FM exam: Friday 11 September  ·  One week, taught day by day  ·  You choose which week
FM · September 2026 sitting

The FM
Sprint

One intense week, on one page. One topic a day, taught right here — then the real past-exam question that goes with it, ready to answer and get marked on. You pick the week. Just show up seven days running.

Start Day 1 FM on aCOWtancy
days until the FM exam
Friday 11 September · last exam of the sitting
How it works

Seven days on the marks nobody practises

The week follows the money: hold it, fund it, invest it under risk, then price it. Each day: a short brief that teaches the topic, then genuine past-exam questions, to time. Every one of them is a written question, because those are the FM marks nobody practises. Pick any week before the exam — start on a Monday, or start today. Days 1 to 6 earn the marks; Day 7 is deliberately light, so if you run it as your final week it lands the day before the exam.

Loop · 1

Submit tonight

Draft in a doc, paste in, keep your draft. There's no save-as-draft, and you'll want your answer again on Day 6.

Loop · 2

Feedback first

Next morning, read yesterday's marking before you touch today's topic. It's the cheapest teaching you'll ever get.

Loop · 3

Reveal with a target

Each day tells you the one thing to look for in the model answer. Open it hunting, not browsing.

Loop · 4

Redo the weakest

Day 6, 4pm: your lowest-scoring answer gets its second attempt. That resubmission arrow is the week's proudest number.

0 of 7 days done

Day 0 · before you start

Find your weak spot

Five-ish minutes. It follows your mistakes — get one wrong and it digs deeper there — and it decides which area your Day 3 question targets. Answer honestly, tag how sure you were, and it'll tell you the difference between what you don't know and what you don't know you don't know.

Diagnostic

Ready when you are

Six questions to start — one per Sprint topic — then it follows whatever you get wrong. Ten to fifteen questions at most.

Sprint access

Enter your access code

It's in your purchase confirmation. Day 1 is open below either way.

Day 1 Cash — the marks everyone assumes they'd get Topic 1 of 6

The brief

Start with the fact that shapes this whole week. Every markable question in the FM bank is a discussion question, because ACCA marks the calculations by numeric entry and only the written parts need a human. In a typical FM paper those written parts are worth roughly thirty marks. They are the marks candidates practise least and lose most.

Today's topic is the one everybody assumes is free. Why does a company hold cash when cash earns nothing? There are three classic motives — transactions (paying the bills as they fall due), precautionary (a buffer against forecasts being wrong) and speculative (holding funds ready for an opportunity, or for a favourable movement in price or rate). Almost every candidate can name them. Far fewer score full marks, because naming is worth about a third of what is on offer.

The mark scheme wants each motive explained and then applied. A mark rarely comes from the label. It comes from the sentence after it: what that motive means for this company, in this scenario, given what you have just been told about its cash flows. Three labels is three half-marks. Three labels, each explained and pointed at the company, is six.

The second half of today is the models — Baumol and Miller-Orr. You will not be asked to grind the formulas in a written part; you will be asked what they do, what they assume, and when each one is the sensible choice. Baumol treats cash like inventory and suits steady, predictable outflows. Miller-Orr sets an upper and lower limit with a return point and suits cash flows that move unpredictably. The examiner's favourite follow-up is the weakness: Baumol's assumption of constant, known demand is exactly the assumption real businesses break.

Name it → explain it → apply it to this company. One mark, three parts. A list of labels is a third of the marks.
The classic trap: writing a textbook paragraph with no company in it. "Companies hold cash for precautionary reasons" is a definition. "Constant Co's overseas subsidiaries face uncertain currency receipts, so a precautionary balance protects it against a shortfall it cannot forecast" is a mark.

When you reveal the model answer tomorrow, look for one thing: count the sentences per mark. The model is not long — it is dense, and almost every sentence contains either a technical term or a fact from the scenario.

Your questions

Ultra question

Genuine ACCA past exam · December 2024 · Q2(d)

Discuss the motives for a business to hold cash. (6 marks)
⏱ 11 minutes6 marksThree motives, each applied

Before you submit: draft in a doc and paste it in — there's no save-as-draft, submitted answers can't be retrieved, and you'll want your first attempt beside the feedback on redo day.

Ultra question

Genuine ACCA past exam · December 2025 · Q1(c) · Constant Co

Discuss TWO cash management models used in financial management. (4 marks)
⏱ 7 minutes4 marksWhat it does, what it assumes
Day 2 Financing working capital — the eight-mark set piece Topic 2 of 6

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Day 3 Your weakest area — picked by your diagnostic Topic 3 of 6

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Day 4 Risk and uncertainty — the distinction that earns marks Topic 4 of 6

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Day 5 Sensitivity vs probability — and the limits of both Topic 5 of 6

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Day 6 The flagship — 14 marks on how a company is funded Topic 6 of 6

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Day 7 Light day — on purpose The day before

🔒 Locked — enter your Sprint access code at the top of this section.

Non-negotiables

The four rules of the week

Rule 1

Questions beat notes

Each day's brief takes ten minutes to read. The question takes the rest of the session. That ratio is the whole method — the marks are earned in the doing, not the reading.

Rule 2

To time, every time

1.8 minutes per mark. Every question above has its timer printed on it. Set it, and when it rings, stop — in the real exam the next question's first marks are the easiest ones left on the paper.

Rule 3

Answer the question asked

Underline the verb. "Identify and explain" pays twice — the name and the reason. "Discuss" wants a point, an explanation and an application. And quote the scenario: generic answers score generic marks, which is to say almost none.

Rule 4

Get marked, don't self-certify

You cannot mark your own FM answer objectively — everyone gives themselves the benefit of the doubt. Submit each day's answer and let the feedback tell you what an examiner would actually pay for it.

The unfair advantage

Every question above is in your Marking Hub

The questions in this sprint are real past ACCA exam questions from the FM Ultra bank — 16 genuine past-exam questions, 84 marks, every one markable with tutor-led marking, seven days a week, back within 48 hours. Answer each day's questions and by the end of your week you'll have a folder of personal marked feedback to revise from.

Worth knowing: your access runs right up to exam day, and the last guaranteed submission is around midday on Thursday 10 September — the day before the exam. Sprint early and you leave yourself the run-in to resubmit and improve.

Get Ultra for FM
Real past exam questions — the actual Dec 2025, June 2025 and earlier sittings. Not made-up mocks.
Two attempts per question — get your feedback, fix it, prove you fixed it before Friday.
Marked within 48 hours — seven days a week, usually much faster.

Don't sprint alone

The FM textbook, past papers and practice questions are on aCOWtancy for every topic in this sprint. From an ACCA Platinum Approved Learning Partner.

Start at acowtancy.com