PREPARING Level 1 ACCOUNTING
STUDENTS FOR EXTERNALS
The externals are daunting for many Level 1 students who have little experience
of formal exams. The pressure of writing in a time limit, combined with the
perception that externals are harder than internals, put a lot of students off. It is
therefore important that we encourage and prepare them as well as we can.
The time spent preparing students between finishing your teaching/learning
programme and exam leave is critical so it is worth putting in place a structured
revision programme.
Preparation falls into three areas:
 Formal exam etiquette
 Revision of content
 Examination technique
FORMAL EXAM ETIQUETTE
Sitting at a desk for up to three hours of continuous writing and not being able
to communicate to others is foreign to even the most prepared of students. The
school’s PN or Exam Centre Manager will probably discuss examination
behaviour in a formal assembly. These rules/expectations are likely to be more
readily understood if you talk students through what to expect and how to
behave. Walk them through the whole procedure from before, during and after
the exam.
You could discuss the following:
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Where the exam will be held and how the room is set up, how seating is predetermined, etc.
The fact that supervisors are not teachers so cannot give subject-help.
The equipment that is needed for Accounting (this information comes from
assessment specifications) ~ in the case of Level 1, simply a blue or black
pen (though a spare is useful) and a calculator.
The number of booklets they should expect in their plastic pack. It might be
that students were originally entered for all three externals but they have
actually only been taught two ~ ensure students are clear about which ones
they are sitting; they should check standard number and/or its name.
Get them to consider the order they will attempt standards in (suggest most
confident first in case time is an issue).
How to manage their time, particularly if they are sitting all three externals.
Stationery they must not use in the exam and why:
o Markers use red pen
o Check markers use green
o If pencil is used the paper cannot be sent for reconsideration
o If white-out fluid is used paper cannot be sent for reconsideration
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What to do if they need more paper, pen runs out etc.
What to do if they panic (breathe deeply!)
What to do if they make a mistake.
What to do when all papers have been completed ~ re-read, ensure anything
not to be marked has been crossed out, ensure answers on spare back pages
have been numbered and that there is reference to these additional answers
within the original writing spaces
While your general advice for students will be to ‘have a go’ at all of the
externals for which they are entered, some students will need a one-on-one
discussion with you. Talk through with individuals the standards they will
attempt and the pros and cons of a void script. Discuss the difference between a
SNA (standard not attempted) result and a NA (not achieved) result.
Make sure students know the credits they have in Accounting so far and how
many more they need for their certificate. Target also the students eligible for a
Merit or Excellence endorsed certificate (14 credits at this level of which at least
one standard must be external). Discuss how the externals can contribute
towards literacy credits. [See Accounting Level 1 Record document on the
national social sciences wikispace.1]
If your school has a culture of students not turning up for external examinations
try to think laterally. Some teachers try to get them to attend with the promise
of a treat afterwards. Others check who turns up for the exam and ring home if
they do not. They still have half an hour to get there! Ensure students know they
will be able to borrow a calculator from you if they neglect to bring one on exam
day.
REVISING CONTENT and PRACTISING SKILLS
Revision in class time
We tend to economise on photocopying so often reduce past papers to A4
landscape, and sometimes do not copy the front cover or spare pages at the
back. Ensure students see these ~ project them on screen or hand out some
actual past papers.
Use checklists of each standard’s topics to guide whole-class and students’ own
revision.
Go through the advice of past examiners using assessment reports and
annotated exemplar papers from the NZQA site.
Plan a balance of ‘one size fits all’ revision (such as past papers) and
differentiated revision based on the specific needs of individuals. Students could
identify their own revision needs, though check they do not only opt for easy
revision such as definitions. Your knowledge of students’ strengths and
weaknesses from their in-class work and their school exams can guide your
1
Secondarysocialscience.wikispaces.com ~ click on Accounting tab
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selection of revision material. Students with similar needs could work in revision
groups.
Individual revision at home
Emphasise to students that they will need to do some of their own individual
revision if they are to succeed. Discuss issues here such as:
 How to set up a study timetable
 Where to study (consider light, distractions, able to leave books out, etc)
 When to study (morning or night person, set treats to aim towards)
 How to study (revision cards, star diagrams, peer or parent testing) –
consider using quizlets for this. See if you can find some at
http://quizlet.com/subject/ncea-accounting/ or have students create their
own.
 The extent to which you are prepared to help them (email for queries or if
you will mark questions they try)
Emphasise the need to both revise content and practise skills. The former is
easier than the latter!
CONTENT
It is important that students use precise accounting language. Past
assessment reports state:
 Candidates who were assessed as Not Achieved typically … used vague or inappropriate
terminology.
 Candidates must ensure that they use appropriate accounting language in the correct context.
The use of words such as ‘worth, owns, things, everything, listed, put-in, value’ etc should be
avoided and replaced with appropriate terms.
 Candidates who wrote the definition (usually rote-learned) of the financial element or concept in
their answer, either in full as a separate statement or using the correct words as part of their
explanation, tended to write clearer, more accurate answers and were rewarded for this. Those
who did not do this tended to miss out a key characteristic or component of the definition, or
wrote vague, ambiguous answers that could not be given credit.
In teaching 1.1, 1.3 and 1.5 teachers will have used the Level 1 appendix as a
guide to concepts, terminology, and statement format.
Students must be aware that the context for Level 1 Accounting is ‘small
entities’, specifically sole proprietorships or incorporated or unincorporated
community organisations. The 2011 assessment report states: It was concerning the
number of candidates who provided inappropriate users for a sole proprietorship that were beyond
the scope of the standard (1.1), e.g. shareholders and partners …
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AS 1.3 ~ Full financial statements will be assessed. Headings in financial
statements may not always be provided. The Statement of Financial Position
is the terminology that will be used in the assessment. A resource booklet will
Sue McVeigh, October 2013
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be provided.
AS 1.5 ~ A resource booklet will be provided.
EXAMINATION TECHNIQUE
It is important to tell students that knowing content is often only part of the
battle. It means nothing unless you they can use it to answer the question.
Stress the importance of attempting every question. Past assessment reports
state:
 The majority of the students who achieved at the higher level completed all questions
 Candidates who were assessed as Not Achieved for this standard typically … attempted an
insufficient number of questions.
Go over the layout of past papers so that students know how many questions to
expect.
Look at the space available for answers and how this guides students as to the
length of answers. In saying this, ensure they know not to feel obliged to fill the
space with waffle. The amount of space left for answers is considered to be
sufficient for excellence level answers. Extra space at the back of answer
booklets should not need to be used unless a candidate’s handwriting is
exceptionally large or if an answer is crossed out and re-attempted.
Ensure students have a clear understanding of the range of academic
language/command words used in Level 1 Accounting exams. There are
command word documents and a student activity (the cake!) on the wikispace.
Convince students that it is worth investing time in planning answers before
starting them. They can ask the supervisor for extra paper for this purpose (this
is probably better than using the extra pages at the end of the exam booklet).
Model on the board/screen how YOU would attack a question.
Demonstrate how bullet points are designed to guide student responses. While
not a specific comment about Level 1 Accounting, a past assessment report
states:
The majority of the students who achieved at the higher level … effectively linked the terms given in
the question and used the scaffolded bullet points to develop their responses further. Conversely,
Candidates who did not achieve did not use the terms provided in the questions for scaffolding
purposes.
Last year’s assessment report advises: candidates need to use the resource material
provided as their starting point to develop their explanation.
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