Accountancy training firm, First Intuition, has reviewed their pass rates and worldwide results to determine how students are finding AAT’s new syllabus, Qualifications 2022, since came into place in September 2022. The data reveals that far fewer ‘borderline’ results are being awarded than before and level 3 is proving to be notably challenging.

Ali Ryder, AAT Production Manager at First Intuition comments that “students either know their stuff and pass strongly, or they don’t have the depth of understanding required and fail badly.

Qualifications 2022 is a fantastic qualification which is much better suited to the skills that are required of an accounting technician in today’s modern world. However, there is no getting away from the fact that it is a harder qualification than its predecessor.”

Since the launch of the new syllabus in September 2022, over 3,000 students from across the First Intuition network have sat a Q2022 assessment. First Intuition has since been monitoring student experiences and results, as well as the worldwide interim pass rates that were recently released by the AAT for some, but not all, of the units:

 

Assessment name	Worldwide AAT pass rate
Introduction to Bookkeeping (ITBK)	86.60%
Principles of Costing (PCTN)	68.80%
Principles of Bookkeeping Controls (POBC)	72.50%
Business Awareness (BUAW)	61.90%
Financial Accounting: Preparing Financial Statements (FAPS)	58.80%
Tax Processes for Businesses (TPFB)	52.90%
Applied Management Accounting (AMAC)	67.80%
Drafting and Interpreting Financial Statements (DAIF)	71.80%

 

The AAT has not released pass rates for the remaining units yet because they do not have sufficient data, but First Intuition expects full examiner reports to be released later this year.

While some of the results look promising (ITBK, POBC, AMAC and DAIF are all on par with their AQ2016 equivalents), the level 3 units (BUAW, FAPS and TPFB) are proving to be very challenging.

Ali reveals unit-by-unit comparisons based on First Intuition’s students’ results:

Level 2

The pass rate for Principles of Bookkeeping Controls is noticeably lower than the first unit, Introduction to Bookkeeping. This is a similar story to the AQ2016 equivalent units.

Level 3

In the old level 3, the Advanced Bookkeeping unit and the Management Accounting: Costing unit were always challenging, but the two smaller units, Indirect Tax and Final Accounts Preparation, were relatively straightforward.

The new Financial Accounting: Preparing Financial Statements unit has combined the content of two units into one. If students are not confident in basic bookkeeping from level 2, it is a challenge to get them up to speed at the same time as covering all of the new content.

The new Tax Processes for Businesses is at the other end of the scale in terms of difficulty compared with Indirect Tax. As the worldwide pass rate demonstrates, this is now a challenging tax unit that focuses on some highly technical areas for this level of qualification.

Level 4

The AAT has not released pass rates for Internal Accounting Systems and Controls or Audit and Assurance yet, but these are regularly coming up in conversations about the challenges of the new syllabus.

“At First Intuition, we are very supportive of the evolution of the AAT qualification. It is more relevant, it prepares students better for progressing to one of the Chartered qualifications, and it should produce accounting professionals with broader technical, commercial and professional skills. However, there is no getting away from the fact that it is a harder qualification.” – Ali Ryder, AAT Production Manager at First Intuition

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