Meet Luke. He’s 23, from Hull, a former welder, and due to become fully chartered. A trainee accountant, his company are funding his education, which will propel him towards a more senior role.

Here’s how he found moving from AAT Foundation to ACCA.

Moving from one to the other was always the plan, and the AAT qualifications laid the foundations and prepared me for the next stage.

Studying ACCA has already opened doors for me in my job, and will continue to when I‘m fully qualified. I found that it goes into a lot of detail. Module by module, you learn things you can apply to the workplace, daily.

At first the transition seemed really daunting. I was dreading it. I thought ‘I’m not going to have much of a life!’. But I quickly realised it wasn’t too scary, and that was partly down to Kaplan.

By attending the tuition, revision, and QBD sessions I massively boosted my chance of success with the exams. I could see that straight away.

And if you follow the tutor’s advice then you’ll be set. By completing the home study tasks, and putting enough revision time in, you’ll increase your chance of passing even more.

Balancing work and life has been a challenge though. When studying for my ACCA exams it was hard finding the time to study, work and have a social life. I’ve gotten a lot of grief from my mates. They pressure me to go out a lot as I’m still young, but when I’ve got 6 weeks to go until an exam I know I need to knuckle down.

Sometimes they’re not happy, but it’s necessary. You’ve got to take the hit if you want to pass.  Ultimately, having a really flexible revision schedule made things much more manageable though.

Kaplan can be really flexible for your study path.

You can pick and choose (to some extent) the order you’d like to sit the modules. You can also choose to sit one or two modules per sitting. This was really helpful, as you can tailor your studies around busy times at work, or in your social life. The module timetables are set up to suit various approaches.

It was also the support that went above and beyond. The knowledge and support from the Kaplan tutors is great. Not only are they hands on, you feel like you’re being prepared to sit an exam, at the highest standard.

When you ask them a question the answer doesn’t feel generic; it feels like the industry answer.

The support is always available too, so you never feel left to fend for yourself if you need help.  The tutors genuinely want you to succeed.

There are many routes into accountancy, with our various study methods and qualifications, we’re bound to have the right option for you.