How To Read An ACCA Examiner’s Report (And Why Almost Nobody Does)
There is a document published after every ACCA sitting, for every paper, written by the person responsible for the exam, that tells you in plain English exactly what candidates got wrong and what would have scored better.
It is free. It is on the ACCA website. It takes twenty minutes to read.
Almost no student reads it.
That is one of the strangest facts in ACCA preparation. Students will pay for extra question banks and watch the same lecture three times, while ignoring a document in which the examiner effectively hands over the marking rationale. This article explains where to find examiner reports, how to read one properly, and how to turn it into marks.
Where to find them
Go to the ACCA website and open the study support resources section under Students. Select the ACCA Qualification, then choose your exam. Alongside the syllabus and study guide you will find past exams, specimen exams, technical articles and the examiner reports.
Read the last four. That covers roughly a year of sittings, which is enough to see what repeats and what was a one-off.
Read four reports for your paper before you attempt your first mock. Not the day before the exam — before you start practising, so that everything you write afterwards is shaped by what you learned.
How a report is structured
Most reports follow a similar shape. Knowing the shape tells you where to spend your attention.
Section | What it contains | How much attention |
|---|---|---|
General comments | Overall performance, common themes, time management | High — this is where the repeated failures live |
Section A and B commentary | Which objective questions were answered poorly and why | Medium — useful for spotting weak syllabus areas |
Question-by-question analysis | Each constructed response requirement, what was expected, what candidates did | Highest — this is the marking rationale |
Sample answers and commentary | Extracts of answers with the examiner explaining the marks | Highest — read these twice |
Conclusion and advice | Guidance for future candidates | High — short, blunt and frequently ignored |
How to read one properly
Reading an examiner report passively achieves nothing. Read it with a pen and a specific method.
Step 1: Read the general comments first, and write down every complaint
Not a summary. The actual complaints, one per line. You will end up with a list of six to ten items.
Step 2: Do the same for the other three reports
Now compare your four lists. The items that appear on three or four lists are not observations — they are the structural weaknesses of every cohort that sits your paper, and they will be true of your script too unless you have specifically trained them out.
Step 3: Convert each repeated complaint into an instruction
A complaint is a description. An instruction is something you can do. This is the step that turns reading into marks.
Typical examiner complaint | Your instruction |
|---|---|
Candidates listed points rather than explaining them | For any requirement that says explain, write the point, then a sentence of why, then a sentence applying it to the scenario |
Candidates ignored the scenario and wrote generic answers | Before writing, underline three facts from the scenario and make sure each one appears in the answer |
Candidates did not answer the requirement as set | Write the requirement verb at the top of the answer and check it before moving on |
Time was poorly allocated, with the final requirement rushed | Allocate minutes by marks before you start writing, and stop when the time is up regardless of completeness |
Workings were not referenced to the answer | Label every working and reference it in the narrative |
Step 4: Read the sample answers with the commentary
This is the closest you will ever get to watching an examiner mark. Do not just read the strong answer. Read the weak one and identify why it lost marks, because your script is far more likely to resemble the weak answer than the strong one.
What examiner reports consistently say
Across papers and across sittings, a small number of themes recur with remarkable consistency. If you take nothing else from this article, take these.
- Knowledge is rarely the problem. Reports very seldom say candidates did not know the standard or the technique. They say candidates knew it and could not apply it.
- Requirement verbs are ignored. Explain, discuss, evaluate, recommend and calculate demand different things. Answering all of them the same way costs marks in every sitting.
- Scenarios are underused. Marks are attached to applying knowledge to the specific facts given. Generic answers score generically.
- Time is misallocated. Candidates over-write early requirements and abandon later ones, losing easy marks at the end of the paper.
- Professional skills marks are left on the table at Strategic Professional level, because candidates do not realise how they are earned.
A worked habit you can start this week
Take the most recent examiner report for your paper. Take one constructed response question from that sitting. Attempt it under timed conditions without looking at anything. Then read the examiner’s commentary on that exact question and mark your own answer against what the examiner says was expected — not against the model answer, against the commentary.
You will find the experience uncomfortable. That discomfort is the entire value. It is the closest you can get to seeing your own work through a marker’s eyes without actually having a marker.
It is not a full substitute for having your script evaluated by someone trained to do it, because you still cannot see your own blind spots. But it is free, it takes ninety minutes, and it will teach you more than another lecture.
The point
The examiner has already told you what to do. The information is published, official and specific to your paper. The students who read it are competing against a majority who do not, which is one of the few genuinely free advantages available in this qualification.
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Frequently asked questions
Add these with FAQPage schema markup.
What is an ACCA examiner report?
It is a document published by ACCA after each exam sitting, for each paper, in which the examining team comments on candidate performance — what was expected in each question, what candidates actually did, and where marks were lost.
Where can I find ACCA examiner reports?
On the ACCA website, in the study support resources area under the Students section. Select the ACCA Qualification and then your exam to see past exams, specimen exams, technical articles and examiner reports.
How many examiner reports should I read?
Four, covering roughly the last year of sittings. Reading four lets you see which comments repeat, and the repeated comments are the ones that matter.
When should I read the examiner report?
Before you start practising questions, not the night before the exam. The purpose is to shape how you write, and that takes weeks of practice to change.
Do examiner reports tell you what will be in the next exam?
No. They comment on the sitting that has already happened. What they reveal is how answers are marked and what the examining team expects — which is far more durable than trying to predict topics.
What are the most common mistakes students make in Accountancy exams?
| Common mistakes include: |
| Ignoring working notes |
| Writing answers without proper format |
| Calculation errors in partnership questions |
| Missing adjustments |
| Avoiding these alone can increase scores by 10–15 marks. |
How should I revise Accountancy one day before the exam?
| One day before the exam, revise only: |
| Formats (Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, P&L Appropriation) |
| Important journal entries |
| Ratio formulas |
| Adjustment list |
| Avoid starting new chapters to prevent confusion. |
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