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Tips & Tricks | Surviving Test Week
Test week - the phrase alone is enough to send shivers down the spine of any undergraduate accounting student.
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Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting (PGDA)
Study Tracker
Stay on top of your Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting (PGDA) studies and ensure you're prepped for your Initial Test of Competence (ITC) with our free study tracker.
Getting Started
Using the PGDA Study Tracker
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This PGDA study tracker is the brainchild of Lourens Du Plessis, one of the top performing students at UJ last year. Lourens used this study tracker to stay on top of his studies and felt it was a tool that all PGDA candidates could benefit from.
To use the tracker, first navigate to the tab of the PGDA subject that you are currently revising. The 'rep' column indicates the number of times the relevant unit being studied has been revised.
Simply enter the date you had performed the relevant revision, as well as a theory and question rating for the PGDA unit of work being covered - this comes in hand down the line.
During the year:
Planning for Test Week
As you've progressively added your theory and question ratings to your PGDA Study Tracker, come test week you'll have an average ranking for both the theory and questions of each study unit. The PGDA Study Tracker will indicate priority areas by colouring areas scoring at 50% in orange and below 50% in red.
Based on your current rankings, you can then start allocating time to both the theory and question revision work. The PGDA Study Tracker will then indicate the time allocated for the theory and question work as well as the total time allocated to the relevant PGDA subject.
Still Unsure?
Hear from Lourens
The study tracker is easy to use, and you should be able to dive right in. However, if you'd like to see how you can maximise its use, you can hear from Lourens explaining it below:
Tracking my progress helped me feel more in control during my studies and reduced my stress over exam periods.
I trust this will help you similarly.
Lourens Du Plessis
Study & Success Synergies
Some Frequently Asked Questions
What is PGDA?
The Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting (PGDA) is a one-year programme covering the following four subjects: Financial Reporting, Management Accounting, Taxation and Auditing. The PGDA is designed to prepare students for the ITC (Initial Test of Competence) set by SAICA.
How long is PGDA?
PGDA is a one year programme. While you can do PGDA over two years at certain institutions, you are still required to write and pass all four subjects in a single year.
What does the 2 year PGDA programme look like?
In Year 1, you cover 2 subjects. In Year 2, you cover the remaining 2 subjects, while keeping up to date with subjects covered in Year 1 . At the end of Year 2, you write exams for all 4 subjects. You will need to pass all 4 subjects at the end of Year 2 to gain entrance into SAICA’s ITC.
What is the Difference between CTA & PGDA?
CTA - Certificate in Theory of Accounting
PGDA - Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting.
They are the same thing and are in fact just different terms used by different universities. Both CTA and PGDA will gain you entrance to the SAICA Initial Test of Competence (ITC) exam.
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