CFAB: Hell Semester

Hello!!!

My 5th semester is finally over!! Thanks to my wonderful classmates that always help me, I successfully passed all the 6 papers. Yippee!!

WARNING: This post might scare some of the CFAB-ers or maybe future CFAB-ers away, but please don't. Do have a strong heart! It is to give an insight to CFAB-ers' life, especially this 5th semester. (DISCLAIMER: This situation do not apply to all batches, but probably to some of the batches who have a "hell" timetable like my batch.)

By "hell" timetable, what I meant was this:

2 main papers, 1 additional subjects, 2 Powerpoint class, 3 Excel class, 3 Business Research Methodology class, 3 industry visit days and a total of 9 tests

In addition to that, there are Work-Based Learning (WBL) matters to take care of (which I will cover in my next post). All of these have to be completed in 2 and the half months (including one week Hari Raya holidays and weekends, so the exact days are probably less than 2 months). It might seem nothing to those who do not experience these, but to those who did, it is a one hell of semester.

So, why I said it is a hell semester is because I didn't get to have much sleep (I think most of my classmates do suffer lack of sleep too). Besides, because of all the WBL matters, we were all in nerve-wrecking situations (prepare resume, waiting for phone calls, prepare for interview, and all those stuff @.@). Also, we had too much tests in 2 months (how should we understand so much things in 2 months?!). We were basically panic especially when the exam was near. And as a result, these 2 subjects have the highest record of failure among all other tests. We managed to laugh it of and thankfully, we did quite well in our finals (100% passes in Assurance paper, another free lunch!). As we had too much in our mind, it burned our energy so much that some of us came late to class, fell asleep in class and even after class, some went straight to bed, some of them even resorted to skipping class, which have never happened in the past semesters.

While we were already in a mess, A-level batch was in an even worse situation. By A-level batches, they are the students who have completed A-level or qualified foundation courses and continue to pursue ICAEW. They still have to complete the 6 papers and of course, WBL too. What make the A-level batches different are that they do not have to take any additional subjects (Check out ICAEW overview for more info) and unlike CFAB-ers, they have to complete 2 ICAEW papers before going for an internship. So, this means that they will be going for WBL the same time as my batch. Their timetable, however, is from the deepest hell.

Although they only have 2 main papers, their textbook is twice the thickness of CFAB textbooks (imagine 2 subjects...) and look at the full day class (do they even get to rest?)! There was a time where I managed to have a conversation with one of the students from A-level. The conversation made me hesitate to continue this course as their passing rate is not high (what I know is only the test passing rate, not the finals). 

As you can see, our class priority and their class priority are different. We were more worried about WBL matters and the exams we managed to finish them of by last minute studying (well, most of us do...) and for them, they were more worried about exams as compared to WBL matters as ICAEW final exam is definitely not a laughing matter. Also, compare to our class, that are mostly full scholarship recipients that allow us to fail once and still have the scholarship, the A-level batch do not have it. With the value of Ringgit falling, failing a subject is EXTREMELY expensive (CFAB and ICAEW papers have to be paid in British Pound). Therefore, they could not afford to fail.

Well, true! Ours are actually not that bad. It is, when compare to other semesters. It was the worst semester among the semesters. While it was really busy, we (my class, I don't know the A-level batch) still have life. I still managed to read quite a few mangas, volunteered in ICAEW high tea (though that is after the busy days), ... So, I can't really say it is a hell though. It is probably just the beginning of a hell semester. I can't imagine ICAEW life..

Anyway, this sem is over and it is now my time to have a break. Good work to all my classmates. For those who haven't gone through this hell, please pray so that Sun-TES do not arrange this kind of timetable. Good Luck!