Not every exemption is worth taking
Hannah Whitfield4 min read
You can be exempt from nine papers. Taking all nine is occasionally the wrong decision — here is how to tell.
Exemptions are granted on prior learning, and the arithmetic usually favours taking them: fewer papers, less cost, faster qualification. But an exemption removes an assessment, not a knowledge gap.
The paper worth thinking hardest about is Financial Reporting. FR is the technical spine of SBR at Strategic Professional level. A student exempted from FR on the strength of a degree module sat three years ago frequently arrives at SBR without the consolidation fluency the paper assumes.
A reasonable test: if you could not sit the exemption paper today and pass it, the exemption is deferring work rather than removing it. Sit it, or at minimum work the question bank for it before moving up a level.
Written by
Hannah Whitfield
Tutor at The Ilum. Teaches the papers they write about, and marks them.