ACCA guide
The best order to sit your ACCA papers.
ACCA gives you flexibility on exam order within each level, but the sequence you choose changes how hard the qualification feels. Pair papers well and each sitting reinforces the next. Pair badly and you'll be relearning the same material twice. Here's how to sequence Applied Skills and Strategic Professional.
Applied Skills — a sensible order
A common winning order: LW → TX → FR → AA → PM → FM. LW is the highest pass rate and gets you a quick win. TX benefits from being sat while your law knowledge is fresh. FR is the technical backbone for AA, so sit them close together. PM and FM share management-accounting foundations and pair well in one sitting.
Bundling papers per sitting
Two Applied Skills per sitting is the sweet spot for most candidates studying alongside work. Three is possible if the pair share content (e.g. FR + AA, or PM + FM). Avoid mixing a heavy written paper (AA) with a heavy numerical paper (FM) in the same sitting unless you have 20+ study hours per week available.
Strategic Professional — a sensible order
Sit SBL and SBR in the same sitting or back-to-back — both are 4-hour case-study papers and technique transfers between them. Then pick two Options papers. AFM pairs with earlier FM knowledge; APM with PM; ATX with TX; AAA with AA and FR. Do not leave your Options papers until years after their Applied Skills base.
When to break the recommended order
Sit a paper earlier if your day job covers it — an audit trainee should sit AA early while the material is live at work. Sit a paper later if you have exemptions that leave you rusty on foundations (e.g. no recent tax exposure — do TX later).
FAQs
- Can I sit ACCA papers in any order within a level?
- Yes, within Applied Skills and within Strategic Professional. You must complete Applied Knowledge before starting Applied Skills, and Applied Skills before Strategic Professional.
- How many ACCA papers can I sit per sitting?
- Up to four per sitting, but ACCA and most tutors recommend a maximum of two for working candidates.
- Which ACCA paper should I sit first?
- LW is the most common first choice — highest pass rate, self-contained syllabus, quick confidence win.
- Is it better to sit ACCA exams together or spread out?
- Related pairs (FR+AA, PM+FM) reinforce each other in a single sitting. Unrelated papers are safer spread across two sittings.
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