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Readers of last week's Taxation will have seen the names of those who passed and won prizes in the November 2007 Chartered Institute of Taxation and Association of Taxation Technician exams.
The overall pass rate for the CIOT exams had fallen to 30% from May 2007's 39% pass rate.
While congratulating those who had passed and noting that this was the largest sitting for some years, the institute's president, Rob Ellerby, said that 'it was disappointing to see that 221 candidates failed to gain any credits.
'I cannot overemphasise the importance of ensuring that one is thoroughly prepared for this demanding examination before putting oneself forward.
'I do hope that these candidates will decide to sit the examination again and become chartered tax advisers in due course. Given its standing in the marketplace, the CTA qualification really is worth working hard for.'
The reason for this is not expanded upon in the CIOT press release. Presumably the pass rate reflects the fact that some who passed were not taking all four papers.
Although the CIOT has not yet implemented its fully modular exam system, one wonders whether the fact that credits can now be obtained and carried forward means that some candidates concentrate on only some of the subjects (perhaps those that are more relevant to their day to day work), reasoning that once they have passed these papers they can then concentrate their efforts on the others.
The potential danger is that if they meet a particularly difficult paper, then they have not passed any exam.
Simon Groom of Tolley Tax Training considers that the amount of legislation and the time pressures on candidates are two factors that could depress pass rates.
The answer seems to be to get a proper training provider and adhere to a regular study regime. Last minute 'cramming' is not going to work.
The ATT results (61% passed all four papers at their first attempt) seem to paint a happier picture, other than the loss of some papers (where have we heard this sort of thing before?).
The association president, Richard Geldard, said that 'we had a problem with our document courier. A small number of examination scripts, covering two questions on Paper 3, were lost in transit.
'We have reviewed candidates' performances in the rest of the paper to identify as fairly as possible those candidates who should be given a pass mark.
'We have also introduced a support package for those candidates who fell short of the pass mark. Full details are contained in the letters to the relevant candidates.'
An issue raised following the May 2007 exams was the low pass level in the principles of law paper.
Steve Sanders at Tolley Tax Training commented: 'We are pleased to see that the pass rate for the ATT principles of law exam in November 2007 is almost 90% as opposed to 15% in May. The November paper examined more mainstream law topics.
'Consequently it was a much fairer test of candidates' abilities, and most students dealt with the paper very well.'
