Help! What Do I Do With The ACCA SBL Pre-Seen?

The ACCA SBL Examiner's Reports emphasise that the pre-seen material, given two weeks ahead of the exam, is NOT intended to be memorised or over-analysed and students don’t need to do extensive research about the industry.

So why then, do students even get the pre-seen material and what should you do with it?

It’s largely due to the fact that on exam day, the SBL exam is now slightly shorter at 3 hours 15 minutes. 
By pre-reading and having idea of the focus of the business, the industry and what issues the business or industry might be facing, students gain a head-start when it comes to time management during the exam.

By giving you time to read up about the business ahead of your exam day, it’s more reflective of real workplace situations. You wouldn’t be asked to offer professional advice on a business you hadn’t had time to research, in a real world scenario.

The Pre-Seen therefore provides you with key contextual information that will help you make informed decisions when you finally get into the exam, view the rest of the exam exhibits and the questions on the case study.

All of this is definitely not to say that you shouldn’t bother reading the pre-seen thoroughly and be familiar with it.

Richard Clarke, aCOWtancy founder and your expert ACCA tutor, will be offering his thoughts and insights into the December Pre-Seen material in our online SBL Classroom. So look out for this if you’re one of our Classroom students.

Make sure you download the Pre-Seen direct from ACCA (and we’ll also be adding it to our Classroom so you have it all in one convenient place when you study) on Tuesday November 19th.

Good Luck with your final month of revision!

Remember, SBL is a really practical exam; it’s all about application of skills and demonstration of those all important professional skills.