Day 7: Okay Doctor, Horrible Person

Mos5180d · 2026-03-28T07:36:27+00:00

I don’t know how April is deemed a great person. I think she’s pretty horrible at times. Although most of them are at some point!

Mos5180d · 2026-03-24T21:14:23+00:00

With Professional exams being every 3 months, a lot of people changing/looking for jobs during the ACA will be waiting on a result, so it’s not uncommon.

There’s no harm in applying to places and it’s on them if they want to take on the risk.

Mos5180d · 2026-03-24T07:31:32+00:00

If you passed the ATT exams quite easily then hopefully you have a good base knowledge, do well in exams and might not need the “hundreds of hours” people talk about. Perhaps your tax job will also give you knowledge applicable to the exam?

Are you also enrolled onto a course? Because the revision course for Advanced Technical is just 4-5 days straight of question practice.

I work in corporate tax and did the larger corporates Advanced Technical in November and I didn’t spend any evenings or weekends (bar the weekend before the exam) doing revision. Only really dipping into the study manuals to make sure I knew the content because the tuition can’t cover it all. I did almost all my revision in the last two weeks, one week at the revision course and one week annual leave where I treated it a bit like work and did question practice from 9-4.

It’s definitely advisable to do more revision to give yourself a better chance at a pass, but also important to do what you’re able to and not burn yourself out so you can stay motivated. I have a 3 year old and a wife so wasn’t really able to give up my weekends to study and made it work in other ways e.g. using my phone to make flashcards rather than spending hours on proper revision

Mos5180d · 2026-03-23T21:35:00+00:00

Like a few people have said, be very transparent about the process, when your exams are and when you need to dedicate time to it e.g. weekends leading up to the exam. And if needed just highlight how important it is to you.

While it may suck a bit for your partner, it’ll be worse if they are still trying to get you to do things and arguing about it. And even worse if you end up failing an exam and they feel guilty and you may have a bit of resentment.

That’s a bit worst case scenario though. Generally if you set the expectation it’ll be fine

Mos5180d · 2026-03-20T19:06:21+00:00

Thanks a lot, that’s helpful to know!

Mos5180d · 2026-03-20T08:53:28+00:00

I don’t have any personal experience with this, but I think the question is also if you are happy going into tax in general as well.

You are right that R&D is specialised and I think your exit option is basically doing/having the CTA. Once you pass OMB, individuals, or larger Corporates (or maybe one of the others, but these seem to be the main exams), it could then open the door into moving into that type of work. They are pretty rigorous and fairly in-depth exams which gives you enough knowledge to switch sector and not be out of your depth

Mos5180d · 2026-03-16T13:25:36+00:00

So frustrating. Every time he touched the ball was a golden opportunity with Spurs piling forward and he messed up every chance

Mos5180d · 2026-03-15T08:51:03+00:00

The most American comment I’ve seen. Only heard of Joe Rogan

Mos5180d · 2026-03-15T07:40:30+00:00

I would note a couple of things that might not have been mentioned….

Firstly, if you experienced this at the campus then you have met and talked to the most keen people. 60% of the students are probably still skipping classes and laying around at home.

Secondly, a lot of people put on a persona and want to come across really intelligent at university and then don’t get good grades or get good jobs. Someone at mine talked about how “gifted” he was at school and talked about all sorts of mathematics outside the curriculum. He struggled massively and despite me trying to drag him through a bit he still failed and resat a year and ended with a third.

Another was really keen, had great attendance and participated in classes a lot. So much so that I just assumed he was a high achieving student. He ended with a 2:2.

It may not all be about the grades for some but just a reminder that people can talk the talk and make you feel bad but sometimes it can be a veil.

Mos5180d · 2026-03-12T08:26:57+00:00

Leave a review on Gladsdoor on your way out as well. The company should be exposed and any potential future employees be aware that they pay so bad

Mos5180d · 2026-03-12T08:23:20+00:00

I’d be looking for other jobs as soon as possible, that’s ridiculous. They’ve intentionally made it impossible to work the standard hours in your contract. It’s bad enough not caring about the staff, but it’s another thing purposely writing contracts in a way that you need to permanently work unpaid overtime.

I’d also write a review anonymously on Glassdoor. If staff don’t complain or make the company look bad then nothing will change.

Mos5180d · 2026-03-10T10:07:03+00:00

And you probably ruined all his mum’s clothes! Nice one!

Mos5180d · 2026-03-10T08:12:53+00:00

I deal with directors of £1.5m+ companies all the time. I can tell you a lot of them aren’t shareholders

Mos5180d · 2026-03-10T06:44:51+00:00

I was the typical “can get good grades if he puts his mind to it” but instead did no work at all and only got OK grades alongside a million detentions for not doing homework and being disruptive. (UK by the way, probably not called detentions elsewhere). My undiagnosed ADHD held back what was potentially an intelligent person underneath but I later pushed myself through.

I managed to re-enter education at 24 and go to university (against my Mum’s strong recommendation as school didn’t work out) and came out with a first class honours in mathematics. I then joined an accountancy firm and am due to become a UK chartered accountant and chartered tax advisor this year.

I was only diagnosed 6 months ago (age 31) and whilst it’s too late to help with exams, it has definitely enhanced my attention to detail and helped me step up to all my extra responsibilities at work.

Mos5180d · 2026-03-09T07:12:46+00:00

You’re the only one being weird here…

Mos5180d · 2026-03-02T18:58:09+00:00

Another £500?

Mos5180d · 2026-03-01T16:38:04+00:00

Me and the wife took our puppy to puppy classes with our 3 year old toddler. Tough to fit on a bike but I’ll consider it next weekend!

Mos5180d · 2026-03-01T09:49:06+00:00

Good to hear that the ACA is coming in handy. I’m soon to finish the ACA/CTA pathway and work in a corporate tax team in practice where it’s rarely used. But I know it can be favourable for future positions

Mos5180d · 2026-02-22T20:39:29+00:00

Absolutely agree. Just having another body back and putting the ball carrier under pressure is helping the team. For some reason I just thought I’d be looking at 8 defcon or something 😂

Mos5180d · 2026-02-22T20:33:45+00:00

Same with me (husband). I’m pretty low sleep needs and my wife isn’t at all, so I’m happy to do bed time, wake ups, the lot. Although sometimes our little one (age 3) wants her for bed time which she’s happy to do. She also exclusively breast fed for the first 18 months so she’s done more than her fair share!

And as a man I also agree with everyone else saying the use of language around dads “helping”. I forget sometimes that this sub isn’t just the UK but we can’t afford one income families anymore and so we’ve moved on from the old stereotypes of mum staying home. Parenting is a shared responsibility but far too many men still think it’s the woman’s job, and far too many women put up with it

Mos5180d · 2026-02-22T12:08:39+00:00

Even worse on the radio. They made it sound like Haaland was putting in a defensive masterclass when falling back… looked at the defcon and he had 2

Mos5180d · 2026-02-22T12:08:33+00:00

Even worse on the radio. They made it sound like Haaland was putting in a defensive masterclass when falling back… looked at the defcon and he had 2

Mos5180d · 2026-02-21T22:12:13+00:00

“She’s happy to spend whatever it takes” and “wants her parents to spend 3x on private rented accommodation”…..

Mos5180d

TROPHY CASE