Accounting on success: New tools to help you make the grade

Bryan Rankin, Head of Student Operations at Chartered Accountants Ireland, introduces a new academic year filled with innovative tools – like a Learning Hub, adaptive learning for CAP1 Law and Finance, and comprehensive resources to support student success

On behalf of everyone at Chartered Accountants Ireland, a warm welcome to you as we begin a new academic year together. The months ahead will no doubt be challenging but we hope you find them rewarding, as each step brings you closer to your goal of qualifying as a Chartered Accountant. 

We also hope that you’ve already noticed some of the online learning enhancements we’ve just launched and are finding them useful. 

Our progressing students will be aware that all Chartered education is provided online, giving you the flexibility to study where and when it suits. 

One big change this year is the introduction of a new learning platform. Students across all three programmes now have access to online learning content on a Learning Hub. 

As well as offering a better learning experience, the hub includes several new features. 

Textbooks online

One of the new features is a ‘Bookshelf’ with all your textbooks presented as e-books. 
The online textbooks make it easy to reference and navigate your reading, with the facility to highlight and to include your own notes. You can even set a virtual coach to read aloud parts of a textbook. 

For this academic year, we will continue to print and distribute textbooks. If you have enrolled and your textbooks have not been delivered, please email textbookqueries@charteredaccountants.ie

Study calendar

Another convenient feature of the new hub is a calendar pre-populated with dates and registration links for your live webinars. However, please remember to register for each webinar to receive access.

We advise you to also use the calendar to plan your study periods during the week. 
Whether it’s CAP1, CAP2 or FAE, by now you should be putting in a couple of hours of study on two or more weekday evenings and setting some study time aside at the weekend. Once you commit to this, using the online calendar to plan your study time will keep you on the right track. 

Discussion forums

We’d also like to draw your attention to online discussion forums. 

If you don’t understand something specific in a teaching video or a question solution, the discussion forums are a great way to directly contact your lecturers. 

The new platform has introduced some changes to the layout of discussion forums, but judging from high volumes of activity already happening, students are not finding this a hindrance. 

We encourage all students to utilise the discussion forums for questions. There is a separate discussion forum for each subject. 

CAP1 auto-scored exams

CAP1 students will be aware that your May exams will follow an auto-scored format. 
In order to assist you with exam preparation, we have auto-scored-style question packs in each session in the Learning Hub, with questions specific to the learning principles covered in that session. 

In the new year, we’ll be releasing four full sample papers for each subject in auto-scored format. The Institute does not release past papers.

Adaptive learning

CAP1 students will also be familiar with a new online learning model deployed at CAP1 Law RoI/Law NI and CAP1 Finance – adaptive learning. This innovative approach is
rapidly becoming recognised as the future of education delivery across the professions. 

Adaptive learning is a data-driven, personalised and participative learning journey with you in the driving seat. Engaging, high-impact content ensures you follow the right material at your preferred pace.

You choose your level of proficiency at the start, then view learning content followed by rounds of probe questions that assess your recall and confidence in understanding at each stage. This combination of content and questions makes our new format a genuinely interactive experience.

While it’s still early days at CAP1, there have been high levels of engagement from students enrolled in Law. They are progressing faster through the learning content than in previous years and with high levels of proficiency. 

In addition, the anecdotal feedback from CAP1 students on adaptive learning content is positive. The education team is now working on migrating more subjects to the adaptive learning model for the 2025/26 academic year. 

Interim assessments

By November, academic programme assessments are high on every student’s agenda. 
At CAP1, students will be aware that the window to attempt the Double Entry Bookkeeping (DEBK) on-demand assessment has opened on 1 November and closes on 31 January 2025. 

Our CAP1 exams team recently emailed all students enrolled on Financial Accounting with important information on how to book your timeslot. Please take the time to carefully read this email. 

At CAP2, the interim assessment in Financial Reporting takes place on 4 January 2025. 
Finally, FAE students will attempt the interim assessment in Advanced Financial Reporting on 7 December. 

In order to assist with all assessments, two practice papers will be available soon for CAP2 and FAE students on the exam platform Cirrus. Watch out for emails from the exams teams for more information. 

Whether you’re attempting assessments at CAP1, CAP2 or FAE, we would like to wish you every success in your studies. 

If you have any questions, please contact your exams team, CAP1exam/CAP2exam/FAEexam@charteredaccountants.ie.