self-assign material

Access material assigned to you by your ACCA tutor. You also will be able to self-assign material from the drop-down catalogue on the right hand side of the screen. This lists all core skills and strategic professional units and exams.

Find specimen exams, practice exams, and past exams and request different exam versions depending on the location of your studies. For a more detailed explanation of each exam, you can access the ACCA website. 

- Manage your workspace

In the CBE, you may be required to use multiple windows. These include the word processor function to answer the written part of the question and the spreadsheet window to answer the calculations part of the question. At the same time, you can have the scratch pad and the calculator window open. The scratch pad is essentially a place for you to make rough notes or try things out as you proceed through the exam.

All of these windows can become confusing, and learning to work with multiple windows and minimise them and call them up again is a skill that students don’t often think they need. However, every minute counts in an exam, and you don’t want to waste precious time muddling as you try to get your windows organised!

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- Blank workspace

All strategic professional modules have a blank workspace attached to them. The value of this is the ability to practice using the word processor and spreadsheet function on the platform to complete your past exam questions.

- Online scratchpad

For applied skills objective questions, the practice platform allows you to practice using the scratchpad and calculator functions together. The scratch pad will allow you to organise your thoughts and write down formulas, reducing mental stress.

- Get results 

You can get your practice exam results directly off the platform and use this to assess any gaps that you have. You can also keep track of the progress you are making with your qualification. Another interesting feature of this platform is that it allows you to track the performance of fellow students, giving you an idea of your progress vs. the greater study group. You will also be able to contact students via forums to discuss questions.

• ACCA has Tutorial Videos about the features of the practice platform, which are very helpful. Give them a try!
• ACCA also provides a PDF user manual to help you work through the practice platform. 

A final word

This has been our short guide to a very useful and, dare we say, critical part of your ACCA exam preparation. We hope that you see the value of this platform. All the best with your ACCA exams!

‍VIVA is an award-winning online accountancy tuition provider and an ACCA Silver Learning Partner, with nearly 1,000,000 lecture views to date and a 4.9 out of 5 student rating on Trustpilot.  We know what it takes to get students through their qualifications fast, and cost-effectively.  Explore our ACCA courses here!